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Alberta Education: Inclusive Education Policy

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Alberta Education: Inclusive Education Policy

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English
French-language content for this topic on Alberta.ca is currently being developed. Information will remain available on the Alberta Education website until this is complete.

Français
La page correspondante en français est en cours de préparation sur le site Web Alberta.ca. Pendant cette période de transition, l'information qu'elle contient demeure disponible sur le site Web du ministère de l'Éducation.

Overview

Inclusion is not just about learners with special needs. It is an attitude and approach that embraces diversity and learner differences and promotes equal opportunities for all learners in Alberta. Alberta's education system is built on a values-based approach to accepting responsibility for all children and students.

Every learner has unique needs. Some learners have profound and ongoing needs and others have short-term or situation-based needs. This calls for flexible and responsive learning environments that can adapt to the changing needs of learners.

For some learners, the most responsive and flexible learning environment may include:

instruction and support in a grade-level classroom with same-aged peers

individualized instruction in smaller group settings

a specialized classroom or setting

one-on-one instruction

a combination of all the above

When teachers use evidence-based instructional practices and strategies to support student engagement, it can lead to greater achievement and success for all children and students.

Flexible and responsive supports include:

Universal supports - incorporated into the environment for all learners, such as flexible learning resources and technologies, differentiated instruction and positive behaviour supports

Targeted strategies or interventions - for learners who need more specialized learning opportunities or access to more specialized expertise

Specialized/Individualized supports - that directly relate to individual learning needs such as the use of sign language interpreters, alternate and augmentative communication systems (ACC), or mental health support

Funding

Inclusive Education funding is allocated to school authorities through a formula that aims to ensure an equitable distribution of funding. Funding is not determined through coding.

School authorities distribute the funding they receive based on the needs of students within their school communities.

Principles of inclusive education

The following 6 principles are key to achieving Alberta's vision for an inclusive education system. These principles can guide and inform value-based and learner-centred decisions related to policies, practices and actions at every level of Alberta's education system.

Anticipate, value and support diversity and learner differences - Welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments create a sense of belonging for all learners and their families.

High expectations for all learners - Creating a culture of high expectations begins with an accessible curriculum and meaningful and relevant learning experiences. Educators and families act on the idea that, with the right instructional supports, every learner can be successful.

Understand learners' strengths and needs - Meaningful data is gathered and shared at all levels of the system-by teachers, families, schools, school authorities and the Ministry-to understand and respond to the strengths and needs of individual learners.

Remove barriers within learning environments - All education partners work together to remove barriers within the learning environment so that all learners are successful and can participate in the school community.

Build capacity - Government, school and system leaders, teachers, education professionals, families and community partners have ongoing opportunities, relationships and resources that develop, strengthen and renew their understanding, skills and abilities to create flexible and responsive learning environments. Capacity building takes place at the personal, school and system levels.

Collaborate for success - All education stakeholders, including school and system staff, families, community partners, post-secondary institutions, teacher preparation programs and government are committed to collaboration to support the success of all learners.

Watch nine videos from the Inclusive Education Video Series to learn more about inclusive education topics, including valuing all students, changing how we talk about disabilities and using a positive behaviour approach to support learning.

Video discussion guides

Resources

Inclusive Education Policy

Alberta Education's mission to continue providing inclusive learning opportunities is evidenced in the Inclusive Education Policy in the Guide to Education.

Alberta's education system is built on a values-based approach to accepting responsibility for all children and students. Inclusion is a way of thinking and acting that demonstrates universal acceptance of, and belonging for, all children and students.

"To support children and students in attaining the goals as stated in the Ministerial Order on Student Learning, school authorities must ensure that all children and students (Kindergarten to Grade 12), regardless of race, religious belief, colour, gender, gender identity, gender expression, physical disability, mental disability, family status or sexual orientation, or any other factor(s), have access to meaningful and relevant learning experiences that include appropriate instructional supports."
2015-16 Guide to Education: ECS to Grade 12, page 25.

Indicators of inclusive schools

Indicators of Inclusive Schools (PDF, 894 KB) is a resource that:

offers information and tools that leaders can use to support schools and school systems to reflect on how their schools are demonstrating a commitment to inclusive education

helps school staff to develop strategies and action plans that strengthen inclusive education and ensure equitable access for all learners

Information from this resource can be used to inform the 3-Year Education Plan and provide assurance to school communities that every student has equitable access to education.

Templates

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 3-School/Authority Leader (DOCX, 47KB)

A. Conversation Guide Template Dimension 1 (DOCX, 86 KB)

A. Conversation Guide Template Dimension 3 (DOCX, 85 KB)

A. Conversation Guide Template Dimension 4 (DOCX, 96 KB)

A. Conversation Guide Template Dimension 5 (DOCX, 55 KB)

B. Getting to the Root of the Challenge Tool (DOCX, 19 KB)

C. Action Planning Guide (DOCX, 17 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 1-Parent (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 1-G 4-6 Students (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 1-G 7-12 Students (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 1-School Staff (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 1-School/Authority Leader (DOCX, 46 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 2-Parent (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 2-G 4-6 Students (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 2-G 7-12 Students (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 2-School Staff (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 2-School/Authority Leaders (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 3-Parent (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 3-G 4-6 Students (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 3-G 7-12 Students (DOCX, 46 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 3-School Staff (DOCX, 48 KB)

A. Conversation Guide Template Dimension 2 (DOCX, 83 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 4-Parent (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 4-G 4-6 Students (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 4-G 7-12 Students (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 4-School Staff (DOCX, 48 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 4-School/Authority Leader (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 5-Parent (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 5-G 4-6 Students (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 5-G 7-12 Students (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 5-School Staff (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys Dimension 5-School/Authority Leader (DOCX, 47 KB)

D. Sample Surveys IS Overall-Parent (DOCX, 46 KB)

D. Sample Surveys IS Overall-G 4-6 Students (DOCX, 46 KB)

D. Sample Surveys IS Overall-G 7-12 Students (DOCX, 46 KB)

D. Sample Surveys IS Overall-School Staff (DOCX, 46 KB)

D. Sample Surveys IS Overall-School/Authority Leader (DOC, 119 KB)

E. Survey Cross Reference Chart-Dimension 1 (PDF, 489 KB)

E. Survey Cross Reference Chart-Dimension 2 (PDF, 585 KB)

E. Survey Cross Reference Chart-Dimension 3 (PDF, 483 KB)

E. Survey Cross Reference Chart-Dimension 4 (PDF, 590 KB)

E. Survey Cross Reference Chart-Dimension 5 (PDF, 545 KB)

E. Survey Cross Reference Chart-IS Overall (PDF, 499 KB)

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English French-language content for this topic on Alberta.ca is currently being developed. Information will remain available on the Alberta Education website until this is complete. Français La page correspondante en français est en cours de préparation sur le site Web Alberta.ca. Pendant cette période de transition, l'information qu'elle contient demeure disponible sur le site Web du ministère de l'Éducation.

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1879 Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds

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1879 Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds

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Previous Section Next Section
Duncan Campbell Scott was to run the residential school system at its peak- that is, between 1913 and 1932. Scott was what might be called an extreme assimilationist. As a career civil servant, he was involved in Aboriginal affairs throughout his career (he proposed several amendments to the Indian Act and negotiated one of the major treaties). More importantly, he oversaw the operation of the residential schools. Scott was an active official, and while he seems to have appreciated some elements of the indigenous cultures, he also contributed much to their destruction. Moreover, in 1924 he proposed an amendment to the Indian Act that banned those under its jurisdiction from hiring lawyers (without the DIA's approval) to represent them in land and rights claims. For these and many other contributions, experts call Scott the "architect of Indian policies" during the first decades of the twentieth century.

In 1920, Scott also pushed for and passed an amendment to the Indian Act making school attendance compulsory for all First Nations children less than 15 years of age. As a result of the amendment, indigenous enrollment rose to about 17,000 in all schools and to more than 8,000 in residential schools by the end of his tenure. According to Scott's reports, at this point, 75% of First Nations children were enrolled in some school, which he attributed to a growing motivation among them to take up Western education. Clearly, the fact that the education was now compulsory and that, since 1930, it included all children between the ages of 7 and 16 had something to do with these numbers.

While Scott did not think that education alone was sufficient for civilizing the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, he pushed heavily for it. When he mandated school attendance in 1920, he stated, "I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone. . . . Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department, that is the whole object of this Bill." Because of his radical position, it is easy to understand why he is often associated with the saying "Kill the Indian, save the man." In the discussion about whether the Canadian assimilation policies and the Indian Residential Schools constitute, this approach is often key evidence. Scott summarized the prevailing attitudes of Canadian officials: the First Peoples, despite many agreements with the Crown that guaranteed their independence, were to be eradicated as distinct nations and cultures.

By the turn of the twentieth century, there were 18 industrial and 36 residential schools; three decades later, at the peak of the system's operation, there were 77 state-funded residential schools in Canada. Shortly after, there were 80 schools, of which "over one-half-44-were under various Catholic orders, 21 under the Church of England (later the Anglican Church of Canada), 13 under the United Church, and 2 under the Presbyterians." Over the 150-year span of theIndian Residential Schools system, Canada saw close to 150 schools and 150,000 pupils.

Although Scott was proud of his work and the growing numbers of students in residential schools, things were not looking up. Numbers in schools, wrote Brian Titley, "did not automatically translate into numbers being assimilated. Undoubtedly, the school experience profoundly affected the outlook of young Indians . . . The vast majority remained distinctly Indian and only marginally in the workforce, if indeed at all. In terms of its objectives, then, the policy of educating the Indian children in segregated day and residential schools failed."

Beyond the failure of the schools with regard to their aims of assimilation, Scott was blamed for the neglect and death of many children. Dr. Bryce, as we have seen, found Scott's penny-pinching to be the main obstacle in promoting basic reforms that could have saved many lives. But nobody listened to him. A defeated, aging man, Bryce published a pamphlet in 1922 called "The Story of a National Crime." In it he argued that "Scott, in particular, had consistently failed to acknowledge and address native health needs." It is now estimated that at least 6,000 students died in the residential schools. Most parents never knew that their child had perished. The death toll of so many students from tuberculosis and other diseases in the residential schools has recently prompted a heated debate about Canada's responsibility for these deaths.

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"Until There Is Not a Single Indian in Canada"

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Duncan Campbell Scott was to run the residential school system at its peak- that is, between 1913 and 1932. Scott was what might be called an extreme assimilationist. As a career civil servant, he was involved in Aboriginal affairs throughout his career (he proposed several amendments to the Indian Act and negotiated one of the major treaties).

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Solving the "Indian Problem": Assimilation Laws, Practices, and Indian Residential Schools

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Solving the "Indian Problem": Assimilation Laws, Practices, and Indian Residential Schools

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http://wherearethechildren.ca/en/timeline/research/

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Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

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Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples

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http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/royal-commission-aboriginal-peoples/Pages/final-report.aspx

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Evolution of the Edmonton Indian Residential School (1924-1966)

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Evolution of the Edmonton Indian Residential School (1924-1966)

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Dates of operation:
1924-1966

Operated by the Missionary Society of the Methodist Church and, after 1925, by the United Church of Canada.

