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The best part about feeling included is that you are not judged by the way you look, feel, dress etc

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What is inclusive education, and how can you implement it?

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What is inclusive education, and how can you implement it?

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"A fair and inclusive environment makes for a happy and healthy classroom."

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A fair and inclusive environment makes for a happy and healthy classroom. Teachers strive to maintain optimal classroom settings, and one of the best ways to do so is to implement inclusive education.

If you're a teacher who wants to make a difference and enhance learning opportunities for all of your students, this article is for you. We will discuss what inclusive education means, its importance, and explore how you can implement inclusive education in the classroom.

What is inclusive education?

The aim of an inclusive education environment is to ensure that all students are treated fairly and get equal opportunities. Within an inclusive education environment, student diversity and uniqueness should be celebrated without discrimination.

Sadly, there are still instances of children being treated differently based on their unique qualities. No students should be ostracised or segregated based on their differences or learning capabilities. Nor would any teacher ever consider doing this, if they knew what to look out for.

Some issues that students are often discriminated against include disability, race, gender, their household income or the language that they speak. Inclusive education aims to combat discrimination against all students.

These issues are not only present in physical classrooms but in online and blended learning environments too. Our microcredentials, Online Teaching: Accessibility and Inclusive Learning and Online Teaching: Embedding Social, Race, and Gender-Related Equity offer a range of skills to equip you to teach an inclusive online lesson.

Studies have shown that the number of students with known disabilities is increasing . We need to be able to accommodate these students and give them equal access, as they all have a right to education .

Types of inclusive education

All students are different and therefore have different individual needs. It's important to choose the right type of inclusive education for your students based on their individual requirements.

Full inclusion

If a school is using the full inclusion model, they will need to closely monitor student progression and ensure that the plan is working for students. If a full inclusion plan is too much, a partial inclusion plan can be implemented instead.

Partial inclusion

This teaching model is also built around allowing all students to learn and interact with the main classroom. However, partial inclusion also involves separated learning for students that need additional support outside of the classroom.

For students involved in a partial inclusion plan, they will still spend the majority of their learning time in the main classroom. However, they will also spend time away from the main class to receive additional support from special education teachers.

Some of the additional support given could also be disruptive if carried out in the main classroom; take speech-based lessons, for example. Partial inclusion is more flexible and allows classroom separation when it would be more beneficial for all students.

Mainstreaming

With the mainstreaming method, disabled students will begin their education journey in a self-contained classroom away from the main classroom.

If students are performing well within their self-contained classroom, they can be integrated into the main classroom based on their readiness. This method can be less daunting for some students, and allows them to gradually become a part of a fully inclusive classroom.

Key features of inclusive teaching and learning

How you implement an inclusive education environment will differ between schools and situations. However, there are some key aims to keep in mind when creating your inclusive classroom plan. Let's look at some important factors of this teaching model:

All students have an equal right to education

Classrooms should be made up of students with mixed abilities

No children should be separated from main groups based on discrimination

Appropriate activities should be planned and each student's personal needs taken into consideration

Create an accessible environment (e.g. wheelchair ramps, and visual alternatives to lesson content for students with hearing impairments)

Support should be provided to all students to assist and allow them to reach their full potential

Importance of inclusive education

A welcoming and diverse educational environment can massively improve the wellbeing of students. But what makes inclusive education so important?

Student confidence

Traditional methods of dealing with students with disabilities or learning difficulties can have a harmful impact on a students' self-worth. Separating them into small groups and teaching them away from the main classroom pushes the idea that they are different and should be treated differently.

By giving all students the opportunity to mingle and be a part of the class, students will hopefully feel a sense of belonging and take part in positive peer interactions. However, there are instances where students may need additional support away from the classroom, such as after school classes for help with specific subjects.

This does not mean that they cannot be a part of the main classroom for the larger chunk of their school days. In cases where students would benefit from being taught away from the main classroom for certain reasons, partial inclusion may be better than full inclusion.

Improved communication skills

Additionally, this will help prepare them for the after school world and make the students career-ready. Once students have entered the workforce, they will be working alongside diverse communities with a range of abilities. It only makes sense that we prepare them for that and simulate the environment in the classroom.

