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DOSSIER

IEL 6
UNIT 1
Pedagoga en Ingls

Name of Curricular Activity : Integrated English Language VI

Code : PIN1238

Credits : 15

Nature : Compulsory

Prerequisite : Integrated English Language V

Type : Course

Weekly study time allocation : direct teaching: 6,6 hours


independent study: 8.4 hours

Academic Period : 2nd semester, 2017

Contact : Homeroom Teachers per section


S1: Pamela Lara: plara@uahurtado.cl
S2: Lusvic Torrellas: ltorrellas@uahurtado.cl
S3: Marion McGowan: mmcgowan@uahurtado.cl

Schedule :

SECTION 1 MON WED FRI

13:30- 14:50 MM E40 PL C23

15:00- 16:20 LT 21 MM E40 PL C23

SECTION 2 MON WED FRI

13:30- 14:50 PL E34 LT E40

15:00- 16:20 MM C14 PL E34 LT E40


SECTION 3 MON WED FRI

13:30- 14:50 PL D13 LT E43 MM 21

15:00- 16:20 PL D13 LT E43 MM 21

Course Description:
This is an Integrated English Language course designed to guide students to reach a lower
advanced level of English competence (CEFR C1) in listening, speaking, reading and writing as well
as critical thinking, and appreciation of literature and culture of English speaking countries. The
course also offers opportunities to develop appropriate pronunciation of English as well as
accurate control of language structures, frequently used vocabulary and vocabulary related to
the topics of the course. Additionally, in this course students will analyze the teaching
methodologies used in class as the foundation for their training as effective future English
language teachers.

Learning aims:
At the end of this course the student will be able to:

1. listening:
a) identify specific information in specific contexts,
b) identify the main longer stretches of message corresponding to academic situations.

2. reading:
a) Identify authors intention stated in the text,
b) Infer different types of messages from academic texts

3. Speaking:
a) produce longer stretches of speech respecting elementary elements of sounds and
prosody,
b) give orally explanations and providing arguments in conversations or other instances of
oral discussion.
4. writing:
a) write a non-canonical variety of sentence types linked with linking words
b) use basic mechanics (frequent uses of commas, full stops / periods, exclamation marks
and question marks) correctly.

5. pronunciation:
a) Utter specific sounds and intonational patterns in context.
b) Know concepts and terminology to identify prosodic features.

6. lexico-grammar:
a) analyse syntactically structural patterns of a series of sentence types in texts.
b) identify parts of the sentence

7. literature:
a) appreciate the value of reading literary pieces by linking their content to personal
experiences, social and cultural trends
b) Identify literary elements such as character, plot, setting

8. critical thinking:
a) distinguish facts from opinions on topics of the course
b) relate course contents to personal experiences, social and cultural trends

9. social skills:
a) respect and value others opinions on topics of the course and understands the
importance of critical discussions
b) relate course contents to personal experiences, social and cultural trends autonomously

7. ICTs:
a) make efficient and autonomous use of technology as a means to enhance learning
opportunities individually and collectively

8. pedagogical experiences:
a) make efficient and autonomous use of technology as a means to enhance learning
opportunities individually and collectively
Methodology:
Classroom activities and homework will revolve around different topics discussed and read about
in class in each Unit. These activities will all contribute to the completion of a Unit Task. Tasks
have been designed to provide the opportunity to work individually, in pairs and in groups. Co-
teaching is also essential to the process of teaching development. Sharing collective activities is
also a core instance to develop teaching and learning communities. Some activities aligned in this
manner are the workshops, which from this term until IEL8 will focus on language accuracy
awareness. Student participation and autonomy, therefore, is central in this course. Strategies
and appropriate activities such as student presentations, role playing, projects, interviews,
short plays, surveys and debateswill be used to guide students to develop all five language skills:
reading, writing, listening, speaking and viewing. The development of critical thinking will be
emphasized through text and movies analysis on the topics of each unit in the recurrent cycle of
observation, questioning and proposal. Technology will be used as a learning support through
regular computer lab work and permanent use of relevant websites, and other technological
resources.

Contents:

UNIT 1 Topic: Teaching Approaches to English Language Teaching and Learning

UNIT 2 Topic: Inclusive Education

Written: November 24th


FINAL EXAM
Oral: Nov. 27th, 29th, Dic. 1st
Assessment:
Two Tasks 15% each 30%

Mid-term 10 % 10%

Oral presentation 10 % 10%

In-class projects 10 % 10%

Workshops (Holly Mckinzie) 10% 10%

oral 25%
Final Exam 30%
written: 75%

Attendance:

In order to pass, together with the minimum mark of 4,0 in, students must have a minimum class
attendance of 80%.