Near the town of St. Albert, approximately 10 miles northwest of downtown Edmonton, Alberta.

Dear Mom and Dad,

Just thought I'd drop you a few lines to let you know that I'm all right and hoping you are the same. I just want to thank all of you for sending those wonderful presents...

Well Mom and dad the main reason for my writing is that I want to go home. I'm not homesick or anything, just...this morning at 2 a.m. [he] woke us up and started to preach to us on how stupid the Indian was...Then this morning at 5 a.m. [he] got us up to go and scrub the basement. It was there I decided I'd like to go home because [he] slapped me around for not getting a haircut that morning...so don't be surprised if you see me home pretty soon. I was planning to try to stick out the whole term, but [he] threw a monkey-wrench into my plans.

P.S. the Christmas I spent here was the worst one in my whole life.

-letter from Edmonton IRS student to his parents, Jan. 8, 1962.[1]

Establishment

Edmonton Indian Residential School replaced the Red Deer IRS, which had closed in 1919, as the Methodist's school for Cree children from northern Alberta, primarily the Treaty 6 communities of the Hobbema, Edmonton, and Saddle Lake Indian Agencies. It was built at a time when the federal government was replacing many of the older church-built residential schools with larger "modern" institutes.

Church officials chose St. Albert, just outside of Edmonton, as the location for the new school because it was closer than Red Deer to the First Nations communities of Alberta's north. The Department of Indian Affairs agreed to the move and in January 1920 bought an 855-acre farm to serve as the school site. The Missionary Society began farming immediately with the hope that revenue from the farm would help finance construction of the school's building. It turned out, however, that the first three years produced a loss, and the Church had to turn to the DIA for further support.[2] In 1922, by parliamentary vote, the DIA agreed to finance construction of the main school building and provide a per capita grant.[3] Edmonton IRS began accepting students in March 1924 and opened officially in October of the same year.[4]

The new residence provided accommodation for 125 children and 12 staff. Although not many of its first students had attended Red Deer before coming to Edmonton-Red Deer students having graduated or transferred to other schools in the meantime-many of their parents had been enrolled at Red Deer. J.F. Woodsworth, the principal at Red Deer when it closed, assumed the same post at Edmonton, remaining there until 1946.

Curriculum and Farming

Like Red Deer before it, Edmonton IRS covered grades 1 to 8 and operated on the half-day system, with classes in the morning and vocational training (farming) in the afternoon. During the harvest, older boys often spent the entire day on the farm, which, by 1929, consisted of 500 acres under cultivation, including 110 acres of wheat, 125 acres of oats, and 40 acres of barley. The potato crop that year produced 3,000 bushels. By 1933, livestock consisted of 15 horses, 59 cattle (both beef and dairy), 135 pigs, 50 chickens and 25 turkeys.[5]

Over the life of the school, the farm contributed to the institution's finances. The children's labour produced most of the food consumed at the school; wheat was milled on site and cattle and pigs, slaughtered. The hogs were sold on the market, and when there were not enough older boys in the school to farm all 500 acres, Woodsworth leased several hundred acres to neighbours to sharecrop.[6] "Mr. Woodworth has made a real business of raising hogs. He sells quite a number each year and they are sold as 'selects,'" wrote one inspector. The grains harvested, however, were found to be of little value and used mostly to feed the animals.[7]

The emphasis on farm work at the expense of academic study was a constant source of friction between the school, on the one hand, and the children, their parents and visiting inspectors, on the other. In 1930, one boy who pleaded to be returned home or transferred to another school wrote, "I just went to school three days since I came here, that isn't why my father send me here to work, he send me here to go to school and study hard, and to learn to read and write."[8] The boy stated that he had to have someone write the letter for him because he had not yet learned "anything at all." Indian Agent Mortimer, to whom the boy was writing, confirmed that he found it difficult to convince parents in his agency (in British Columbia) to send their children to Edmonton because of complaints that the students were "continually working on the farm, thereby getting little or no education."[9]

Principal Woodsworth defended the intensive farm labour demanded of the students, arguing that "farm education" was "the best kind of training they could have." In his writings, Woodsworth often extolled the Christian virtues of farming life, a conviction that reflected the church's position that Aboriginal fishers, hunters, and trappers should transform into Christian farmers. He criticized parents who wanted their children "suddenly to become fine scholars, after allowing them to run the streets of their villages until they are big boys and girls" and praised the school's regime for the "discipline and restraint" it instilled in them.[10]

The DIA also favoured the focus on agriculture. In 1929, when the Indian commissioner reported that girls at Edmonton IRS were not doing the milking, the DIA ordered the school to begin instruction immediately. "What are we going to do when these women return to their reserves as farmers and are not able to milk cows? Are they to employ maids?" wrote the commissioner. He added, "One of our greatest difficulties is to get these people to keep milk cows," and he lamented that men on the reserves would not do the milking.[11]

Farming and ranching, for boys, and housework, for girls, was the only kind of vocational training offered at the school until Principal Staley replaced Woodsworth in 1946 on the latter's retirement. Staley promised "there would be no serf labor of pupils, no rationing of food, no drudgery work." Instead, he hoped "to improve the place with a high esprit de corps by supplying a good sports program and other entertainment."[12] Staley did not abandon the farm, however. He recommended that the acreage that had been let out for sharecropping be brought back under the school's control. He also made plans to raise mink and have the boys at the school make the pens as a manual training project.[13]

The academic side of the children's schooling continued to suffer. In 1949, the inspector reported that emphasis was still placed upon practical training rather than academic learning, and that the children were in the classroom for only a part of the school day."[14] The school also suffered from a shortage of senior teachers.

Principal Findlay Barnes abolished the half-day system in 1953 and ended the use of student labour on the farm.[15] In 1958, all farming at the school ceased, and both the farm animals and equipment were sold at public auction.

Post-WWII

World War II brought shortages and reductions in government spending at schools across the country as monies and attention were diverted to the war effort. At Edmonton IRS, neglect during the war years left the school in dire need of maintenance and cleaning, leading to poor water quality and to skin disease among the children. Principal Staley was so unhappy with the state in which he found the school, he delayed opening in 1946 to October, so that he could initiate changes and improvements to the facility. "The Indians who have such great opposition to sending their children there might change their minds, and do so freely," wrote one inspector regarding Staley's proposed changes.[16]

Staley arranged for a provincial sanitation inspection, which recommended a general redecorating of the facility, replacement of many wash basins and toilets because they had corroded past safe use, replacement of the septic tank and sewer pipes, improved drinking fountains, improvements to the fire escapes, and a complete new set of mattresses, as the old ones had become lumpy and uncomfortable.[17] The provincial sanitation inspector also recommended that two tubs be made available "to disinfect" new students at the beginning of each school year. School officials hoped these changes would make the school more appealing to communities and parents, who had often expressed dissatisfaction with the unhealthy conditions at the school.

These renovations did not, however, resolve all the school's sanitation problems. A 1948 inspection reported only one toilet and no drinking taps in the dormitories and an overworked septic tank that created a foul-smelling pond of water.[18] By the 1950s, skin disease among the children was rampant. The new principal, Findlay Barnes, complained to the DIA about the shortage of washing basins: "This means that if one child has an infectious skin ailment, then many of the other children are apt to contract the same disease."[19]

The end of the war also produced a shortage in staff as job openings and wages in the broader economy rose. Staley tried to woo better qualified staff with higher, provincial salary rates, but even these wages were not enough. By the time Barnes assumed the post of principal in 1952, all of the school's employees, with the exception of the farming staff, had left, and he had great difficulty replacing them. "The small wages that he could offer attracted no one and his advertisements in the papers have brought no results," the DIA inspector reported.[20] On reviewing the school's operations, Barnes concluded that the school's failings lay chiefly in the inadequacies of its staff. "Cheap, inefficient help has been its downfall," he wrote. In the end the solution, in place by 1955, was to turn over responsibility for hiring teachers to the Department of Indian Affairs, something the United Church had been suggesting for years.

Recruitment from British Columbia

Edmonton IRS originally recruited children from the Treaty 6 Cree communities with reserves in the vicinity of Edmonton-those of the Saddle Lake, Hobemma, and Edmonton Indian agencies. School officials soon discovered, however, that they could not achieve full enrolment (125 in the beginning and 150 after 1931) by registering children from these communities alone. The parents' discontent with Red Deer IRS and the transfer since its closing of children to other, even Roman Catholic, residential schools, appears to have contributed to low attendance.[21]

Between 1928 and 1937, to bring the school's numbers to capacity, the school recruited children from Gitxsan and Tsimshian communities in northern British Columbia. Some 100 children from the neighbouring province attended during these years, accounting for almost one third of the student population.[22] From most accounts, these children suffered greatly. Distance, cultural differences, and the discrimination they felt they received at the hands both of administrators and of the Albertan students left them feeling particularly isolated and vulnerable. "All the B.C. boys hate this place," wrote one student. "All the B.C. boys and myself don't like what we are eating in our dining room, we couldn't hardly eat anything, because we are not used to them kinds of food."[23]

Parents protested against the great distances their children had to travel, the school's emphasis on farming-unsuitable, they reasoned, for children from fishing communities-and the unfamiliar food. Both the DIA and Principal Woodsworth noted but in the end dismissed these complaints. "I fancy food is about the same in Alberta as in B.C.," Wordsworth wrote to the DIA. "If fish were more plentiful we might give them some more frequently, but as it is we have it in season."[24] For its part, the DIA responded to the expense of sending the B.C. children home during the holidays by suspending holidays for them altogether.[25] Many parents did not see their children for years.

Community protests against the practice of sending children out of province did not diminish, and by 1937, the DIA recommended ending it.[26] G.H. Barry, district inspector of Indian Schools for British Columbia, observed, "I am very unhappy with regard to the lack of progress made by the Indian pupils going to the Residential School near Edmonton. I am told that the B.C. Indians are quite out of touch with various activities there as they are not considered by the Indians on the Alberta side of the Rocky Mountains as of the same stock." Barry considered the Anglican residential school at Alert Bay, on Vancouver Island, a better option for these children.[27] Principal Woodsworth accepted the DIA's recommendation, noting that the great distance between school and home had caused much friction between parents, the Indian Agent, and Ottawa.[28]

By the late 1940s, most of the children attending Edmonton IRS were again from the Hobbema, Saddle Lake, and Edmonton Indian agencies, with occasional students being placed from other schools in the province or from Saskatchewan when schools were closed or overcrowded. Keeping enrolment at capacity continued to be a struggle. Many families preferred the new day schools located in First Nations communities throughout Alberta. For a time, government officials suggested converting Edmonton IRS into a non-denominational school under government management, but church officials resisted: "The United Church of Canada will not abandon the Edmonton school." [29]

Another solution explored was recruitment of 60 to 80 children who could not be accommodated at the Morley Indian Residential School, located on the Stoney reserve near Calgary. The Stoney, however, had always refused to send their children away from the reserve. Assurances were made to Stoney parents that their children would get "first-class academic training and be relieved of chores which would retard their school progress." Officials also threatened to use "compulsion." [30] But the Stoney stood firm. Few of their children ever went to Edmonton.

