Inclusive Schoolwide Practices and Principles

Presented by Dr Lindy AbawiUniversity of Southern Queensland

Research Project 2012 - 2014

Students 2011 Sem 1 2012 Sem 1 2013 Sem 1 2014 Sem 1

Diagnosed with Special Needs

45 55 66 82

Children in care 

7 13 16 18

The rapid increase in students with special needs – a testament to inclusive pedagogy . Numbers have now been capped.

The research: Creating a culture of inclusion that supports all children including students with special needs in mainstream classrooms.

The Research

Participants: Phase 1: Principal; Head of Special Education; Curriculum

Coordinator; 4 classroom teachers; 3 teacher aides Phase 2: Regional Student Support Officer; visiting speech

therapist; Principal of AEIOU kindy; 8 parents of students with special needs; 3 parents of students without special needs; 6 students with special needs; 8 students without special needs

Total: 38 participants

Methodology: Phenomenological case study – capturing the essence of participant lived experiences

Data collection methods: focus groups; interviews; research assistant observations

A process

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Know your community

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Shared commitment to vision, values and Schoolwide Pedagogical Principles (SWP)

Visible Commitment

Schoolwide Pedagogy in action

Growing together – working together; communicating together; celebrating together; the Visions Program; strong induction processes

Learning forever – C2C; differentiated learning; purpose to learn (WALT, WILF, TIB); individual learning goals (every child); students reflect on own learning

Supporting each other – targeting support to achieve learning goals; knowing children as individuals; individual behaviour support; regular communication with parents/carers; team approach

Developing learner independence

Goal setting Year 7 suitcases PODS behaviours Critical thinking skills taught throughout KLA’s The Vision Program Celebrations of personal achievement

I like everything about school. The things I like most are that I get to play outside and have lunch breaks. I also get to do these really hard spelling tests. (Yr 2 boy with ASD)

Teachers help me work out strategies for when I am angry and when I am in the playground…My friends encourage me to do my breathing and that because they know my strategies and that. And then when I’m feeling a bit angry I have some friends around me and they encourage me. On the playground, if I’m playing with my friends, if they see that I’m getting a bit angry they tell me that I’m looking a bit angry and that…I can go to my box – my robo box. It’s full of clam down things- squishy balls and stuff (Yr 5 boy with ASD)

Student voice

Student voice cont. Part of my autism is that I get obsessed with things. Like

I’m obsessed with the computer and certain games like Minecraft. I’m on it every second I can get. But at school I can’t because the only computer that has Java that you need is one in the SEP and you’re only allowed to do it in that classroom on Fridays…I’ve learned other ways to help now.(Yr 7 boy with ASD)

Research assistant observation of Year 7 focus group discussion: They understood how all sorts of events could be emotionally traumatic for students and how this would make them withdraw from play or class activity. They understood it to be their role to include students and help them join in with other groups in the playground (for younger students) or in the classroom…students spoke very frankly about other students’ problems…and were quite straightforward about the justice of inclusion. They felt that this was their role as leaders and that they had learned about inclusion from the Visions program.

Mum of boy with ADD, ADHD, & OBD – He was falling very farbehind in schoolwork and they were able to pick up on that and really work out how to go around it. Now he’s actually writing and not arguing too much with them. They worked out a whole schedule when it started to become too annoying for him and put him on to a computer. He could finish the work that he was doing by typing it on to a computer as opposed to having to actually sit there and handwrite it. And I guess that was the best thing – they actually took the time to work out what worked for him. Mum (with bipolar) of two boys with ASD - What they do here is phenomenal. Not just for the kids, but for the parents … I can be having the worst BP day. I've just got to glance at G… across the room and suddenly I just start to calm… I kiss the ground these guys walk on because they really, really have made a difference…The minute you walk in the door there's that openness. Like even the girls in the office - you never feel, like, you can see they are flat out but who cares? You never get put aside. You're never made to feel out of place…and my kids feel safe for the first time.

Parent voice

Parent voice cont.Parent of mainstream children: We were like many parents… we did a bit of shopping around and saw what was around us. Here it is very much that the children were the focus and what was the best thing for their needs. I really liked the school’s perspectives on behaviour management…Negative behaviours helping them to really identify those and helping them turn them around as well. And when you walked in, you were made to feel welcome…

Our eldest is a bright spark amongst the mix and full of personality which makes life interesting for everybody. We know, we live with it! But he is academically ahead of many of the other kids in his class but the teachers have always been really willing to engage with us…helping him to progress further and work at his standard and to provide work for him. We are aware that they had the learning support teacher assess where he was at. So the school has put a number of programs in place. He’s involved in extension Science activities and extension Maths activities.

Teacher voiceSupport teacher: At our school there are a lot of kids whoaren’t achieving at their benchmark, especially in our junior classes, for example reading accuracy might be quite good but comprehension isn’t. So we develop individual learning plans…(talks about One School processes)…I’m working with some teachers to make it more specific. And some teachers are really into that, like with setting what we term as a ‘smart goal’, quite a specific goal. So it might be ‘Improve from this level to this level in reading with this percentage of comprehension’. Classroom teacher (Yr3/4): It’s very different here…there are behaviours I have never seen before. It took me a while but there was lots of support. The walkie-talkie system is really reassuring – you know you are not alone! I must admit I will miss the colourful behaviours when some of these guys leave. Sometimes they just need their space and then they will be back on board…the others know that and just keep on working. It has taken awhile but these things are such good life lessons for all kids.