Quality of education

Every child should have equal access to high-quality education from their local schools. By offering an inclusive classroom environment, you can be sure that all students are offered the same level of education. Since separated classes for disabled students are often smaller, their lessons can vary from that of the main classroom.

Teaching all students in one place ensures that no students are missing out on any of the curriculum. Teachers will also have different teaching styles and paces, so being taught by the same teachers can ensure that all students have equal access to the lesson content.

How can I implement inclusive education in the classroom?

It's clear that an inclusive classroom can be beneficial for many students; it's crucial to give all students a fair chance to learn in the right environment for them. Let's look at some of the ways you can implement inclusive education in the classroom.

Cooperative learning

A great way to implement inclusive education in the classroom is to present tasks and activities in a way that encourages cooperative learning. By learning in groups, students are all given the opportunity to participate. When arranging group work, you may want to designate fair groups rather than giving students the opportunity to pick themselves.

As well as giving students the chance to be a part of something, they will also be able to develop crucial social skills amongst each other. Group learning doesn't just benefit those with disabilities or behavioural differences. It encourages all students to work alongside a range of different people and encourages inclusion even further.

Specialised training

To make sure that teachers are creating the best possible learning environment, they should be equipped with the necessary tools and training. If you are a teacher and you're keen to improve student inclusion, upskilling and acquiring additional training would be very beneficial.

Courses and training related to inclusion or student diversity can be very helpful for acquiring tips, techniques and strategies. Training in areas of student issues such as trauma awareness , or SEN ( special educational needs ) can prove incredibly useful. These courses can equip teachers with the knowledge of how to deal with struggles that students may be facing.

This training should not be limited to teachers, but instead should be offered to teaching assistants too. SEN training for teaching assistants can help develop the skills needed to focus on disabled students and provide any necessary additional support.

SEN support has increased by 12.2% in the UK between 2020-2021, so classrooms are already heading in the right direction.

Adapted lessons and tasks

Traditional teaching isn't always ideal for students with visible disabilities or learning difficulties. The curriculum should be altered to accommodate these students and make lessons more versatile. You could do this by making lessons more immersive to keep students engaged.

It's important to know your students and take into account their specific needs when providing educational material. Make sure that all students are engaged in your lessons and actively participating in tasks. If you identify an issue with student engagement, consider reviewing the intended learning outcomes and how you could take steps to adapt your lessons to explore new approaches

Use diverse methods of marking

Assessing all students' work in the same way isn't always the best way to approach marking work. Some children may struggle with certain types of assignments, or struggle to put their thoughts onto paper.

You can be more inclusive with your marking by assessing the content and ideas separately from English and grammar, for example. You could also assess effort as an additional points system. When giving feedback to students, make sure that it is clear and comprehensible to the student, and check with them that they understand your suggestions.

It can be beneficial for students to see examples of others' work, or attempts on assessments, however you do not need them to compare or be competitive with grades or the feedback they have received .

The last thing we want to do is have a negative impact on students' confidence, and potentially cause them to regress and not put their best efforts into homework and classwork.

You do not need to make grading and assessment into a competitive exercise for your learners. Peer comparisons may only further limit currently unmet potential.

Supplementary materials

Offering additional materials in the class can be incredibly helpful for students with visible or hidden disabilities, as well as anyone who needs a bit of extra support. Most students, even those who appear highly attentive, will struggle to just absorb information from simply watching or listening to a lesson. You will want to add an exercise or task to this content, however small, to ensure they can put what they are learning into longer team comprehension

Providing them with learning aids such as calculators or physical science models can help develop a students' understanding of the lesson. Pictures and flashcards can prove particularly useful to students struggling with language barriers.

Reteaching topics or recapping lessons is a great way to help students that may have a harder time understanding lesson content. You can also offer additional textbooks or help sheets to students, or even record the lesson and make it available for them to recap at home.

Final thoughts

We hope this article has helped develop your understanding of inclusive education and its importance. The implementation of inclusive education is vital for the development of all students.

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What is inclusive education, and how can you implement it? - FutureLearn

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In this article, we discuss the meaning of inclusive education. We will explore what makes it so important, and how you can implement it.