Once again, the DIA turned to northern British Columbia to make up the shortfall, relocating children from day schools and from Alberni IRS, on Vancouver Island. The DIA's educational survey officer claimed the Edmonton school was more accessible for communities in the Hazelton region of British Columbia. Travel to Alberni required a lengthy train ride, a treacherous three-day ocean voyage, and a final overland journey. Sixty children from Tsimshian and Gitxsan communities began the school term at Edmonton IRS in September 1950.[31]

To accommodate the newcomers, the school added a sixth, full-day classroom. In addition, since many of the recruits were affiliated with the Anglican Church, the school agreed to provide some Anglican services.[32] From 1950 to 1968, children from Babine Lake, Skeena River, Haida Gwaii, Terrace, Oweekano, Kitasoo, Bella Bella, and Bella Coola made up most of the school population. In 1958, for example, 120 students at Edmonton IRS were from northern British Columbia. Half of these children were affiliated with the Anglican Church and half with the United Church. The remaining 24 students were from Alberta.[33] In 1955, there were also two Inuit children registered.[34]

Not surprisingly, the friction described by Woodworth during the 1930s soon resurfaced. According to Principal Staley, the older B.C. boys were "a bad lot." Similarly, Oliver Strapp, who was principal from 1955 to 1960, reported that staff had difficulty handling the older students. He wrote also of "a definite antipathy" between the B.C. and the Alberta students.[35]

Recruitment from British Columbia continued. In October 1960, the DIA sent Grade 7 and 8 children from the Gitsxan villages of Kitwanga and Kitwancool to Edmonton, citing the poor quality of the teaching at the local day school. Their parents were very reluctant but finally let them go on the promise that they would return for the Christmas holidays. In the meantime, they petitioned to have their children integrated into the public school system at home. Despite DIA and church opposition, the children returned to the Kitwanga Valley in January 1961 and joined the Kitwanaga Valley Public School.[36] In their petition, the Kitwancool Council cited the "unfavourable rumours" they'd been hearing for years about Edmonton IRS, the abuse that children were subjected to by other students, and "immorality" at the school.[37] One student had written to her mother, "Please send for us if you do not want us to come home in caskets."[38]

Allegations against the School

Negative reports and "harmful stories" about Edmonton IRS abounded, but for a long time, church officials maintained that they were exaggerated or false.[39] Then, E.F. Stotesbury, a missionary from Saskatchewan, reported to church officials his suspicion that the school's minister, James C. Ludford, was sexually abusing students. On September 28, 1960, Ludford was convicted on charges of gross indecency and received a one-year suspended sentence with psychiatric treatment. The next month, Stotesbury brought further reports of sexual misconduct, this time among the students, to the attention of church authorities. Shaken by the revelations, Superintendent of Missions Etude declared that staff incompetence at the school was beyond comprehension, the church was losing the confidence of Native peoples, and that they were becoming the laughing stock of their Catholic counterparts. He concluded, "It is now apparent that our Indian people knew of this situation long before the church was aware of it."[40]

The Cemetery at Edmonton IRS

Around 1946, the Indian Affairs Branch asked for space on the school property to establish a small graveyard to bury Aboriginal and Inuit individuals who had passed away at the nearby Camsell Hospital and whose northern homes were considered too distant for their return for burial.[41] In 1965, the Edmonton Indian Agency Superintendent clarified that deceased individuals from Alberta and the Northwest Territories, whose families could not pay for their return home, had been buried in the cemetery.

Although the cemetery was under the jurisdiction of the DIA, officials noted that "spiritual sponsorship of the cemetery is under the United Church."[42] They also relied on students at the school to help with maintenance. For instance, Principal Barnes wrote in 1955, "The boys at the School keep the grounds in reasonable condition for no remuneration, but they get paid for digging graves."[43]

The last burial at the cemetery occurred in 1966. After Edmonton IRS closed, the province pledged to preserve and improve the site and erect a commemorative plaque or historical marker. The DIA recommended advising the Indian Association of Alberta and the descendants of the people, such as Chief Sun, who were buried there "to assure them that the old cemetery will be undisturbed as a result of the transfer of the land to provincial jurisdiction."[44] The City of St. Albert became responsible for the graveyard's care in 1979, after it annexed both the graveyard itself and land adjacent to the school property for a city cemetery.

In 1987, the Camsell Hospital History Committee erected a cairn at the site in memory of the Inuit and Aboriginal people interred there. Donald McBride, the last principal of Edmonton IRS, was a member of the committee and compiled the list of names of the deceased.[45]

Integration and the Edmonton Student Residence

By the late 1950s, some DIA officials were calling for the closure of Edmonton IRS. They argued that the school was not serving the interests of the Aboriginal communities from the region.[46] Importing children from British Columbia was expensive, and there was a growing preference among officials for placing students in foster homes from which they could attend day schools. In addition, the school building was in poor shape. "At present the accommodation is less than adequate and the atmosphere of the school is, to say the least, depressing," commented the chairman of a committee struck in 1958 to determine the school's future.[47]

At the time, Edmonton IRS also boarded some 50 students who were attending public schools in Jasper Place, in the west end of Edmonton. Many of these students were very unhappy at the school due to the lack of a recreation program and the poor facilities.[48] It was difficult to accommodate these students elsewhere, however, because there were not enough foster homes in the Edmonton area.

In the end, the committee concluded that the school could run for the next three to five years, but that, with the current trend toward integrating Aboriginal students into the public school system, the student population was bound to decline in the future. The committee agreed that farm operations at the school should cease, since this work occupied too much of the principal's efforts. The United Church, for its part, continued to see the need for a residential school or hostel to serve the children who required institutional care. Plans were made to redecorate the Edmonton school and update the plumbing, wiring, heating, and kitchen facilities. Meanwhile, the DIA and the church investigated the possibility of establishing hostel accommodation to replace the residence.[49]

By June 1960, Edmonton IRS had become, in effect, a student residence rather than a school, with all its boarders attending grades 3 to 12 in schools in Jasper Place.

Home Economics and Industrial Arts were eliminated and two teacher-advisors made up the entire teaching staff. In 1962, the residence was remodeled to accommodate 150 high school students who would attend high schools in the Jasper Place region. The United Church turned management of the residence over to the DIA at the end of the 1965/66 school year. Two years later, on June 30, 1968, the residence was closed.

1. [?] to Mom and Dad, RG10, vol. 13463, file 901/25-1, pt. 1, 1950/10-1966/01, Library and Archives Canada (LAC). On the reverse of the page, the student wrote, "I wrote this in school and didn't get to hear the new principal. And after hearing, I am inclined to try and stick out the rest of the year here."

2. C.E. Manning, General Secretary, Missionary Society, and T. Ferrier, Superintendent, Methodist Missionary Schools, to D.C. Scott, Deputy Secretary General of Indian Affairs (SGIA), vol. 6350, file 753-1, LAC.

3. SGIA to D.M. Kennedy, M.P., Apr. 21, 1922, RG10, vol. 6450, file 753-1, LAC.

4. Ferrier to Scott, Sept. 12, 1924, RG10, vol. 6450, file 753-1, LAC.

5. M. Christianson, Inspector of Indian Agencies, to Harold McGill, Deputy SGIA, Feb. 26, 1933, RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

6. Christianson to McGill, Mar. 18, 1935, RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

7. W.F. Graham, Indian Commissioner, "Edmonton School," memorandum, Feb. 13, 1931, RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

8. Eddie Smith to Mr. Mortimer, Indian Agent, Oct. 18, 1931, RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

9. Mortimer to W.E. Ditchburn, Indian Commissioner for B.C., RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

10. J.F. Woodsworth to Secretary, Department of Indian Affairs (DIA), [Feb. 12?], 1932, RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

11. Graham to School's Branch, DIA, Mar. 5, 1929, RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

12. G.H. Gooderham, Acting Inspector of Indian Agencies, to Indian Affairs Branch, Aug. 7, 1946, file (110)774/6-1-753, vol. 1, 09.45-12/53, LAC.

13. E.J. Staley to Indian Affairs Branch, Dec. 12, 1946, RG10, vol. 6351, file 753-5, pt. 6, LAC.

14. R.J. Scott, Inspector of Schools, "Report of Inspections," Nov. 10, 1949, file 701/23-5, 1947-1972, vol. 1 [Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC)].

15. Gooderham to Director, Indian Affair Branch, Aug. 14, 1952, RG10, vol. 8757, file 709/25-1-001, pt. 2, LAC.

16. Gooderham to Indian Affairs Branch, Aug. 7, 1946.

17. J. Butterfield, Provincial Sanitary Inspector, "Edmonton Indian Residential School," Sept. 21, 1946, RG10, vol. 6351, file 753-5, pt. 4, LAC.

18. Donald Inspection Ltd., "Report of Inspection of Edmonton Indian Residential School," Sept. 30, 1948, RG10, vol. 6545, file 1A-1656-12, pt. 1, LAC.

19. Findlay Barnes, Principal, to H.N. Woodsworth, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Feb. 2, 1953, file (110)774/6-1-753, vol. 1, 09/45-12/53, LAC.

20. G.H. Gooderham, Regional Supervisor of Indian Agencies, to Director, Indian Affairs, Aug. 14, 1952, RG10, vol. 8757, file 709/25-1-001, pt. 2, LAC.

21. Graham to Scott, Sept. 17, 1926, RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

22. For example, in 1933, sixty of the 150 children were from the Babine Agency in northern British Columbia. Christianson to McGill, Feb. 28, 1933, RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

23. Smith to Mortimer, Oct. 18, 1931.

24. Woodsworth to Secretary, DIA, [Feb. 12?], 1932.

25. T.R.L. MacInnes, Acting Secretary, DIA, to Woodsworth, Mar. 2, 1932, vol. 6350, file 753-1, LAC.

26. MacInnes to Woodsworth, June 19, 1937, RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

27. "Extract for Report of G.H. Barry, District Inspector of Indian Schools on his inspection of the Kitwanga Indian Day School, May 27, 1937," RG10, vol. 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

28. Woodsworth to Secretary, DIA, June 23, 1937, RG10, 6350, file 753-1, pt. 1, LAC.

29. Gooderham to Director, Indian Affairs Branch, May 30, 1950, RG10, file 772/25-1-01, 1949-1961, LAC.

30. Gooderham to Director, May 30, 1950.

31. Bernard F. Neary, Superintendent of Indian Education, to Rev. G. Dorey, Board of Home Missions, Aug. 30, 1950, RG10, vol. 6352, file 753-10, pt. 3, LAC.

32. C.A.F. Clark, Educational Survey Officer, to District Inspector of Indian Schools, Vancouver, June 20, 1950, file 971/25-2-5, pt. 1, 06/50-06/51, LAC (BC).

