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he values and influences that are/ should be informing provision in special and inclusive education in Ireland today.

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he values and influences that are/ should be informing provision in special and inclusive education in Ireland today.

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Commenting on the issue of teacher education,  Sugrue poses two significant questions which in turn serve to encapsulate my personal response about the values which underpin my views on special education and inclusion. Moreover, they provide me with a backdrop against which to measure how such values inform and influence provision and how it is structured. Firstly, Sugrue asks "Would you like to have this person teach your own children?" and, secondly,  "Would my child be a better person for having come in contact with this teacher?" If, as one hopes, the answer to these questions will be in the affirmative, then the role of the teacher cannot be underestimated. This is true not only for what Florian calls "most and some" but "everybody".

The Department of  Education and Skills is primarily charged with the responsibility for the administration of the Irish education system. Its mission is directed towards an education system that will "enable individuals to develop their full potential as persons and to participate  fully as citizens in society and contribute to social and economic development". Minister Ruairi Quinn proposed that in order to "change what is taught is our schools and colleges, we must also change the way in which the curriculum itself is taught". Moreover, he contends that such a change "necessitates that teachers be euipped with the necessary pedagogical skills for the 21st Century". It is the author's view that such pedagogical skills are incorporated into what Florian terms a teacher's "craft knowledge"? In this way it is "in the ways that teachers respond to individual differences, the pedagogical choices they make and how they utlise specialist knowledge that differentiates inclusive practice from other pedagogical approaches".

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Is special education and inclsuion about identifying difference and modifying teaching and learning to embrace this difference or is it about ensuring no difference matters?
Thanks Hazel?

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Hazel Gannon

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I'm conscious I'm likely to miss the discussion on this on Friday morning, so have included a question or two at the end of each section as my absent-contribution. Jeff.
Thanks Jeff. We will be using these in the afternoon also to make sense of our work today and Joe's session tomorrow. Fiona

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Initial Thoughts:

I’ve often struggled with the ‘direction’ of special education. My first exposure to Special Education took the form of a student with dyslexia being offered additional supports (extra exam time, one to one tuition, aural/oral exams, etc.). This struck me as education+ .., where ‘normal’ student received education, a ‘special’ student received additional support. From a presumption of additional, is extra, and extra is better, I questioned why the additional supports were not the norm.

While I was in school, my brother was in university. He was given an extra 30 minutes to write his exams, he was allowed to type his exam answers on a laptop rather than writing, and spelling and grammar mistakes were ignored. This was a business subject. I questioned how ‘detrimental’ would it be to the development of a ‘normal’ student if they had 30 minutes extra exam time, typed their answer, and were assessed on their business knowledge rather than their spelling and grammar?

Why is special not the norm? Why do we withhold the benefits of special education from mainstream education?

Universal Design for Learning

Through my studies and in my teaching I have been obsessive with the UDL concept. In brief UDL is:

·         Multiple means of representation to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge,

·         Multiple means of expression to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know, and

·         Multiple means of engagement to tap into learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn

The main message for me as an educator was that of providing students with options. In this module alone we’ve been tasked with reading articles, watching videos, listening to podcasts, undertaking presentations, engaging in Q and A discussion and more. This is a considerable departure to the stand and deliver, “sage on a stage” form of lecture that I experienced at undergrad level. On a personal level I have had success (and failures) in using UDL to offer students of all skill levels, and varying abilities, to learn in different ways and show their knowledge in ways that suit them.

What stops educators (at third level or otherwise) from engaging in UDL practices?

Irish Example – Argument for UDL:

For discussion purposes, the graph below shows the approximate 100,000 pieces of assessment undertaken by all first years in UCD in 2011. Approximately 85%-90% of assessment is written. For students who struggle with writing, or are more adept at communicating in different mediums, this is an alarming stat. (I couldn’t access the exact stats, the paper it is from is behind a paywall. It is a paper by Geraldine O’Neill in the School of Education in UCD.)

Geraldine O'Neill (2011)

The above graph led me to reviewing the breadth of assignments that I gave to students, and all but one were written tasks, the other a presentation.

Why is education so dependent on the written essay? Is it to have tangible quantifiable metrics in grading? Which leads to why are we so dependent on grades? Can/should we try to move away from this?

Alternative Provisions:

I have had many failures in my ‘alternative provisions’ which I try to see the positives in, in the form that I am trying to offer multiple inclusive forms of education and assessment. There is bound to be failures. I do find pressure from a QA position to minimize uncertainty and defer to the accepted safe paths. I think education needs to embrace the topic we discussed last time out of the hidden curriculum. I believe this to be true particularly in schools, including the arguments for specialist (not special) schools, such as dance schools, art schools, sports schools; the case for banning homework at developmental ages so children play and find passions and learning in a non ‘forced’ manner and many more.

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I hope I managed to respond as requested! Looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday! Sinéad

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I hope I managed to respond as requested! Looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday! Sinéad

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Fantastic Sinead. See you tomorrow. Fiona

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Looking forward to reading your responses and questions!

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Looking forward to reading your responses and questions!