Inclusion And Identity: Pathways Or Roadblocks To Educational Equity
Chair(s): Martin Scalan (Boston College)
Discussant(s): Norah Marsh (Marsh & McMahon Consulting and Executive Services)
Inclusive education has historically focused on advancing the rights of students with disabilities – opening the schoolhouse doors to allow for access to, at the least, physical spaces shared with same-aged peers. In recent years however, inclusive education has broadened to encompass a focus on equity and is increasingly understood as a necessity for all students (UNESCO, 2020). Ensuring that education is accessible, equitable and inclusive, particularly for those most often marginalized and excluded within society, remains a challenge for systems internationally.
In each of the papers that comprise this symposium we draw on diverse research approaches to highlight pathways to advancing inclusive education – examining policies and practices, concepts and critiques. Our work intersects with the conference theme – featuring voices of practicing teachers and school leaders, working collaboratively within diverse contexts to improve teaching and learning in ways that impact all learners.
The symposium will present storied narratives of several research studies, with elements of interactivity woven throughout. Our discussant will conclude by identifying several implications of our findings for school and system leaders if inclusive education is to be broadly realized.
Presentations of the Symposium
Visions of Inclusive Education: varying views from Nova Scotia, Canada
Jess Whitley
University of Ottawa
Context
Policies of inclusive education (IE) exist in every Canadian province and territory (Hutchinson & Specht, 2019). Most, however, define IE as relating solely to students with disabilities. One Canadian province, Nova Scotia, released a new policy of IE in 2019 which names those with ‘special needs’, alongside historically marginalized groups such as African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaw (Indigenous) students and those living in poverty – as well as the overarching statement that IE is for all Nova Scotian students. The broad vision of IE in Nova Scotia is unique and innovative – few provinces or even countries internationally have brought together equity and inclusion for all students as it is set out in the Nova Scotia policy.
Theoretical Framework & Design
Guided by the OECD educational implementation framework (OECD, 2020), the author and their colleague have been engaged in evaluation of the implementation of the Nova Scotia IE Policy for the past four years. UNESCO and others have identified the crucial need for a focus on implementation for promising policies of IE to be realized in practice (UNESCO, 2020). The OCED framework has three key dimensions: a) smart policy design, b) inclusive stakeholder engagement, and c) conducive context, each of which have 3 elements. In the current paper, I explore the ‘vision’ element within the smart policy design dimension. The current paper explores the vision of various groups of educators within Nova Scotia with respect to the IE policy and asks:
• How do Nova Scotia educators envision IE within their own context?
• How do these visions vary or intersect based on employee group (administrator, teacher, teaching assistant)?
• If and how do these visions reflect that of the Policy?
Methods
Data for the current paper were drawn from focus groups conducted with administrators, teachers and educational assistants throughout the 2022-2023 school year. These focus groups explored the perceptions and practices of those working within the system with responsibility for implementation at various levels.
Data Analysis
Focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and entered into NVivo software for analysis. Thematic analysis was conducted for each employee group guided by ‘IE vision’, followed by comparisons across groups.
Findings
Visions of IE varied widely both within and across groups, with those closest to individual students and classrooms focusing more on a) placement of ‘those’ students, b) shifting roles of educators, and c) IE-related skill sets and those more distal describing a) necessary mindset, b) closing gaps and c) initiative coherence. The stated vision of IE in the Nova Scotia Policy was most similar to that shared by those working at the highest levels of the system.
Implications for Practice
Findings reflect the challenges of implementing IE policy in light of varying definitions and visions – while specific to a small province in Canada, these IE implementation challenges are internationally relevant and need to be addressed in theory, research, and practice in order for IE to be realized.
Inclusive Education in The Age of Identity
Andy Hargreaves
Boston College & University of Ottawa
Context
From the 1980s onwards, for 30 years, many schools and school systems were locked in an Age of Achievement and Effort. Educational policies reflected priorities to bring about economic growth and increases in performance levels and standards, rather than focusing on sustainability and quality of life factors.
From the mid 20-teens, though, a new age emerged of Engagement, Wellbeing, and Identity (Hargreaves & Shirley, 2022). Equity was now pursued not by narrowing achievement gaps but by increasing inclusion so that students with many identities, and especially those with marginalized ones, could see themselves and their cultures within their schools. Originally a more sophisticated way of thinking about how to support children with special educational needs, the move towards greater inclusion encompassed many forms of diversity related to race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, immigrant status, and poverty, as well as special needs (Ainscow & César, 2006). This paper asks whether, when and how, this shift to identity and inclusion, brings about increased equity and is inclusive in its means as much as its ends.
Focus and Methods
From 2009 up to 2018, the author and his colleague undertook two spells of working with a representative sample of 10 of Ontario’s 72 school districts in a Consortium to analyze and advance the province’s agenda for inclusion. Especially from 2014 onwards, these strategies gave growing attention to issues of identity as a key to inclusion and equity. Case studies were carried out in all 10 districts, involving tape recorded and transcribed interviews with over 200 educators.
Analysis
Subsequently, data were analyzed thematically in relation to identity issues manifested within the Ontario government policy, and in relation to classical and contemporary literature on identity in education and society. These have led to a new theory of identity that is presented in this paper, with illustrative examples from the data.
Theoretical Importance
The resulting theory of identity contains and combines the following elements in which identity is:
• A universal part of modern human & educational development that affects all of us and is not just about “the other”.
• An integral element of adolescence and growing up.
• An essential aspect of equity and inclusion.
• Formed through relationships with others.
• Something to acknowledge, represent, and celebrate.
• Something that must sometimes be critiqued and challenged.
• Something that should almost never be hidden.
• Multiple and complicated. Identities aren’t singular or always obvious. What we see isn’t always what we get.