33. L.G.P. Waller, Chair, "Minutes of a Meeting of a Committee formed to investigate the present and future roles of the Edmonton Residential School..." June 23, 1958, RG10, vol. 8757, file 709/25-1-001, pt. 2, LAC.

34. H.S. Ridgeway to E.J. Blake, Sept. 29, 1955, RG10, vol. 8843, file 709/16-2-001, pt. 1, LAC.

35. Oliver B. Strapp to E.M. Joblin, Assistant Secretary, Board of Home Missions, Dec. 9, 1959, accession 83.050C, box 112, file 17, United Church of Canada Archives (UCCA).

36. J. E. Inget, District Superintendent of Indian Schools, to Regional Office, Dec. 5, 1960, RG10, vol. 8791, file 984/25-11, pt. 1, LAC.

37. Inget to Regional Office, Dec. 6, 1960, RG10, vol. 8791, file 984/25-11, pt. 1, LAC.

38. Ibid.

39. "Minutes of Meeting of the Indian School Commission of the Edmonton Presbytery," Dec. 13, 1960, accession 85.050C, box 112, file 17, UCCA.

40. G. Etude, Superintendent of Missions, to C. Dwight Powell, Oct. 25, 1960, access. 83.050C, box 112, file 17, UCCA.

41. F. Barnes to G.S. Lapp, Indian Superintendent, June 8, 1955, file 709/36-4-001, 1949-1959, vol. 1, [INAC].

42. S.C. Knapp, Superintendent, to Regional Director, Edmonton Indian Agency, Sept. 2, 1965, file 774/36-7, vol. 2, Alberta, [INAC].

43. Barnes to Lapp, June 8, 1955.

44. F.L. Short, Education Services, DIA, to G.D. Cromb, July 2, 1970, file 774/6-1, vol. 1, 1964-1974, CR-HQ, [INAC].

45. Elva Taylor, Chair, Monument Committee, to Hon. Nellie Cournyea, Apr. 25, 1989, accession 97.726, Provincial Archives of Alberta.

46. W.E. Frame, report, May 29, 1958, file 774(110)/6-1-753, vol. 3, 01/58-12/59, LAC.

47. Waller, "Minutes of a Meeting of a Committee."

48. R.F. Battle, Regional Supervisor, memo to Indian Affairs Branch, Sept. 22, 1958, file 774/251, vol. 1, 1952-1966, RCAP.

49. Waller, "Minutes of a Meeting of a Committee."

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Dates of operation: 1924-1966 Operated by the Missionary Society of the Methodist Church and, after 1925, by the United Church of Canada. Near the town of St. Albert, approximately 10 miles northwest of downtown Edmonton, Alberta. Dear Mom and Dad, Just thought I'd drop you a few lines to let you know that I'm all right and hoping you are the same.

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An Overview of the Indian Residential School System

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An Overview of the Indian Residential School System

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Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

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Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

In March 2018, CBC News launched Beyond 94, a website that monitors progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action.

Beyond 94 was the result of a year's worth of research and interviews with survivors, stakeholders and all levels of government.

While the content is continually updated, in September 2021, CBC reviewed the progress status of each of the 94 calls to action.

The site provides up-to-date status reports on each call to action, as well as extensive summaries explaining those status reports. It includes in-depth features and short video documentaries that tell some of the community stories behind the calls to action. It also features residential school survivors sharing their experiences.

The first residential schools opened in Canada in the 1800s. They were the product of churches and the government; a collective, calculated effort to eradicate Indigenous language and culture that the commission called a policy of cultural genocide.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed as a means of reckoning with the devastating legacy of forced assimilation and abuse left by the residential school system. From 2008 to 2014, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission heard stories from thousands of residential school survivors. In June 2015, the commission released a report based on those hearings. From that came the 94 Calls to Action: individual instructions to guide governments, communities and faith groups down the road to reconciliation.

Beyond 94 will now monitor the progress of that journey.

To see the locations of known residential schools, you can visit this map created by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

In researching the progress of each Call to Action, CBC reached out to relevant governments, faith groups, professional and community organisations for comment. We fact-checked each response with invested stakeholders. We also cross-referenced federal funding announcements with actual and past financial expenditures. We also drew information from past and current CBC stories.

Beyond 94 measures the progress of the Calls to Action based on the following;

"Not started" refers to Calls to Action in which no action plan has been developed and/or no funds have been committed, to implement the Call to Action.

"In Progress - Projects proposed" refers to Calls to Action in which the relevant parties involved have either committed to an action plan or funding, but not yet followed through with it.

"In Progress - Projects underway" refers to Calls to Action in which the relevant parties involved are actively working towards implementing that call, with both a timeline and (where needed) the funding to make it happen.

"Complete" refers to Calls to Action which have been fully implemented.

Beyond 94 was a full year in the making and involved CBC journalists across the country.

The site provides up-to-date status reports on each call to action, as well as extensive summaries explaining those status reports. It includes in-depth features and short video documentaries that tell some of the community stories behind the calls to action. It also features residential school survivors sharing their experiences.

We'd like to acknowledge and thank all of the people who generously shared their stories with us through this project and those who continue to share their stories so that we can hear the truth and understand how to move forward together.

Credits:

Jorge Barrera, Teghan Beaudette, Chantelle Bellrichard, Alex Brockman, Meagan Deuling, Kelly Malone, Nic Meloney, Brandi Morin, Lenard Monkman, Kieran Oudshoorn, Jason Warick, Bridget Yard

Additional credits: Stephanie Brown - Senior Producer, Tamara Baluja - Social Media Producer, Donna Carreiro - Producer / Researcher, Earl Cabuhat - Senior Designer, Stephanie Cram, Associate Producer, Jennifer Geens - Copy Editor, Arnold Hedstrom - Senior Producer, David Hutton - Managing Editor, Darcy Hunter - Sr. Graphics Producer, Tyson Koschik - Camera, Bertram Schneider - Executive Producer, Marilyn Robak - Senior Producer, Hannah Wise - Manager, Interactives, Karin Yeske - Senior Producer, Chanss Lagaden - Camera

To submit a comment or question please contact indigenous@cbc.ca

Web development:

Jessica Willms, Elizabeth Melito, Mike Evans, and Dwight Friesen

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Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada

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In March 2018, CBC News launched Beyond 94, a website that monitors progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action. Beyond 94 was the result of a year's worth of research and interviews with survivors, stakeholders and all levels of government.

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PD resources for Alberta teachers

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Professional learning resources for Alberta educators Educators need new ways of thinking about how to engage and better meet the learning needs of all students. This collection of professional learning resources can be used to build educator capacity through self-study, in-school professional learning communities, and district-wide learning opportunities.

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RSA ANIMATE: Changing Education Paradigms

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Shelley Moore: Transforming Inclusive Education

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The Myth of Average:  Todd Rose at TEDxSonomaCounty

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Shelley Moore: Podcast

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The Evolution of Inclusion: Stories from YOU

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Don’t Should on Me: It’s not easy being NOT green

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Under the Table - The Importance of Presuming Competence | Shelley Moore | TEDxLangleyED

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When they came to Canada, the Plunkett family was told their son Josh couldn't go to school with the rest of the kids in the community because he had a developmental disability.  Watch the story of how Inclusion Alberta supported the Plunkett family to have Josh included at Westmount Junior High in Edmonton.

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This page has a collection of videos around school leadership and inclusion.

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School Leadership and Inclusion | Engaging All Learners

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This PD resource is intended to support administrators and school leaders with creating inclusive environments. Inclusion is about creating appropriate learning environments and opportunities so that students can reach their full potential in their school community.

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Valuing All Students by Alberta Education

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Disabling segregation: Dan Habib at TEDxAmoskeagMillyard

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Collaborative Response Model (Jigsaw Learning)

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Collaborative Response Model (Jigsaw Learning)

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Brad Barton was born on June 14, 1945, in Jordantown, a small, segregated black community of 600 in western Nova Scotia. His father was a labourer; his mother, a housekeeper; he had five siblings. He spent his early life in the church-his father and grandfather were deacons, and Brad was in the choir. He made his own fun: softball, rolling tires down the road, picking berries and selling them.

At the end of Grade 6, Brad took an exam to get into junior high school in the town of Digby. "I saw a few kids from our community," he says. "Everybody else was a sea of white." Based on his test score, he was placed in the lower academic stream. "Even though he wasn't highly educated, my father went to see the principal," he says. "He convinced him to give me a chance in a regular class." Brad made the most of it, joining the school newspaper, yearbook and every sports team he could. In his final year, he was elected student council president. "Back in those days, that was something that didn't happen too often." He felt comfortable at the school but knew not all of his friends did. "There were a lot of children from our community who were very capable but didn't function very well in that environment," he says. "They didn't get the benefit of education. That's always been a thought that's motivated me-regardless of what colour or race or religion or ethnicity or whatever, they should have the same opportunity to reach their full potential."

After high school, Brad became a teacher in North Preston, another segregated community near Halifax. "I just fell in love with it," he says. "They embraced me and welcomed me. I was sure that's what I wanted to do: be a teacher." For more than 30 years, he taught and was a principal and vice-principal in schools across Nova Scotia, eventually teaching his students' children. "To this day, when I see students, they still approach me. That's always a good feeling."

Throughout his career, he's also founded, chaired and joined too many organizations to name, among them the Black Educators Association, Black Learners Advisory Committee and National Council of Black Educators of Canada. By leading professional teacher development, he improved race relations inside Nova Scotia's schools. "Way back, we called ourselves coloured, Negro, black, African, African-Canadian, African-Nova Scotian," he says. "I've had the opportunity to work through all those genres."

After retiring from teaching in 1997, Brad turned his attention to another longtime passion: volleyball. A former Volleyball Canada national chairperson-and the first black Canadian to become an internationally rated referee-he reffed the women's bronze medal match at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and has travelled from Korea to Cuba, Bulgaria to Tijuana. Now in his 50th year of officiating, he's the only international ref in Eastern Canada, where he lives with his wife in Halifax; his three children are scattered across the country. "I don't know where I'd be without volleyball," he says. His experience with the sport reflects his life as a student, teacher and activist. "If you work hard, put a lot of time in and develop your skills, you advance. It's a tremendous feeling." - Luc Rinaldi

(Portrait by Carla Antonio)

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Segregation in Atlantic Canada: Canada's Stories

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Brad Barton was born on June 14, 1945, in Jordantown, a small, segregated black community of 600 in western Nova Scotia. His father was a labourer; his mother, a housekeeper; he had five siblings. He spent his early life in the church-his father and grandfather were deacons, and Brad was in the choir.

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Leading in a Culture of Change offers new and seasoned leaders in both education and business insights into the dynamics of change and presents a unique and imaginative approach for navigating the intricacies of the change process.

Michael Fullan shows how leaders in all types of organizations can accomplish their goals and become exceptional leaders. He draws on the most current ideas and theories on the topic of effective leadership, incorporates case examples of large scale transformation, and reveals a remarkable convergence of powerful themes.