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We need to teach our kids about inclusion. As teachers, we can make children feel safe and like they belong but they need that same acceptance from their peers.

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Inclusive learning for all students from all backgrounds.

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The Teaching Online Channel for Rural EFL Teachers

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We as teachers need to constantly work on developing ourselves in order to cater for every child's needs.

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In This Episode of School of Talk

If you're an educator, you are likely used to teaching a diverse group of learners. You probably have students with different backgrounds, interests, talents, and skillsets. You also likely have students with varying physical, developmental, emotional, and sensory needs.

But how can one teacher support a large group of learners? How can we ensure we're meeting each student's needs and creating an inclusive space where all students have the opportunity to learn? How do we do all of this without working astronomically long hours to create multiple activities?

Well, today's episode features Educational Inclusion Specialist, Shelley Moore. Shelley is a highly sought-after teacher, storyteller, researcher, and consultant. She has worked with school districts and community organizations throughout both Canada and the United States. You may know her from her Ted Talk, Under the Table - The Importance of Presuming Competence, or her video series, 5 Moore Minutes, which offers resources, research, professional development activities, and inspiration in 5-minute chunks!

Shelley's research and work have been featured at national and international conferences and are constructed based on theory and effective practices of inclusion, special education, curriculum, and teacher professional development.

Today, Shelley joined the School of Talk podcast to discuss inclusive education and teaching to all learners.

What Does It Mean To Be In An Inclusive Classroom?

In today's episode, you'll learn...

The most important thing educators need to know about inclusive education.

The greatest barrier facing inclusive education and how to reframe your thinking to overcome this barrier.

How to adapt lessons for all learners, without getting burnt out.

What an inclusive lesson looks like in practice, and how it benefits all learners (from a real Grade 9 English classroom!)

How school leaders can work to create more inclusive learning environments by incorporating collaborative learning, planning, or teaching opportunities into the fabric of the school

THANK YOU TO OUR SCHOOL OF TALK SPONSOR!

Learn more about getting your license in teaching Mild to Moderate Disabilities Special Education, Grades K-12.

Intro: You're listening to School of Talk. We're creating a world where every child experiences the power of a great teacher. We believe education is the answer. It has the power to conduct change, improve lives, unlock ideas, create opportunities, and build connections.

It's the single greatest investment we can make today to create a better tomorrow. That's why we're on a mission to train, inform and inspire educators worldwide.

Each week, we dive into a topic related to education, teaching, and learning.

Whether you're an educator by trade or an educator by spirit, we've got something for you. Open up your mind, and get ready to soak in some new learning.
Class is in session!
Michelle: If you're an educator, you're likely used to teaching a diverse group of learners. You probably have students with different backgrounds, interests, talents, and skill sets. You also likely have students with varying physical, developmental, emotional and sensory needs. But how can one teacher support such a large group of learners? How can we ensure we're meeting each student's needs and creating an inclusive space where all students have the opportunity to learn? How do we do all of this without working astronomically long hours to create multiple activities? Well, today's episode features educational inclusion specialist Shelley Moore.

Shelly is a highly sought after teacher, storyteller, researcher and consultant. She has worked with school districts and community organizations throughout both Canada and the US. Today, Shelley joined the School of Talk podcast to discuss inclusive education and teaching for all learners.

Thank you so much for being here with me today. Shelley, I'm so excited to talk to you. I have actually followed your social platforms for quite some time. So I'm fangirling? A little bit.

Shelley: No, I'm so happy to be here. This is awesome.

Michelle: Thank you for all you do. I was wondering if we could just start off with a little bit about you. Maybe you could tell me a little bit about how you got into teaching. Why you became a teacher? Just a little bit about your background?

Shelley: So I grew up in Alberta, Canada. And I just like, didn't have a really great schooling experience. I mean, there was like pockets of good years. But just overall, it was never really a place that I felt super successful. And so I just kind of, you know, trials and tribulations.

When I was trying to figure out what to do with myself as an adult, I'm just like, I'm going to be a teacher and blow it up, blow education up, because it's not working for enough kids. I was thinking about this yesterday. I'm almost like 20 years in, which does just feels wild to me, because I feel like I'm still 25. It goes really fast. And I'm currently working on my PhD. And kind of finished that calculation. We're just working with schools and districts around the world trying to figure out this inclusion question, because it's a big one.