• Sometimes fluid, but never boundless.
• Often intersecting in ways that can be affirming, oppressive or contradictory
• Inseparable from who has the power to define it.
Implications
This theory of identity and inclusion strives to get past the culture wars and the more volatile aspects of identity politics that divide communities. It moves beyond treating each other in over-simplified and often stigmatized identities, in which people feel they are portrayed, and sometimes pilloried as one-dimensional beings.
Promoting Inclusion In Schools: Possibilities And Barriers
Mel Ainscow
Universities of Manchester and Glasgow
2024 sees the thirtieth anniversary of the Salamanca Statement, which defined the principle of inclusion as: “All children should learn together, wherever possible, regardless of any difficulties or differences they may have. Inclusive schools must recognize and respond to the diverse needs of their students”. Since then, the concept of inclusion has broadened, emphasising the need to reach all learners (UNESCO, 2020).
Agenda
Building on a programme of development and research carried out by the author over the last 25 years, this paper asks:
• How can schools become more inclusive?
• What are the barriers and how can these be addressed?
• What are the implications for research and researchers?
Concepts
The following definitions, proposed by UNESCO (2017), are adopted:
• Inclusion is a process that helps overcome barriers limiting the presence, participation and achievement of learners;
• Equity is about ensuring that there is a concern with fairness, such that the education of all learners is seen as having equal importance.
These definitions involve a move away from explanations of educational failure that concentrate on characteristics of individual children, towards an analysis of contextual barriers experienced by students within schools.
Methods
The overall approach is collaborative inquiry (Ainscow, 2024). What distinguishes this approach from more traditional research is its commitment to forms of inquiry that involve:
• An engagement with the views of different stakeholders
• The improvement of practice within schools
• Collaboration and networking within and across classrooms, schools and systems
Data sources
The paper presents vignettes of how this methodology was used in:
• A primary school in Cyprus, where a teacher formed action groups to promote inclusion and equity;
• A project in Uruguay in which schools were supported in using collaborative inquiry; and
• The development of a post-Covid recovery strategy in an area of England.
These accounts draw out nuances of the meaning of policy and practice in particular places.
Analysis
Use was made of ‘group interpretive processes’ as a means of analysing and interpreting evidence (Wasser & Bresler, 1996). This involves an engagement with the different perspectives of practitioners, students and university researchers in ways that are intended to encourage critical reflection, collaborative learning and mutual critique.
The paper presents a radical challenge to thinking in the field regarding the idea of inclusive education. Contrasting this with the predominant approach, that of serving children with disabilities within general education settings, it argues that the aim of inclusive education is to eliminate social exclusion that is a consequence of attitudes and responses to diversity in race, social class, ethnicity, religion, gender and ability. As such, it represents a challenge to existing thinking regarding the development of education systems.
Implications
The programme of research seeks to:
• Influence changes in thinking and practice;
• Formulate action with reference to inclusion and equity;
• Involve a research strand that invites stakeholders to inquire into their practices; and
• Position university researchers as supporters and critical friends of practitioners and policy makers.
Transforming Inclusive Education for Students with Intellectual Disabilities in Secondary Academic Classrooms
Shelley Moore
The University of British Columbia
Context
Educational efforts aim to include students with intellectual disabilities (SwIDs) and how to support teachers to do this work. Legacies of history, however, are still seen in present day policies, assumptions, and decisions about how to best provide educational programming for SwIDs, especially in secondary academic settings.
This study took place in British Columbia, Canada, a province increasing their push towards inclusion. Many schools, however, focus on inclusion as the retrofitting of an existing system, instead of changing systems to allow for SwIDs to be valued members of academic classrooms. As a result, many SwIDs in secondary settings are still being educated in specialized and non-inclusive contexts.
Theoretical Framework
A literature review tracing the history of education for SwIDs points to some guiding conditions that can increase inclusive opportunities such as positive teacher attitudes, enrollment and attendance, proximity and participation with peers, purposeful goals and proactive planning.
This research also built from models of PD built on collaborative, ongoing, situated and inquiry-oriented processes that have potential to shift teacher thinking and practices.
Methods
Educators engaged in PD with the shared goal of advancing their inclusive practice. Questions guiding this study were: (a) How were teachers in secondary academic classrooms aligned to and/or moving towards guiding conditions of inclusion? (b) How were teachers moving towards planning for practices for all students? And (c) What were the experiences of students in these classrooms?
Data Analysis
This research used instrumental case study design and the goal was to understand how PD influenced inclusive practices. The subcases in this study were five classrooms of educators where there was a SwID enrolled in their secondary academic class. Various data were collected, organized and triangulated by research question and analyzed through repeated analytic cycling.
Findings
Findings showed that teachers shifted to being more open, willing, and committed to seeing SwIDs students as competent learners. Their practices also shifted from retrofitting for to intentionally planning for all students. Collaboratively was a factor in teachers designing inclusive curricular learning opportunities for all students, and highlighted the role that PD can have.
Educators also encountered barriers. For example, support teachers showed mixed perceptions of students’ competence and there was a constraining role of support adults. There was also a disconnect found between IEPs and classroom curricula and assessment. Analyses suggest barriers could be linked to pre-existing structural challenges, however, both students with and without disabilities described how the inclusive practices made a difference to their learning, perceived inclusive education as important, and articulated values that showed an openness and comfort with inclusion-, equity-, and diversity-related efforts.
Implications for Practice
This research is one of few to focus on inclusion for SwIDs in secondary academic classrooms. Through PD, classroom teachers shifted in their attitudes and assumptions towards the ability of SwIDs. In this respect, this study suggests the promise of PD in supporting shifts in mindsets and practice, and some teachers were able to move beyond barriers through collaboration.
