Schools have had to face major demands by parents, governors and government. These demands have arisen mainly from the expectation that they will raise the academic standards of their pupils. More recently, this expectation has been joined by a second, which is that children with special educational needs should be included in mainstream schools. How have schools responded to these demands, which, to many of them, seem to stretch resources in opposite directions? To see how schools committed to inclusive policies have tackled the issue of pupil diversity the authors investigated the inclusion policies and practices of five secondary schools. Their findings suggest that it is possible to combine an inclusive approach to education with the achievement of high academic standards.
Readers should note that whilst the journal article does contain some pupil outcome data, a detailed report containing original data can be found in earlier work produced by the authors for Barnardos. (Rouse and Florian, 2000)
Keywords:
United Kingdom; England; mixed sex; secondary schools; pupils; inclusion; school management; special educational needs; individual needs; mainstream schools; achievement
All schools have been affected by the expectation by government, parents and school governors that they will raise academic standards. Large numbers of schools have developed policies which have sought to increase their effectiveness. More recently schools have also faced the challenge of including pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. The authors suggest that whilst some schools have come to regard these challenges as incompatible, others have seen them as providing an opportunity to develop policies to improve the education of all their children. The authors acknowledge the view held by some schools and teachers that there is a clash between the principles that lie behind the move towards market-based reforms and the principles which underpin policies of inclusive education. In these schools the authors suggest that this perceived clash has produced tensions between:
The authors have identified a range of schools which do not see these principles as working in opposition, requiring commitment one way or the other. Rather, the authors maintain, these schools see the issue in terms of the challenge to be both inclusive and excellent.
Building on work they had carried out earlier in eight secondary schools, the authors investigated policies and practices in a further five schools with long-standing commitments to inclusive education, to discover how they combined an inclusive approach to education with the achievement of high academic standards
The schools included in the study were ones which the authors considered to be successful in their approach to inclusive education. According to the authors these schools treated difficulties in learning as a result of disabilities, or other special educational needs, as a challenge to schools to develop practice for the benefit of all children. A range of characteristics of successful schools were identified in the research including that they:
Teachers observed by the authors were skilled in whole class teaching, offering differentiation by task and outcome. The approach shown by these teachers was characterised by the way they embedded a responsiveness to individual need within the process of whole class teaching. Evidence from observation and from the records kept by teachers showed that they were fluid and pragmatic in their approach to inclusive practice and modified their plans in the light of pupil responses.
The authors reported that in these schools pupils with SEN participated in and belonged more fully to the school community. They commented favourably on the extensive natural interaction between these pupils and other children in lessons and at breaks and lunchtimes.
In one school visited by the authors they reported that teachers, parents and pupils felt that school initiatives towards understanding of disability and diversity had helped to reduce bullying in the school as a whole.
According to teachers interviewed in the schools, inclusion has not lowered the achievement of other pupils. This view was supported by evidence from one of the schools, where recent results in the GCSE examinations were as follows:
|
Year |
5 A - C% |
5 A - G% |
|
1997 |
23.7 |
80.6 |
|
1998 |
23.5 |
80.2 |
|
1999 |
28.9 |
95.0 |
In one of the schools four pupils, who may otherwise have attended a local Special School, each gained at least six GCSE grade A - G passes. By comparison this Special School did not enter any of its intake for GCSE.
All the schools made use of learning support departments which teachers regarded as sources of knowledge and support for teaching and learning. Ways in which schools involved support staff in teaching and learning were:
The authors reported that schools saw particular advantages to assigning teaching assistants to departments. Firstly by being part of a department team, it helped them to learn more about the subject they were supporting. Secondly, they could participate in the planning process. Thirdly, because the teaching assistant also became a learning resource for other children, it helped to reduce the dependency of the individual child.
Teachers valued the contributions made by subject specific support workers. One teacher said:
Eighty per cent of the time (support workers) are assigned to departments and this has made a huge improvement. The ISW (support worker) gets to know all the kids and kids can go to all the ISWs for help... The ISWs get familiar with the curriculum. (The ISW) knows all the lessons and can predict who to work with.