Michelle: And that brings me to my next question for you. Inclusion, I know that that's a topic that you're particularly passionate about. Can you tell us a little bit about what is inclusive education?

What is inclusive education?

I think it's a very careful balance of making sure everyone has opportunity, but also not forcing kids into places they don't want to be. I always kind of, at the end of the day, think like, how are we increasing places where students feel like they belong, you know, and so if they feel successful in one place, let's start there.

But we have to increase those places to as many as many different contexts as possible. And so, as an educator and as school systems, you know, we have to make sure those opportunities are there so that students and families have more choices around what education looks like for them without just them being forced around into these situations that are very frustrating for kids and for families where, you know, inclusion... The dream is there, but the reality it's not. It's not in place. And so I think, you know, depending on who you ask that, that question is very different. But at the end of this, honestly, I think it's about every kid needs opportunities to learn and access curriculum with their peers every day.

Michelle: I think that is a very beautiful way of summarizing it in a simple way for all of us to understand and empathize with. We all deserve opportunities to learn and grow and develop. Where would you say a good place for teachers to start with inclusive education would be?

The most important thing educators need to know about inclusive education. How can teachers be more inclusive?

Shelley: I think the most important step for inclusive education is to believe that it's possible. I think probably the biggest barrier that I come across in educators is the dreaded response I always get, it's just, they're not, they're not going to get anything out of this right, talking about often kids with intellectual disabilities and exposing them and giving them opportunities for curriculum and this kind of belief that they can't do it. It's that sense of presuming competence, or potential, which is the easiest and the hardest barrier to overcome. It's the easiest, because it's cost nothing, it requires zero resources to believe that it's possible, and to give students the benefit of the doubt that they're going to learn something.

Um, but it's the hardest because you can't force someone to think that you can't, you can't force someone to believe that it's possible. And, you know, I just, it's, it's, it's very, it's very hard. And so I think if you can believe that it's possible, trust the process a little bit.

I've worked K to 12, in many, many academic courses, anything can be made accessible. And I think once we realize that, you realize that the barrier to inclusion is not kids' capability levels, but it's our inability to make things accessible.

The greatest barrier facing inclusive education and how to overcome it by reframing your thinking

Michelle: Wow, that's incredible. I love that. And when you're saying you're talking about making things more accessible, does it mean that inclusive education is going to be more work for teachers? Does that mean that we have to do double the work to adjust things for every student?

Shelley: I think that I understand why people think that because all of us grew up in a system where the goal was to make everyone the same.

All of us said, right, we were taught we grew up in a system, we were taught to teach in a system, where everyone needs to learn the same thing in the same way in the same amount of time, with the same level of complexity.

But I think once we realize that, that's no longer really the goal... I mean, I mean, standardization, will play a role depending on where you are. But there's very, very few places where the heavy hammer of standardization is the only stake.

So if we can clearly balance and kind of shift from standardization to standard spaced learning, and standard based goals, you realize that that curricular goals are designed to be conceptual and accessible. And so it's not necessarily doing more work. Because I mean, like, when I first started teaching, and I'm like, Look at all these students with disabilities, like, how are we going to meet their individual needs, but I always kind of think instead of looking at how do we design Individual Education Plans for every kid, which is impossible, it's, you know, where can we all start? Where is a place where we can all start to be successful?

The barrier to inclusion is not kids' capability levels, it's our inability to make things accessible.

It's so much easier to add on complexity than it is to take it away. And so you know, thinking about teaching on a continuum instead of on a benchmark and thinking, Okay, so where do I need to start where everyone is successful. And often, if you think about that one student who needs the most support, they're not the only one that need the access. And so you end up catching more kids. And that's kind of the heart of Universal Design for Learning. Right.

So like, I understand why people think it's more work. But when you learn how to do it, and you see what's possible, you realize it's actually, I think it's easier. It's different work than we know. And so, that's my slogan, it's not more work, it's different work! But you know, and I think it's okay that people don't know what to do. But it's, it's no longer it's no longer okay to not do anything about it, I think is the place where we're at in a lot of in a lot of equity conversations. It's okay to not know, but it's time to shift. It's time to move.