Published by Jossey-Bass, 2001

This book is also available in Spanish

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Leading in a Culture of Change - Michael Fullan

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Leading in a Culture of Change offers new and seasoned leaders in both education and business insights into the dynamics of change and presents a unique and imaginative approach for navigating the intricacies of the change process. Michael Fullan shows how leaders in all types of organizations can accomplish their goals and become exceptional leaders.

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This is a collection of his books, papers and talks.

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Academia.edu is a place to share and follow research.

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On page 17 is an article "Walking Together Towards Inclusive Education"

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Gordon Neufeld

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Hold On to Your Kids book. Read 382 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. International authority on child development Gordon Neufeld, ...

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Gordon Neufeld

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Hold On to Your Kids book. Read 382 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. International authority on child development Gordon Neufeld, ...

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If Inclusion Means Everyone, WHY NOT ME?

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If Inclusion Means Everyone, WHY NOT ME?

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Lisa Kahn developed a daily routine this fall. She'd eat breakfast, feed her family and get her two children ready for school - Grayson, a seven-year-old boy with strawberry blond hair and blue eyes, and his older sister, Avery. After she dropped them off, she'd practise deep breathing with help from an app on her watch.

And then she would brace herself for the phone call.

At some point during the day, she knew that Grayson's school was likely to call and ask her to pick him up because he was causing trouble. If she made it through the day without the phone ringing, she'd steel herself at pickup for a staff member to approach and tell her about something awful her son had done.

Ms. Kahn had hoped the school could accommodate Grayson's developmental disorder - he was diagnosed with autism in the summer of 2017, and while he's verbal and can impressively add figures in his head, he becomes aggressive if rules change or the work becomes too difficult.

But in September, he was suspended for part of the day after attempting to push an educational assistant down the stairs. A couple of weeks later, he picked up a chair and tossed it at another child. On other occasions, he punched, shoved, kicked and threatened staff and other students, school administrators say.

And then in late October, everything boiled over. After an incident when Grayson struck an educational assistant, leaving her with bruises, scrapes and a concussion, the seven-year-old was expelled from school.

Now Ms. Kahn and her husband Dave are scrambling to piece together a new plan for educating Grayson, who they firmly believe belongs in the public school system.

"Not only has he been stripped of all his peer connections," says Ms. Kahn, "but he's been stripped of his right to an education."

The Kahns have filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and they've appealed the expulsion. For now, at least, they're keeping Grayson at home, and up until recently, the school district was providing him with home instruction. Ms. Kahn now works with him daily, doing lessons in reading, writing and math.

It's an imperfect solution for their son, they say, and makes it difficult for both of them to work during the daytime.

The family's experience highlights the growing challenges that parents - and educators - face when it comes to accommodating special-needs children in the public school system. Over the past few decades, schools across Canada have moved toward a model of inclusive education, but many are struggling to find the best ways to include children with complex needs in regular classrooms.

The issue of inclusive classrooms has become a matter of fierce debate - and some educators wonder if inclusion has gone too far for students with very complex needs. Inclusiveness can't work, they say, without a thoughtful rethinking of how we teach children with diverse needs and how we structure the school day.

Teachers report an uptick in violent incidents disrupting classrooms, tensions arise among families who feel the safety and learning of their own children are at risk, and school districts struggle with embracing inclusion while providing a safe environment for staff and students. Meanwhile, families with children who have intellectual and developmental disabilities are increasingly being asked to pick up kids early, start the school day later or simply keep them home for the entire day. Complicating matters is the fact that apart from a few advocacy or parent group surveys, most school districts don't formally track these exclusions or shortened days.

Jacqueline Specht, director of the Canadian Research Centre on Inclusive Education and a professor at the University of Western Ontario's faculty of education, says the system is clearly broken when a seven-year-old is expelled and can't be properly accommodated. "What are we doing that we expel seven-year-olds instead of really looking at what's causing this behaviour, and how do we stop that behaviour?"

Research shows young people in inclusive classrooms tend to have more friends, and are better off academically and feel better about themselves than they do when they're educated in separate, segregated classrooms, Dr. Specht says. But administrators at Grayson's school, John McCrae Public School in Guelph, Ont., say that they can't safely accommodate Grayson.

So, as children across Canada head back to school this week, Ms. Kahn's son will be staying at home. As she and her family have discovered, the road to inclusion is paved with good intentions, but riddled with cracks.

Before the 1970s, it was not uncommon for children with special needs to be excluded from schooling. Too often, these children barely got an education; many were early dropouts.

The 1960s civil-rights movement in the United States, while it focused on race, also spurred awareness about the challenges facing students with complex needs, according to researcher Sheila Bennett, a professor at Brock University and co-author of Special Education in Ontario Schools. Riding that wave, organizations such as the Association for Community Living successfully pushed for changes that called for more inclusive education in several provinces, Dr. Bennett says.

In Ontario, Bill 82 in 1980 was a game-changer, requiring every school board to provide special-education programs and services for students with complex needs. Over time - and as a result of advances in thinking combined with lobbying from parents and advocacy groups - schools began including more of these children in regular classrooms full-time, rather than segregating them in separate classrooms. To support special-needs students, school boards often employ educational assistants to work collaboratively with teachers, although teachers' unions argue that most classrooms don't have enough of them.

Philosophically, the Kahns embrace the idea of inclusive education. They believe Grayson should learn alongside his neighbourhood peers, and they try to expose him to a range of activities, including swimming and hip-hop dance lessons.

They were proactive when Grayson started having trouble in senior kindergarten. For the most part, students aren't assessed for disabilities until Grade 3, but when they heard reports of behavioural issues, including pushing classmates, the Kahns did not want to wait. They wanted their son to thrive socially and academically, so they spent $2,800 to have him privately assessed and discovered he had autism.

With the help of an educational assistant, Grayson had a successful school year in Grade 1, with no suspensions or calls for early pickups. When he began Grade 2, Ms. Kahn met with school administrators. Grayson had shown more aggressive behaviour over the summer - he'd struck his mother for the first time, after becoming frustrated about not being able to express himself - and she wanted to ensure there was a plan in place at school to deal with the challenges.

Because the school team believed it would be too stressful for one person to work with him for the whole day, they assigned two educational assistants - one for the morning and another for the afternoon. The approach raised red flags with Ms. Kahn, who says her child does better with one person.

The plan fell apart almost instantly. Students and staff reported physical and verbal assaults. Grayson was spending large chunks of the school day in the office.

At first, administrators asked Ms. Kahn to pick up Grayson early or keep him home for several days. Later, they hatched a return-to-school plan: They would let Grayson come back, but only for 15 minutes a day, Ms. Kahn says. His return would be graduated over a period of time.

Ms. Kahn was exasperated: "Who's going to pay my bills?" she recalls saying. "Who's taking care of my child? We work. What about his education?"

A few years ago, Annie Kidder's organization, People for Education, an education advocacy group, began receiving calls from parents with similar questions: Are principals allowed to ask that I keep my child home for all or part of the day? Can my child be asked to come in later than his classmates?

The answer to these questions is yes. But nobody had documented the scope of the problem. So four years ago, in its annual survey, the group asked principals if they had ever requested that children stay home.

Ms. Kidder says she was "astounded" by the response: 48 per cent of elementary-school principals and 40 per cent of high-school principals reported asking that a student with special needs not attend school for the full day, citing insufficient classroom support. "We didn't expect that. We thought it was a rare occurrence," she says. In its latest report, released last year, the numbers have risen to 58 per cent and 48 per cent, respectively.

Similarly, a survey of parents of children with special needs released in November, 2017 by the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils found that children with special needs were missing anywhere from half an hour to three hours of school daily or being told to stay home because of staff shortages. A number of children, the survey found, were sent home because of behavioural incidents at school, and these exclusions, which were undocumented, would continue for days or weeks. Another survey, conducted by an advocacy group called BCEdAccess, found that a number of parents are being forced out of the public education system as a result.

Expulsions such as Grayson's are rare, but it's difficult to know how common other measures are. Most school districts or provinces don't formally track when a child's school day is shortened - a so-called undocumented suspension. Ms. Kidder says her survey results suggest it's a problem that should be tracked. (Ms. Kahn was asked to keep Grayson home for a number of days with no formal paperwork from the district.)

Luke Reid, a lawyer at ARCH Disability Law Centre, who practises primarily in the areas of education law and human rights for people with disabilities requiring accommodation, says school administrators see it as a "request" that a parent voluntarily withdraw their children for part of the school day.

"However, as you might guess, these often don't feel like requests to parents and they happen with surprising regularity in many cases, all of which can have a big impact on the family," Mr. Reid says. "There needs to be some sort of accountability mechanism in place to ensure that school boards are properly exercising these powers."

The issue has become so top-of-mind that two school districts - North Vancouver and Greater Victoria - passed motions this fall to record how many children with special needs are being asked to stay home, or are sent home early or dropped off late and being excluded from field trips.

Jordan Watters, chair of the Greater Victoria School Board, says school staff need to understand the challenges so supports can address them and children with special needs can be meaningfully included. "Our move to track incidents of exclusion is intended to help us do that," she says.

The head of Canada's largest school district, the Toronto District School Board, says it, too, has started tracking how many children are being excluded, and is asking principals to work with superintendents before requesting a child stay home.

John Malloy, the director of education, says many children are successfully included in schools, and there will always be a small number who need a special program, but the board is committed to including, "wherever possible," students in the neighbourhood school.

"We are really looking at how we can serve more of our students in their community school where it's appropriate," Dr. Malloy says. Still, he cautions, "there are only so many resources. There are only so many staff."

"What remains our challenge is that even though we want to serve each and every student in the most inclusive way possible, some students may have needs that exceed our level of experience and that is something we are sometimes challenged by," he says, adding that school districts often partner with community agencies and hospitals.

Part of the problem, some academics say, is that more students are being diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities that were for a long time overlooked. People for Education found that the proportion of elementary kids receiving special-education support - anything from a little extra help in a regular class to the provision of one, or even two, dedicated staff - has doubled over the past two decades. At the TDSB, about 40,000 students, roughly 16 per cent of kids, are supported through Individual Education Plans.

Integration, though, still makes some parents uneasy. In Grayson's classroom, parents were concerned for the safety of their children.

"I know that the Kahns are likely arguing his right to an education, but what about the rights of the rest of the kids?" one parent wrote in a letter that was included in the principal's expulsion investigation report. "In addition to the threat to safety, his actions are a near constant disruption to classroom activities. This is not acceptable."

Another parent said her daughter hasn't been physically harmed by Grayson, but she was "uncomfortable in class and worried for those around her" when Grayson was present.

There were reports that some of Grayson's classmates felt anxious and reported stomach aches. Some of the staff said they had trouble sleeping and felt worried and anxious being around the young boy.

Ms. Kahn is sympathetic, but wonders why her son should be punished for his condition. She says Grayson is the victim of a system that cannot properly handle children who have special needs that come with behavioural issues.

The Upper Grand District School Board, for its part, wouldn't comment on Grayson's case, but also said it is strongly committed to supporting students with special needs while balancing the safety of students and staff. In the principal's expulsion report, obtained by The Globe and Mail, the school said that Ms. Kahn's "extreme hostility" and "repeated verbal assaults" to staff had been stressful and caused emotional harm. She counters that she was only serving as an advocate for her son.