There was also some evidence to support the view that classroom support helped teachers change and develop their teaching methods, another teacher commenting:
I know that the support will be there when we need it and it's easier to use group work and to keep the kids more involved. The help is there when they need it and it's reassuring to me. I suppose they spend less time sitting around waiting for help. I think all kids learn more under this arrangement.
Teachers were concerned particularly with social barriers with which SEN pupils sometimes had to face. For example one teacher wrote in her journal:
I noticed that Brian was very much left out of the small group discussions, because the boys with whom he was working were able to write down their answers much quicker than Brian could... Disappointed that despite all the work we have recently done on disability and prejudice the boys in my tutor group unwittingly exclude Brian.
The teacher tried to help Brian in the short term by scribing for him while a teaching assistant worked with another child but noted also that it was something she would have to discuss further with the other pupils. Teachers were particularly concerned about students' personal privacy, friendship and belonging. Support staff reported variability in the extent of differentiation of tasks and materials and in the range of teaching approaches used. One support worker commented, "Some lessons still have lots of teacher talk."
There was also concern felt by staff in one school that the success of inclusion policies would promote the reputation of the school as catering for predominantly low-ability pupils. This problem did not materialise as the school has been able to demonstrate that it is possible to be inclusive while improving academic achievement.
Parents expressed a feeling of confidence in the schools. One parent observed that, Mark is full of life, happy. This means everything to us. Other boys call him at home.
A parent of a year 9 child interviewed in one school highlighted the important effect of extra-curricular activities in helping to maintain an ethos of inclusion:
Harry has higher self-esteem now. The trip on the barge was fabulous. For him to have the confidence to go was a real breakthrough....You see he was never allowed to go on any trips in his primary school.
One boy who was interviewed reflected the views of other pupils and parents when he made the following comment:
There is no bullying in this school...other people recognise my problem. I used to fight all the time in my other school when people called me names.
Pupils with special needs suffered examination pressures as did other children. The researchers observed that they seemed to understand the need to challenge themselves. A year 11 pupil with moderate learning difficulties commented:
When I came here (from a special school) they didn't think I could get any GCSE's but now they think I can get them. Before I came to this school I was ungraded but now I think I will pass.
The authors' aim was to describe successful practice in schools committed to inclusion. In order to do so they investigated successful inclusion policies and practices in five secondary schools with long-standing commitment to inclusive education, using a range of methods, including:
The authors conducted a survey among 268 teachers to find out what sorts of strategies subject teachers favoured in addressing inclusion. The authors also observed and interviewed eight teachers of five different subjects. Each teacher was observed on several occasions up to the equivalent of two full teaching days. A total of 48 observations and 24 interviews were carried out. The teachers also kept journals in which they logged what they did and their reflections on practice.
In completing this digest its authors began to ask the following questions about implications for practitioners:
In completing this digest its authors began to ask the following questions about implications for school leaders:
Rouse, M. and Florian, L. (2000). Developing inclusive education at Rawthorpe High School (final report of the second phase of the evaluation). Ilford: Barnardos.
The DfES offers information and support to a range of professionals and other stakeholders at: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/sen/
The British Dyslexia Association can be found at: http://www.bda-dyslexia.org.uk/
The National Association for Special Educational Needs (NASEN) can be found at: http://www.nasen.org.uk/
Readers may also find the following Research of the Month summaries useful:
‘The impact of study support’
‘Which strategies are effective for primary school pupils with emotional or behavioural difficulties (EBD) in mainstream classrooms?’
They can both be found at: http://www.gtce.org.uk/PolicyAndResearch/research/ROMtopics/
An EPPI systematic review relevant to the inclusion of SEN pupils is: Howes A, Farrell P, Kaplan I, Moss S (2003) The impact of paid adult support on the participation and learning of pupils in mainstream schools. In: Research Evidence in Education Library. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education. Available at: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/EPPIWeb/home.aspx?page=/reel/review_groups/inclusion/review_two.htm