Leadership voice

Head of Special Education Program:You need staff to be willing to put the extra effort in...like what S… did for Mitch is what I am talking about. He rode it out and put the effort in… and we’ve got a lot of teachers who will put the hours in, who will go the extra mile and who have the right personality for working with the children to make it work, who’ll work as part of a team. School Principal: That’s the journey he came on, he didn’t think that way in the beginning so I think “Wow that’s really great!” …it’s really strong expectations but I mean the benefits that can be gained for the classroom teachers in the end is you have less behaviour issues and you have support. There are benefits to be gained but you have to put in the hours…we’re a family and have to work together.

Like schools Reading and NumeracyNAPLAN data Yrs 3–5 2011 - 2013

Making a difference

Like schools Reading and NumeracyNAPLAN data Yrs 5-7 2011 - 2013

Moral purpose

Research assistant work-shadowed Principal for 2 days: J… talked with passion about the importance of the ‘extra’ things they do within the school – the woodworking club (run by a retired manual arts teacher and friends); the reading activities in the library or in a classroom (adopted grandparents come and read aloud to those who wish to listen); the two gardening plots (run by one classroom teacher and her class and the other by a retired teacher who works with students with special needs or often referred to as the J Block kids); and, the musical which brings in parents and another retired teacher to help with costuming, learning lines, staging and the like. She strongly believes that to cater for all learners extension activities, creative activities and more than anything activities that allow students to socialise in a positive interdependent way are necessary ways of developing life skills and providing opportunities to shine for those who are not academically gifted.

Getting the best fit…

The piecesI think there are lots of elements… I think it is top down and bottom up as well. I think that groundwork that the teachers and the teacher aides are putting in and the things that they bring to the table as well, it makes it run. The levels that we’ve got going at the moment and the way it’s timetabled…we’ve set it up… the building blocks were already here and in place before the Special Education Program got larger. It’s that, human element… to me the caring side of things is really important here…it’s a level of caring. Like I think that, coming back to that aspect of, if it was your child what would you want for them? And if teachers and teacher aides are genuinely caring about the children they have high expectations for them and not just thinking oh that’s another child in their class, “They’re only reading at a level 4, oh well that’s the best I can do for now” if they’ve got that attitude then it’s not going to, the day will run but it’s not going to go as well as we feel it probably is for us at the moment. (HOSE)

The structure

Large class –Visions program; science; SOSE;

music; HPE

Small class

‘Wrapping with Support’

The leadershipPrincipal and HOSE: So we’re always saying there’s something else we can sort of add to the layer and enable it to be able to be better, to be able to meet the challenge because there’s always new challenges but an ability to be able to discuss it openly and honestly and sometimes I call behaviours of staff sometimes. As leaders sometimes we have to do that… And [those] professional conversations that we have, where we’re just up to we’re actually giving individual feedback to those teachers… so we had to timetable where the four of us then went and talked to every teacher at the beginning of the year and gave general feedback about the questions we asked of them…Now we’re up to where we did it again and we’ve given them individual feedback to be able to say, “well these are the things we’re asking you to find, to justify or to show us what you are doing or whatever it is and then we find if it’s not working and then we go into classrooms…We’re looking, seeing, helping, doing, asking...No one ever says no they don’t want us there ‘cos they know we’re there to help.

Developing learner independence – modelling and speaking out loud Active and empathetic listening (student, parent, teacher) Explicit teaching of social skills and inclusive practice Extension activities, creative activities developing interests, gifts and talents Socialise in a positive interdependent way Explicit teaching of life skills Identifying and creating opportunities to shine Top down and bottom up decision making and shared commitment Importance of the initial groundwork (teachers and the teacher aides) Layers of support – timetabled and resourced flexibly with best fit in mind The visible human element - the caring side – “from the gate in” High expectations (academic/behaviour) – negotiated, supported and

celebrated Professional conversations – providing spaces and places for sharing (not

just added on at the end of a day) Individual feedback – staff, students and leaders Looking, seeing, helping, doing, asking – ‘Wrapping with Support’

Inclusive foundations

‘Whole child’ decision making Commitment to vision, values & principles Parallel leadership – School Management Team Metastrategic leadership Capacity building targeted to need Shared decision making (staff, doctors, parents) Risk-taking in a safe no blame environment Flexible structures and processes Wrapping with support (all parties) Explicit teaching of social skills Getting the best fit Strong induction processes Positive relationships

The essence: A language of inclusion

Phrase Meaning

Wrapping with support Support structures, resources and personnel that target needs of all students – students with special needs; ‘children-in-care’ needs; mainstream student needs

J Block kids The students with special needs who are supported by the SEP program in J Block

Vision Program or Vision’s time

The social skills program developed by school staff and run weekly

Large class/small class Mainstream classes/SEP classes

Getting the right fit Staffing and student placement

Slow transitions Allowing students to face difficult situations through a gradual conditioning process

Inclusion from the gate in

When a student turns up for enrolment there is a welcome – there are not the blockers – and that’s the big difference …it’s a small school mindset. Every child who walks in is welcomed…it’s got a family feel...from the gate in.

Education Queensland District Advisor

Contact details:

lindy-anne.abawi@usq.edu.au