Michelle: Right? And I think that's what I'm hearing from you is a little bit of shifting, first shifting your mindset. Then it's shifting how we look at things. It's like flipping this idea of how we plan and how we prepare our lessons. So instead of starting with, this is the activity and this is how I'm going to change it for this child and this child. It's this is like the concept that we're trying to grasp, where can we all enter? And then how can I layer it to make it more challenging in different ways for different students.

Shelley: Michelle, that's it. You got it. Perfect.

How do you promote an inclusive environment in the classroom?

Michelle: Do you have an example maybe of a teacher or an activity that you've seen that was done like really well in this way?

Shelley: I know exactly what to share with you.

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Shelley: I was observing a classroom, grade nine English where people say it's not possible I'm gonna tell you what happened. So this, the lesson that I was observing was this teacher was kicking off a unit around memoir writing, students had to like really like dig into a memory and, and write about it. And they were having a hard time thinking about memories, because they're teenagers, you know, teenagers are just like, I'm hungry. And there's, there was a little guy in this class, who has autism, and communicates with an augmentative communication device. And so you can you can sit here and say, Oh, well, he can't do this. He can't write. He can't talk. All the things he can't do. But what the teacher did that was different. Was she asked the other question, what can he do? And this, this student could do a lot.

So what she did was, she took this idea of memoir writing, and she's the key, what's the essence here with the concept? What do I want all the kids to be able to do? And what she realized was that, you know, memories are really evoked by our senses. And so she created something called memory lane, as this kickoff to this unit, which was she Googled things that were popular in like the first five years of these kids' life.

So like, TV or cartoons that they that they would have watched, when they were young, fashion, music, all of these things. And so the kids went through all the kids went through all of these different sensory stations, she brought in cinnamon to evoke memories of food and baking, it was incredible.

So like, so all these kids are walking through and they're having a blast, right? Because everything is based on sights and sounds and movement and, and, and sense of smell and touch.

She had like flannel, like a flannel baby blanket for them to hold. And it just was it was incredible. And I asked the students afterwards just typical like students with and without disabilities, like how, how was that lesson for you?

And they're like, one student was just like, that was a lesson I thought we were playing a game. And I'm like, Well, why do you say that? They're like, well, because it was fun. It wasn't hard. And I'm like, Well, did it help you is my question, you know, because you had to come up with a memory.

He's like, Oh, yeah, no, I had like, five memories after going through that sensory, sensory walk. And then the student with autism, was able to participate in all of that completely independently, right? Because those are the things that he had strengths and he can, he can see, he could smell, he can feel, he can listen. He loved the music station because those were those would have been his, his childhood memories as well. But because he was able to independently, he was able to do that with his peers, and then his peers started interacting with him and asking him about his memories and we had contacted his family had a time to come up with a memory that we knew he was he really loved it. And so at the end of the sensory station, he had a couple of choices in terms of memories in his life, and he picked a family vacation to Hawaii. Because the teacher had the scent of kids sunscreen.

Like, you know, these kids are in grade nine. And you know, a lot of people are just like, oh, well, you know, you don't want to simplify it too much. And I'm like, You know what, that wasn't simple. That was, it was it was bigger. It was, they were big ideas.

They were connecting to that concept of what what, what is a memory? And why is that? Why would you want to write about that not just, here's a task, pick a memory, right? Like, it just made it really real for all of the kids. But you know that lesson was, was like explicitly designed for that student with autism. And everyone started there, it wasn't an adaptation, it wasn't modification, like everyone started there and actually helped everyone. And that he was a part of sharing a memory, just like everybody else.

He used his communication device, but he talked about senses, which is what she was trying to get all of the students to do.

And so I just like, I remember, just watching that lesson and being like this, it's it's masterful, like it's, it's art, when you see it, and you see it, you can't unsee it, you can see the possibility of that. And she wasn't trying to change who he was as a person, wasn't trying to fix some deficit area, it was building on what he could do.