School staff suggested alternative programs, including a therapeutic school, as well as switching him to the English stream (Grayson was in French immersion), which has an intervention program that teaches self-regulation skills and frustration management. But Ms. Kahn says the therapeutic school, an hour's drive away, was too far from home, and the board hasn't spelled out to her what supports he would have at the English school.

Grayson wants to rejoin his classmates, she says. "There's a lot of little things the school could have been doing to help facilitate that but they didn't. So they just kind of let the behaviours get to the point where they're out of control, and they say, 'Sorry, this child is a threat to safety. He can't be here.'"

The principal, on the other hand, argues the school made "significant efforts" to accommodate Grayson's needs while keeping both him and his classmates safe, including drawing up support plans, providing him with full-time educational assistant support and having the board's mental-health clinician observe him.

Leslie Newman writes in her report that she is satisfied staff made all "reasonable efforts" to accommodate Grayson and "that some of them have suffered significant physical and emotional harm in the course of these accommodation efforts."

In Ontario, and across much of the country, school districts are responsible for determining how best to accommodate special-needs students and aims to include them in regular classrooms, wherever possible.

New Brunswick takes the policy of inclusive education the farthest - it calls for a "common learning environment" for all students. Segregated classrooms aren't an option, and instruction must be primarily provided by the classroom teacher.

The provincial government doesn't track how many students are attending for only part of the day, and the New Brunswick Teachers' Association president, George Daley, says while the model is important, it has been "difficult." He says teachers need more supports and there needs to be flexibility so students with behavioural issues can spend time outside the regular classroom learning different life skills.

Teachers' unions say that violent behaviour in classrooms is disrupting teaching and student learning. The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, for example, reports that 83 per cent of its members say violence in school is making teaching more difficult.

Paul Bennett, an education consultant based in Halifax, says a movement to make the classroom the be-all and end-all of inclusion is shortsighted.

"The system is not built to accommodate the range of diversity we now have in our school system," he says.

In the case of children such as Grayson who have the most complex and acute needs, Mr. Bennett says the public education system should provide one-on-one intensive supports and only provide alternative school settings if integration doesn't work.

"I do not believe in segregation," Mr. Bennett says. "I believe in integration of everyone as far as they possibly can be integrated. But when they fall two, three, four grades behind everyone else, when they're not able to follow, when they're acting out, when they're extremely frustrated, parents are looking for alternatives."

Prof. Specht, of Western, has seen students who have struggled with aggressive behaviour moved to another school and do much better. Others, she says, may need time away for intense therapy, or to spend 15 minutes in the regular classroom and work on being there longer.

"There are still too many students who are in segregated classes who could be included. Cases like this one [Grayson's case] are used to say inclusion does not work rather than perhaps thinking it is a rare occurrence," she says. "There are many positive stories of inclusion that will say, inclusion is what we ought to move toward."

But some parents say the positive stories stem from efforts made by individual teachers, and not necessarily the public school system.

Tina McGee's nine-year-old daughter, Kherrigan, has severe autism, medical issues and a severe intellectual disability. In Grade 1 at a school in Abbotsford, B.C., Kherrigan had what Ms. McGee describes as a "phenomenal teacher," who was supported by a full-time educational assistant.

Before Valentine's Day, knowing that Kherrigan would not be able to chew the treats being brought to school, the teacher sent a note home asking kids to think of what they could give their classmate instead. Some brought cupcakes, others came in with stuffed animals and hair accessories, mostly red as they knew it was Kherrigan's favourite colour. "She would make plans around Kherrigan and include her in everything," Ms. McGee says.

But when the family moved to Chilliwack, B.C., and changed schools, she was asked almost weekly to keep Kherrigan home in her Grade 3 year due to staffing shortages - educational assistants were juggling as many as five children each. Ms. McGee responded by enrolling Kherrigan in a private school that could accommodate her daughter's needs.

Still, she says she believes that inclusion can work. "It can if the teachers and staff aren't so overworked."

Bruce Uditsky of Inclusion Alberta, a non-profit organization that advocates for children and adults with developmental disabilities, says inclusion is dependent on the leadership and mindset of those in charge. Two school districts could have equal funding, but one will successfully include children and the other won't, he says.

"Teachers or principals or districts should not be guardians to the classroom door as to which kid is valued and which isn't," he says. "Both government and the system are being allowed to escape [their] responsibility for ensuring that kids with disabilities have access to the same education as would be true for kids without disabilities."

Some parents, he says, are tired of fighting.

Laurie Pett turned to home schooling as a last resort when her 10-year-old son, Connor, was deemed too burdensome for the regular school system. The family moved to Quesnel, B.C. in the middle of the last school year, and Ms. Pett met with the school principal to discuss how best to accommodate Connor, who has been diagnosed with autism, oppositional defiant disorder and apraxia. He has behavioural issues, including aggression and a tendency to run.

She was told that Connor could attend the school's breakfast club every morning for the first few months. When she said that wasn't acceptable, the principal increased the plan to one hour at school a day. There wasn't funding in the school's budget, he said, to support Connor more.

The family has four other children with behavioural issues, all of whom have been accommodated by the school. But Connor is "definitely not welcome," she says. "And I don't get the feeling that he's welcome in our district."

When Ms. Pett speaks about inclusion, she laughs. "It's not about cracks in the system," she says. "They're big gaping holes."

Ms. Kahn agrees, and has now pulled her daughter Avery, who is nine and has also been diagnosed with autism, out of their local school because she doesn't believe she'll get the support she needs.

"It's not just that I'm fighting for my kid," Ms. Kahn says. "I'm fighting for all those other kids who have left the system, all the ones who are coming behind us who are not going to have the financial means to hire a lawyer, or financial means to stay home with their children."

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Educating Grayson: Are inclusive classrooms failing students?

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For decades, educators have tried to welcome students with special needs in regular classrooms - but faced with behavioural problems and violence, some school boards resort to sending those pupils home. What will it take to make inclusive education work?

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and processes to transform how we respond to the needs of students

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Envisioning a Collaborative Response Model: Beliefs, Structures, and Processes to Transform How We Respond to the Needs of Students

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Envisioning a Collaborative Response Model: Beliefs, Structures, and Processes to Transform How We Respond to the Needs of Students: Kurtis Hewson, Lorna Hewson jim PArson, Jigsaw Learning: 9780994907608: Books - Amazon.ca

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National Inclusive Education Month Commentary #25 By Bruce Uditsky, M.Ed., Chief Executive Officer, Inclusion Alberta
In most of Canada, after more than 40 years of inclusive education practice, access to quality inclusive education still remains a matter of chance, particularly for children with intellectual disabilities. While many might argue or believe access to a quality inclusive education is dependent on the availability of resources or the perceived severity of a child's disability, neither these or other similar factors account for whether a child will be welcomed into a classroom or a school. It is principally a question of time and place - a matter of where a family happens to live at a moment in time.

In every province and territory there are children with developmental disabilities who have received or are receiving a quality inclusive education irrespective of the severity of their disability, their age, provincial/territorial funding or teacher training. This occurs when a family happens to live in a neighbourhood or community where a teacher, the school all children attend or the school the family has chosen, welcomes the inclusion of students with disabilities. The same applies when a parent happens to live within the boundaries of a school district where the leadership of that district embraces inclusion across their schools or at the very least honours parental choice for an inclusive education.

Amazing teachers, schools and school districts, acting on their commitment to quality inclusive education for all, are evident across this county. But their continuing existence is temporal and their impact on systemic change is, unfortunately often negligible through no fault of their own. In many schools when a welcoming teacher or principal changes, inclusive education might vanish and any history of having provided inclusion in the past erased from a school's memory. This is why those parents who live in a place and time when their child's inclusion is subject to the vagaries of a single teacher or principal's belief, dread the coming of spring. It is often in the spring when parents might be called to a meeting to be advised that while inclusion was possible this last school year that will not be the case next year. They are never told this is a result of a change in teacher or leadership beliefs and values but instead are given assorted and tired clichéd excuses from funding to the demands of the curriculum.

The illusion that inclusion is primarily a function of funding, teacher training or a student's disability is exposed when a parent simply has to move across the street to be within the boundaries of an inclusive school or district or without moving, change religion or language for their child to be eligible for schooling from a different district but one sharing the same boundaries. Myself and many other inclusive education practitioners, leaders and advocates personally know families that have moved, changed religion or changed schools so their child could be welcomed, wanted and included. In addition, we know which teachers, schools and school districts are inclusive and as such it is not unusual for those who support inclusion to be recommending particular schools and districts.

In essence those teachers, schools and school districts provide quality inclusive education to the same students other teachers, schools and school districts reject; they provide inclusion under the same provincial and territorial funding their counterparts claim as the basis for not being inclusive.

Inclusive schools and school districts allocate their funding, and hence resources, on the principles of equality and equity. Each student being viewed as equal in human worth and dignity, then resources, which are always limited, are allocated equitably. These school systems have recognized that inclusion benefits all students from learning to character development. While these teachers, schools and school districts have demonstrated for decades that quality inclusive education is possible given their commitment and leadership, it remains disappointing that this collective knowledge of decades of practice is not sufficiently capitalized upon by fellow educators, administrators, systems and governments.

The continuing refrain from some school systems that they do not receive sufficient special education funding must be altered as both morally and ethically school systems should be advocating for sufficient funds to educate all students. Arguing for a pool of funding specific to students labelled as having special needs will always, and has always, allowed school systems to limit inclusion and worse. claim students with special needs are stealing funding from their brothers and sisters without disabilities. The total amount of funds received by school systems needs to be allocated equitably to the equal benefit of all. To do otherwise has allowed school systems to claim while they are responsible for providing an education to students without disabilities, those with disabilities must remain marginalized and waiting for inclusion.

There will never be a time when school systems believe they have all the funding they require. As a consequence, those systems that maintain the argument that a student's access to an inclusive education is dependent on the adequacy of funding will always be able to plead inclusion is not possible nor its resistance or denial a function of their beliefs and values. It is time to further challenge the status-quo by questioning more thoroughly the investment of always limited public dollars in educational approaches that produce poor post-school out comes; segregated and congregated classes for students with intellectual disabilities being a prime example. Cost needs to be measured as well for those students whose futures over the next 50 plus years of their lives are being compromised when access to inclusive education remains a game of chance. Inclusion, as the luck of a moment in time and neighbourhood as to which teacher, school or school districts is drawn, ought never to be the destiny of any child.

References:
Uditsky, B. (2017). 40 Years of Inclusive Education Advocacy: A Personal Perspective. In K. Scorgie and D. Sobsey (Eds.), Working with families for an inclusive education: Navigating identity, opportunity and belonging. C. Forlin, (Series Editor), International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, V.10, pp. 175-181. Emerald Publishing, Bingley, UK.
Uditsky, B. (2016). Education Funding in Alberta. CONNECTIONS, Winter, (pp.5 & 11). Inclusion Alberta, Edmonton
Bruce Uditsky is the Chief Executive Officer of Inclusion Alberta, an organization advocating for an inclusive society for persons with disabilities. Bruce has been a leader for community inclusion for persons with disabilities for over 35 years. Throughout Bruce's career, he has taught, written about, and consulted on community inclusion and social justice. His work has been instrumental in promoting inclusion, disability awareness and barrier-free environments for persons with disabilities in Alberta, Canada and internationally.