Michelle: I love that. And, you know, I'm also hearing this as a place where every student was engaged. It sounds like there was probably no classroom management, you know, needed because these kids were loving it. They didn't even know that they were doing a lesson.

Shelley: Yeah, exactly. They managed each other. They were up out of their desks, they were moving around, they were able to connect. And, you know, we think about like the strengths of adolescence, like that's what it is movement, and community and connection. And so, you know, it wasn't just what this student with autism could do. It was all of their strengths. And interests were harnessed in that lesson. It just was like this is it. This is what we're trying to do.

What an inclusive lesson looks like in practice, and how it benefits all learners (from a real Grade 9 English classroom!)

Michelle: Thank you for sharing that that's a perfectly it gives me such a good grasp on, you know, what does this look like in practice?

What would you say that school leaders should know about inclusive education? Like how do we make our schools more inclusive from the top?

Shelley: I think that's a really good question. I think that there's a misunderstanding that teachers can do this by themselves. Inclusion is not an I model. It's a we model. It relies on collaborative expertise of multiple perspectives. And like there's I've never met a teacher who knows everything, who has the expertise of every need, and her in their classroom, his or her, or their classroom.

As an administrator, or an inclusive leader, I think it's really, really important that if we want this to happen, we have to make it look easier than what's already happening, which means we have to great opportunities as a part of the culture of the school, where teachers work together, where support teachers and classroom teachers come together during the day, not on their lunchtime, not after school, where, you know, it's part of the structure of the building, where they have opportunities to connect over time, to anticipate needs to be able to plan lessons on the go.

"We're working in a system that wasn't designed to be inclusive."

And also giving teachers choice in terms of what collaboration looks like, not all teachers want to co-teach. Some teachers want to co-plan. Some teachers want some co-reflection and some consultation. So I always kind of think, you know, as a support teacher, one of the probably the most powerful advice that I was given was just like kids, you want to meet teachers where they're at as well. And so giving classroom teachers an option of, what does support look like for you? Does it look like you know, you know, and some teachers will choose co-teaching, and some teachers will choose co-planning and some teachers will choose station teaching and understanding that there's, there's different ways to do this.

The more that we give teachers choice, just like kids, the more they're going to engage as well.

The other thing that I think is important for school leaders to know is that as a special education teacher, it was important that I was free. Like I didn't, I wasn't enrolling, I didn't have students in my classroom for the whole day. And so like there was still a time where I had students but like of our seven blocks, I had students enrolled in a class for one of those and the rest I was out in the building and so a lot of trust, a lot of trust for teachers to connect and use times in different ways to the space to be innovative, right, like we're working in a system that wasn't designed to be inclusive.

So we're gonna have to have space for creativity and innovation and, and trust to use that time in meaningful ways depending on who we're working with.

Michelle: Yeah, that's a common message that I hear from teachers. It's, you know, asking for that, that trust to be able to share I'd like from our experiences what we need, with, you know, the decision makers.

Shelley: Oh, it's huge. Yeah, it's huge. And, you know, I always think when if there's ever pushback from an educator, it's, I think, you know, it's same as kids, right?

Like, people push back when they don't know what to do. And they push back when they don't feel like they have a voice or a stake in the conversation and they push back when they're, when they don't understand.

And so I think it took me a long time to realize that I thought for a long time, teachers were staging a coup against inclusion, that they just didn't believe it. But you know, over time, I'm like, if I could give myself go back in time, 20 years, and give myself advice. And it's like, you know, it's very rare that people don't believe in this philosophically, it's how do we support them practically, which is really where the conversation is, is needed.

Michelle: I love that. Thank you for sharing. And just to be mindful of your time, I know we're almost out of time here. Is there a message or an idea or recommendation that you could leave us with?

Shelley: Yes, this one, I always get in trouble because I get into Twitter fights about this one.

How school leaders can work to create more inclusive learning environments by weaving collaborative learning, planning, or teaching opportunities into the fabric of the school

I think, I think and I and again, like I understand why this happens. But I think we talked a little bit about the misunderstanding around like that educators, classroom teachers have to do this by themselves. Like that's something that needs to be like debunked.