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The Inclusion Lottery: A game of chance with a child's education - Inclusive Education

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National Inclusive Education Month Commentary #25 By Bruce Uditsky, M.Ed., Chief Executive Officer, Inclusion Alberta In most of Canada, after more than 40 years of inclusive education practice, access to quality inclusive education still remains a matter of chance, particularly for children with intellectual disabilities.

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The Scholarship of Inclusive Education: Podcast Series

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The Scholarship of Inclusive Education: Podcast Series

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The Scholarship of Inclusive Education Podcast | Free Listening on Podbean App

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The Scholarship of Inclusive Education Podcast is a series of succinct interviews on important research, theoretical, or philosophical contributions to inclusiv

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The Scholarship of Inclusive Education Podcast is a series of succinct interviews on important research, theoretical, or philosophical contributions to inclusive education featuring the scholars who made those contributions. The podcast is hosted by Dr. Tim Loreman, Professor of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Subscribe
This podcast is also available in the iTunes store.
Subscribe to The Scholarship of Inclusive Education by Email Episode One: Introduction Further reading for episode one:
Ainscow, M., Booth, T. & Dyson, A. (2006). Improving schools, developing inclusion. Abbingdon, UK: Routledge.

Berlach, R. G., & Chambers, D. J. (2011). Inclusivity imperatives and the Australian national curriculum. The Educational Forum, 75, 52-65.

Hall, J. (1996). Integration, inclusion: What does it all mean? In J. Coupe O'Kane and J. Goldbart (Eds.), Whose choice: Contentious issues for those working with people with learning difficulties? London: Fulton.

Loreman, T. (2009). Straight talk about inclusive education. CASS Connections, Spring. Available here .
Episode Two: Judy Lupart on inclusion across the lifespan. Further reading for episode two:
Hutchinson, N. (2012). Judy Lupart: A tribute to a woman who led the way. Exceptionality Education International, 22(2), 38-39.

Lupart, J. (2012). Toward a unified system of education: Where do we go from here?. Exceptionality Education International, 22(2), 3-7.

Lupart, J., & Andrews, J. (Eds). (2014). Diversity education: Understanding and addressing student diversity. Toronto, Canada: Nelson Education.

Lupart, J., Irvine, A., Timmons, V., & Gerg, B. (2005, August). Inclusion across the lifespan for individuals who are developmentally delayed. Presented at ISEC 2005, Glasgow, Scotland. Available here.
Episode Three: Richard Rose on international collaboration and inclusive education. Further reading for episode three:
Visit Richard's blog ' Richard Rose Bangalore '.

Forlin, C., & Rose, R. (2010). Authentic school partnerships for enabling inclusive education in Hong Kong. Journal Of Research In Special Educational Needs, 10(1), 13-22. Available here.

Rose, R. (Ed.). (2010). Confronting obstacles to inclusion: International responses to developing inclusive education. Abbingdon, UK: Routledge.

Rose, R., Kaikkonen, L., & Koiv, K. (2007). Estonian vocational teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education for students with special educational needs. International Journal Of Special Education, 22(3), 97-108. Available here.

Rose, R., & O'Neill, A. (2009). Classroom support for inclusion in England and Ireland: An evaluation of contrasting models. Research In Comparative And International Education, 4(3), 250-261. Available here.
Episode Four: Chris Forlin on teacher education for inclusion. Further reading for episode four:
Forlin, C. (1998). Inside four walls. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 22(2), 96-106.

Forlin, C. (2007). A collaborative, collegial, and more cohesive approach to supporting educational reform for inclusion in Hong Kong. Asia Pacific Education Review, 8(2), 276-287. Available here.

Loreman, T., Sharma, U., & Forlin, C. (2013). Do pre-service teachers feel ready to teach in inclusive classrooms? A four-country study of self-efficacy. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1), 27-44.

Sharma, U., Forlin, C., Deppeler, J., & Guang-Xue, Y. (2013). Reforming teacher education for inclusion in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Asian Journal of Inclusive Education, 1(1), 3-16.

Forlin, C. (Ed.). (2012). Future directions for inclusive teacher education: An international perspective. Abbingdon, UK: Routledge.
Episode Five: Joanne Deppeler on school university-school collaboration for inclusive education.
Further reading for episode five:

Carrington, S., Deppeler, J., & Moss, J. (2010). Cultivating teachers' beliefs, knowledge and skills for leading change in schools. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 35(1). Available here.

Deppeler, J.M. (2012) Developing inclusive practices: Innovation through collaboration, in What Works in Inclusion?, C. Boyle and K. Topping (Eds)., Open University Press, UK, 125-138.

Deppeler, J.M. (2010) Professional learning as collaborative inquiry: working together for impact, in Teacher Education For Inclusion. Changing Paradigms and Innovative Approaches, C. Forlin, (Ed.)., Routledge, Abbingdon, UK, 180-188.

Deppeler, J.M., Loreman, T., & Sharma, U. (2005) Improving inclusive practices in secondary schools: moving from specialist support to supporting learning communities. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 29(2),117-127.

Loreman, T., Deppeler, J.M., & Harvey, D.H.P. (2010). Inclusive education: Supporting diversity in the classroom (2nd Ed.). Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Episode Six: Umesh Sharma on developing indicators of inclusive education for the Pacific Islands.
Further reading for episode six:

Ahmmed, M., Sharma, U., & Deppeler, J.M. (2014). Variables affecting teachers' intentions to include students with disabilities in regular primary schools in Bangladesh. Disability & Society, 29(2), 317-331.

Ahsan, M., Sharma, U., & Deppeler, J. (2012). Challenges to prepare pre-service teachers for inclusive education in Bangladesh: Beliefs of higher educational institutional heads. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 32(2), 241-257.

Sharma, U. (2011). Teaching in inclusive classrooms: Changing heart, head, and hands, Bangladesh Education Journal, 10(2), 7-18. Available here.

Sharma, U. (2010) Using reflective practices for the preparation of pre-service teachers for inclusive classrooms, in Teacher Education for Inclusion. Changing Paradigms and Innovative Approaches., C. Forlin, Routledge, Abingdon, UK, 102-111.
Episode Seven: Jennifer Katz on the Three-Block Model of UDL.
Further reading for episode seven:

Resources available on Dr. Katz's website here.

Katz, J. (2012). Teaching to Diversity: The Three-Block Model of Universal Design for Learning. Winnipeg, MB: Portage & Main Press.

Katz, J. (2013). Resource Teachers: A Changing Role in the Three Block Model of Universal Design For Learning.Winnipeg, MB: Portage & Main Press.

Katz, J. & Sugden, R. (2013). The Three-Block model of universal design for learning implementation in a High School. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 141, 28p. Available here.

Specht, J. & Katz, J. (2014). Perspectives on teaching and diversity. In J. Andrews and J. Lupart (Eds.). Understanding and addressing student diversity in Canadian schools. Toronto, ON: Nelson Education.
Episode Eight: Roger Slee on the irregular school.
Part One:

Part Two: Further reading for episode eight:

Graham, L. J. & Slee, R. (2006). Inclusion? In Proceedings Disability Studies in Education Special Interest Group, American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2006 Annual Conference, San Francisco. Available here.

Slee, R. (2006). Inclusive education: Is this horse a Trojan?. Exceptionality Education Canada, 16(2/3), 223-242.

Slee, R. (2008). Beyond special and regular schooling? An inclusive education reform agenda. International Studies In Sociology Of Education, 18(2), 99-116. doi:10.1080/09620210802351342.

Slee, R. (2011). The irregular school. Abbingdon, UK: Routledge.

Slee, R. (2013). How do we make inclusive education happen when exclusion is a political predisposition? International Journal Of Inclusive Education, 17(8), 895-907.
Episode Nine: Mel Ainscow on inclusive education and school and system reform.
Further reading for episode nine:

Ainscow, M., Booth, T., & Dyson, A. (2006). Improving schools, developing inclusion. Abbingdon, UK: Routledge.

Ainscow, M., Dyson, A., Goldrick, S., & West, M. (2012). Developing equitable education systems. Abbingdon, UK: Routledge.

Booth, T. & Ainscow, M. (2002). The Index for Inclusion (2nd Ed.). Bristol, UK: Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education. Available here translated into many languages and for many contexts.

Miles, S., & Ainscow, M. (2011). (Eds.). Responding to diversity in schools: An inquiry-based approach. Abbingdon, UK: Routledge.
Episode Ten: Phyllis Jones on insider perspectives on inclusive education.
Further reading for episode ten:

Jones, P (Ed.). (2013). Infusing insider perspectives into inclusive teacher learning: Potentials and challenges. Abbingdon, UK: Routledge.

Jones, P. (2010). My peers have also been an inspiration for me: developing online learning opportunities to support teacher engagement with inclusive pedagogy for students with severe/profound intellectual developmental disabilities. International Journal of Inclusive education, 14(7), 681-696.

Jones, P. (2005). Inclusion: Lessons from the children. British Journal of Special Education, 32(2), 60-66.

Jones, P., West, E., & Stevens, D. (2006). Nurturing moments of transformation in teachers - comparative perspectives of the challenges of professional development. British Journal of Special Education, 33(2), 82-91.
Episode Eleven: Richard Rieser on working with global organizations for inclusive education. Part One
Part Two Further reading for episode eleven:

Visit the World of Inclusion website.

Rieser, R. (2006). Disability equity: Confronting the opression of the past. In M. Cole (Ed.). Education, equality, and human rights: Issues of gender, race, sexuality, disability, and class. Abbingdon, UK: Routledge.

Rieser, R. (2009). Inclusion, empowerment, and the vital role of disabled people and their thinking. In V. Timmons & M. Alur (Eds.). Inclusive education across cultures: Corssong boundaries, sharing ideas. p, 365-380. New Dehli, India: Sage.

Rieser, R. (2012). Implementing inclusive education: A Commonwealth guide to implementing Article 24 of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. London, UK: Commonwealth Secretariate. Sampler available here.

Rieser, R. (2013). Preparing teachers for children with disabilities. New York, USA: UNICEF. Available here.
Episode Twelve: Donna McGhie-Richmond on technology and inclusive education. Further reading for episode twelve:
See Associate Professor McGhie-Richmond and colleagues present on experiences on preparing educators to support students using assistive technology here.

McGhie-Richmond, D., & Winter, E. (2010) Considerations for effective collaborative practice: A reflection on the use of case studies in online teacher education learning spaces. In F. Pozzi and D. Persico. (Eds.). Techniques for fostering collaboration in online learning communities: Theoretical and practical perspectives.(p. 124-145). Hershey, USA: Information Science Reference.