I think the other one that we really need to talk about is the use of resources. There's a I mean, of course, inclusion needs resources, like without a doubt. And when I say resources, I mean, people funding in time. Right, like, we need resources, for sure.

But I think that in most places that I've that I've visited and worked with, there's also a lot of resources that are being used to counteract inclusive efforts. And so I think if we kind of really look at how to use resources in optimal ways to say how do we support inclusion at every kind of like, infrastructural level, whether that's the student, the classroom, the school, the district, the, you know, the jurisdiction, say, Okay, what resources are not being used to support inclusion, and how do we reallocate, redistribute and support some of those, some of those contexts to shift.

At the other side, I also think that one of the number one requests I hear for inclusion to be possible is that I need an EA or I need a para. Absolutely, we need EAs and paras, but often they're seen as the solution to the inclusion problem.

I'll walk into a classroom that has four EAs, and four kids with disabilities, and that's actually not ... our educational system actually is counteracting the goals of inclusion. And so as much as I think, you know, EAs are such a critical part of the conversation of inclusion, they themselves are not the support, they're a resource.

So people are only going to be as useful as the plan that's put into place. And if we start looking at our support staff, as plans for the community, instead of a plan for one kid, I think that we're going to reduce a lot of the barriers that kids are having in terms of anxiety in terms of challenging behavior, as to be just working with an adult on the side is very isolating, as opposed to, how do I work with and be a part of this community that absolutely has an EA, but you know, that EA is not assigned to a student in that one to one way and so in, especially parents, because they've been taught that's what to advocate for is an EA. It's actually detrimental to students.

And so I think, you know, if I were just to give a piece of advice, it would be if you have if you have a child, or a student in your class with a disability, advocate for the class, you know, what you would ask for one person, ask for the whole class.

So if you have if you want an EA, so how do I get my class to have an EA not? How do I get the student to have any EA, because it becomes more of a parenting model instead of a dividing and conquering model. Because students do not feel included when it's a divide and conquer model. And so using resources in ways that support community instead of supporting individual needs, because it's just it's not good for kids.

Michelle: Thank you. That is such an important shift and one that I myself I'll admit, like never considered, you know, being a teacher I had EAs in my class and you know, there was-

Shelley: You don't need them as understanding we need them. But I think we put them in really unfair situations sometimes-

Michelle: -focusing on the one child rather than how can we as a team, support this class?

Shelley: Exactly. You got it, Michelle.

Michelle: Thank you again to Shelley Moore for joining us on the podcast today. If you'd like to know more about Shelley or grab some of her free resources, we will include all of her links in the show notes of today's episode.

Thank you for listening to this episode of School of Talk. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure you subscribe to the podcast. If you love today's episode, share this out with a friend. Class is dismissed!

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Inclusive Education with Shelley Moore | Podcast Ep. 8 | Teach Away

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If you're an educator, you are likely used to teaching a diverse group of learners. You probably have students with different backgrounds, interests, talents, and skillsets. You also likely have students with varying physical, developmental, emotional, and sensory needs. But how can one teacher support a large group of learners?

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Developing an inclusive classroom will teach learners to accept and acknowledge each others differences.

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Teachers need to create an inclusive environment for learners where they can feel safe.

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Every child has the right to quality education and learning. All children deserves to develop their full potential and have hope for a brighter future.

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An estimated 93 million children worldwide live with disabilities. Like all children, children with disabilities have ambitions and dreams for their futures. Like all children, they need quality education to develop their skills and realize their full potential.

Yet, children with disabilities are often overlooked in policymaking, limiting their access to education and their ability to participate in social, economic and political life. Worldwide, these children are among the most likely to be out of school. They face persistent barriers to education stemming from discrimination, stigma and the routine failure of decision makers to incorporate disability in school services.

Disability is the single most serious barrier to education across the globe.

Nearly 50 per cent of children with disabilities are not in school, compared to only 13 per cent of their peers without disabilities. Robbed of their right to learn, children with disabilities are often denied the chance to take part in their communities, the workforce and the decisions that most affect them.

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An estimated 93 million children worldwide live with disabilities. Like all children, children with disabilities have ambitions and dreams for their futures. Like all children, they need quality education to develop their skills and realize their full potential.