McGhie-Richmond, D., & Sung, A. (2013). Applying Universal Design for learning to instructional planning. International Journal of Whole Schooling, 9(1). Available here.

McGhie-Richmond, D., & Howery, K. (2014). Program planning and student diversity. In J. Andrews and J. Lupart (Eds.). Diversity education: Understanding and addressing student diversity. (p. 248-287). Toronto, Canada: Nelson.
Episode Thirteen: Jacqui Specht on inclusive school leadership
Further reading:

Visit the Canadian Research Centre for Inclusive Education.

Edmunds, A., Macmillan, R., Specht, J.,& Nowicki, E. (2010). Principals and inclusive schools: Insight into practice. In A. Edmunds & R. Macmillan (Eds.). Leadership for inclusion: A practical guide (pp.143- 159). Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Sense Publishers.

Edmunds, A., Macmillan, R., Specht, J.,& Nowicki, E. (2009). Principals and inclusive schools. The Journal of Educational Administration and Foundations, 20, 1-23.

Specht, J.A., & Young, G. (2010). How administrators build schools as inclusive communities. In A. Edmunds & R. Macmillan (Eds.). Leadership for inclusion: A practical guide (pp.65-72). Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Contact: Tim Loreman

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The Scholarship of Inclusive Education Podcast | Concordia University of Edmonton

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The Scholarship of Inclusive Education Podcast is a series of succinct interviews on important research, theoretical, or philosophical contributions to inclusive education featuring the scholars who made those contributions. The podcast is hosted by Dr. Tim Loreman, Professor of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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Implementation Matters

Successful implementation is complex work. Planning requires an understanding of the characteristics of successful implementation, coherence among plans and priorities, and the intentional effort to plan for impact based on your outcome.

CASS has developed a plan to support members with implementation of the Professional Practice Standard. The plan includes a focus on building members' capacity as well as sharing strategies and approaches to support implementation of the professional practice standards in your school authority. To develop the plan, CASS made use of A Guide to Support Implementation: Essential Conditions developed by education stakeholders in Alberta. A planning template for your use is included here, as well as a sample of CASS's plan to support implementation.

Additional implementation planning tools are available from the Alberta Regional Professional Development Consortia (ARPDC) site at http://essentialconditions.ca/

Download Essential Conditions

Implementation only happens when capacity exists

CASS exists to build and support its members' capacity. Developing a comprehensive professional learning plan has the potential to build greater capacity. CASS made use of A Guide to Comprehensive Professional Development Planning to create a professional learning plan. A planning template for your use is included here, as well as CASS plans to support members capacity.

Download A Guide to Comprehensive PD Planning

CASS Professional Learning Outcome

Superintendent leadership supports quality school leadership and teaching to create optimum learning for all students in Alberta.

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Successful implementation is complex work. Planning requires an understanding of the characteristics of successful implementation, coherence among plans and priorities, and the intentional effort to plan for impact based on your outcome. CASS has developed a plan to support members with implementation of the Professional Practice Standard.

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Jennifer Katz & the 3 Block Model of UDL

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Jennifer Katz & the 3 Block Model of UDL

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The Three Block Model of UDL is the "how to" piece we need for creating socially and academically inclusive classrooms. However, there is much more to it than just the practical how - we have to understand why we are doing what we are doing - what is our vision? What are we trying to achieve, for our students, ourselves as teachers, and our communities?

We often talk about UDL as being driven by the goal of accessibility - we want all students to have access to the social and academic life of the classrooms. However, recent conversations I have had have made me realize - ACCESSIBILITY IS NOT ENOUGH. We can have access to a building, to a social gathering, to a learning opportunity - and not really be MEANINGFULLY able to participate or be included. Just wheeling a student into a room, or adapting the lesson for them and having them working on a separate task away from their peers does not allow them to meaningfully participate in the life of the classroom, with their peers, not alongside them. Accessibility is the first step, but it doesn't end there - it has to be meaningful - for the student, for the learning community, for their teachers and families. This is a much deeper level than just the practical act of differentiating our instruction, it forces us to wrestle with the roots of our humanity - what does it mean to feel connected, included...like we belong? How do we help all students feel that they have something worthwhile to contribute - including those with significant disabilities, behavioral challenges, or trying to learn English as an additional language? What about students from poverty? From minority cultures?

There are no simple answers to these questions - but as a profession, they are ones we must wrestle with, and creative a vision for our field and ourselves as professionals in that field in terms of the fundamental human desire to connect and be valued. All children deserve that.

Thus the Three-Block Model promotes four pillars: Self-worth, Belonging, Cognitive challenge, and Social learning. Research tells us self-worth and belonging are critical factors in mental health, student engagement, achievement, and attendance. Cognitive challenge means that all students are met where they are, and provided with an appropriate learning environment and instructional design for them. The challenge of social learning - the opportunity to learn in interaction with peers - is to design instruction that allows students of different background and skills to learn TOGETHER.

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The Three Block Model of UDL is the "how to" piece we need for creating socially and academically inclusive classrooms. However, there is much more to it than just the practical how - we have to understand why we are doing what we are doing - what is our vision?

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Collaborative Response Model | Resources & Samples | Jigsaw Learning

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Resources have been developed for use in schools and districts, in relation to the Collaborative Response Model.

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Schooling for equity during and beyond COVID-19

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Schooling for equity during and beyond COVID-19

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Schools are closed. Physical distancing is happening. Playgrounds are off limits. Life as we know it has shifted invoking fear and anxiety for both young people and adults. These emotions manifest differently for families depending on their context. Perhaps a caregiver has been laid off causing financial stress and food insecurity; perhaps there is no access to technology; or, perhaps a family member is ill. The variations are endless.

And then emerges the question of schooling. What will public education look like moving forward? Will it simply replicate the status quo of inequitable access in an online platform (with additional implications for surveillance, privacy and public accountability)? Or, will the disruption to the system as a result of COVID-19 provide space for us to re-envision schooling in a way that dismantles practices and structures that further advance the privileged? Watching the first wave of online resources being shared with students and families, as a temporary solution to continued schooling-and recognizing the danger in assuming e-learning to be without its own power structures or as somehow "neutral"-we felt compelled to share a few considerations for "Reimagining Schooling" in the time of COVID-19.

Public education is a structure which historically and currently marginalizes particular populations; the reality of crisis and the "solution" of online learning only serves to underscore and exacerbate the issue. Therefore, when we engaged in homeschooling our own racialized children, despite our 20+ years of teaching students, principaling schools and being a principal coach it was still a thoughtful process. Why? Because it brought us back to two central questions: What is the purpose of education, and what are the conditions required for young people to achieve their full potential?

It didn't take long for us to fall squarely within our belief systems and embrace pedagogies which challenge inequities. The Ministry of Education , Human Rights Code and Canadian Charter remind us that it is our duty and responsibility to challenge inequities. A crisis does not negate such responsibilities. It only enhances them.

Given the reality of having to do things differently, we must carefully consider what leading the learning of students during the COVID-19-related closure of schools can look like currently, and going forward. For us it means reaffirming our commitment to anti-oppressive approaches and culturally relevant pedagogy by asking questions like the following:
Questions that School Administrators can consider with leadership teams as we re-envision public schooling:

1. Who are 'vulnerable students' in our care and how will our new model of schooling remove barriers and create more educational opportunities for them?

2. Who are the families that we have failed to engage thus far and how will we ensure that something new/different happens in this context?

3. How can we ensure that the social/emotional/academic supports we are providing are culturally relevant and responsive?

4. Who has the strongest relationship with our most vulnerable students and how can we position them to support instead of defaulting to past structures (e.g. grade teams, established classes, etc.)?

5. How can we acknowledge the strengths of students/staff and position them to be critical supports for their peers?

6. How can we ensure that our reliance on technology for learning and an online platform doesn't widen the divide between privileged and underserved students but rather closes gaps?

Questions that classroom educators can consider as we re-envision public schooling:

1. How will I create a sense of belonging and 'human connection' for each child in a time of physical distancing?

2. How will I build trust and strengthen relationships with families, particularly those who I have struggled to engage thus far or with whom I don't share a common language?

3. How can I use this crisis to support students to become better problem solvers, to explore issues of power, and think critically about the world we live in?

4. How can I ensure that the work provided does not contribute to additional stress in the home or parent responsibilities?

5. Given the limitations of e-learning, and leading learning from home where I may have other immediate responsibilities, how will I plan my time so that students who need the most care, connection, scaffolding and feedback receive it?

How do we help without hurting? Avoiding the Saviour Complex
Regardless of how large or small a school's vulnerable population may be, it is imperative to not position families as the 'have nots' and educators as the 'brave saviours'. While students and families may have particular urgent needs, this does not negate the many assets they do possess. Emotional resilience, ingenuity, and determination are just a few of the resources that marginalized families and communities have learned to regularly mobilize.

We must be careful about not 'labeling' students and/or families, but rather facilitating conversations to ascertain specific needs. Simply sending a grocery store voucher to a family who we 'think' is in need, but may have already resolved any food security issues, is unproductive and disrespectful. Interactions with families should include asking how they are doing and finding out what they may be concerned or thinking about in general (and specifically with the schooling of their children).

The tendency in a crisis can be to solely focus on the social/emotional needs of students and families-feeding that saviour complex-and ignore the imperative to have high academic expectations for students (which by no means implies "schooling as usual"). To quote critical pedagogue Sonia Nieto, "Nice is Not Enough"; perhaps the forced reimagining of schooling allows us to focus on addressing systemic oppression that further marginalizes vulnerable students, moving us to equal educational outcomes.

Final Thought
We need to do our own research and deep thinking about the causes of disparities so we can interrupt the patterns of disadvantage now and in the post COVID-19 world. We also need to consider who is positioning themselves to benefit from the crisis (think of the exponential growth in privatized education initiatives post- Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, with tremendous implications for social and educational equity), as well as the impending political implications of how we respond to it. This is important work that needs to be prioritized.

One final question for reflection: as the adults try to figure out how best to provide schooling for students, who is stopping to ask the kids?
Alison Gaymes works to disrupt educational practices that continue to disadvantage historically marginalized/underserved students. Her passion for equity and justice has led to a secondment at York University's Faculty of Education and her current position as Centrally Assigned Principal for Principal Coaching, Equity & School Improvement with the Toronto District School Board.
Ramon San Vicente is a principal with the Toronto District School Board, educational activist, and author of various texts. He is passionate about creating spaces for youth culture in public education, exploring critical pedagogies and challenging oppressive practices in schools. Follow him on Twitter at @RamonSanVicent2.

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Schooling for equity during and beyond COVID-19 - Behind the Numbers Schools are closed. Physical distancing is happening. Playgrounds are off limits. Life as we know it has shifted invoking fear and anxiety for both young people and adults. These emotions manifest differently for families depending on their context. Perhaps a caregiver has been laid off causing financial stress and food insecurity; perhaps there is no access to technology; or, perhaps a family member is ill. The variations are endless.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Schools are closed. Physical distancing is happening. Playgrounds are off limits. Life as we know it has shifted invoking fear and anxiety for both young people and adults. These emotions manifest differently for families depending on their context.