Students will be allowed into the room only 10 minutes late. After 10 minutes, they will be left absent in
the attendance.

Attendance to one Teacher Assistant (TA) Workshop a week is part of regular class attendance.

Medical certificates only entitle students to take a test they may have missed for health reasons. They
do not count for the minimum attendance requirement.

Important Information:

Non delivery of any given task on the agreed date can only be justified upon presentation of the relevant
medical certificate. Both medical certificate and completed task should be delivered on the very same
day the student returns to class.

Students who miss any assessed activity and have a medical certificate should send an email to the
Monday class teacher to schedule a make-up.

Students who do not have a medical certificate but missed an evaluation due to circumstances beyond
his/her control, he/she might be allowed to sit a make-up exam at the discretion of all the course
teachers.
Students who are unprepared or late for a presentation or do not timely submit a course work will be
graded receive a 1.0

Assigned homework must be completed for the following class regardless if the student attended the
previous session.

Students who arrive without the course material and/or incomplete homework may be asked to leave
the class and/or be marked absent. If a student has a concern, he/she must speak to his/her teacher
before class starts.

Due to the nature of this course, no students are exempted from the final exam, regardless of semester
marks.
Please note: Additional information regarding program and class policies, administration and
coordination can be found by visiting the following website: http://uahengped.wordpress.com/. You are
expected to refer to this resource to clarify concerns and learn more about rights and duties and
program objectives, in general.

** IMPORTANT NOTICE: Plagiarism is a serious offence which will be severely sanctioned. The first time
work will be given a 1.0. If a second time occurs, course suspension and program expulsin may take
place (Reglamento acadmico Ttulo VI, Art.21)

Teaching Resources:

OBLIGATORY MATERIAL:

Monolingual Dictionary
Course material available in the University Platform.

COMPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Gower, R.(2002). Grammar in Practice. Cambridge: CUP.


Biber, D. et al. (1990). Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. England:Longman.
Hudson, R. (1994) Sentence Structure. Routledge: London
Swan, M. (2005).Practical English Usage. Oxford: OUP.
Scrivener, J. (2005).Teaching English Grammar. Macmillan Education.
Wells, J. (2006). English Intonation. Cambridge: CUP.

WEBSITES FOR CURRENT EVENTS:

www.cnn.com
www.guardian.co.uk
www.tcgnews.com
http://www.nytimes.com/
www.bbc.co.uk
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
http://indianexpress.com/
http://www.straitstimes.com/global
http://www.iran-daily.com/
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/radioplayer/

STUDY LINKS:

http://www.studygs.net/
http://www.studygs.net/schedule/
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/checklis.html
http://www.studygs.net/schedule/goals.htm

PRONUNCIATION AND LISTENING WEBSITES:

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/phonemic-chart (Obligatory)
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/flash/flashin.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/results/wordmap/
Syllabus: DATES MAY CHANGE

Date Activities, Contents, Deadlines (Dates may change)

Week 1 Presentation of the unit/content/ Feedback sessions


July 31st- August 4th Modelling Workshop
FCE Test.

Week 2, Unit 1: Postmethod and Approaches to


August 7th-11th language teaching and learning. Toward a Postmethod Pedagogy (p.
1-9)
Prefixes and Suffixes + Noun Clauses
Language Workshop 1: Sentence analysis (tree) / Toward a
Postmethod Pedagogy
(p. 1-9)

Week 3, Toward a Postmethod Pedagogy (p. 9-24)


August 16th-18th Language Workshop 2: Sentence analysis (tree) /Toward a
Postmethod Pedagogy
(p. 9-24)

Week 4, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)


August 21st-.25th Workshop 2: Word building: one word, many meanings/ Adjective
Clauses
Language Workshop 3: Sentence analysis (tree) / Content and
Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)

Week 5, Task-based Approach


August 28th-Sept. Workshop 3: Collocations and Phrasal Verbs + Adverb Clauses
1st Task-based Approach/ In-class project: Sentence analysis (written)

Week 6, Whole Language Approach and Communicative Language Teaching


Sept. 4th-8th Workshop 4: Academic work + The passive
Whole Language Approach and Communicative Language Teaching/
In-class project: Sentence analysis (oral)

Week 7, Task tutorial


Sept. 11th-15th Workshop 5: Education + Nouns
Task Submission (Sept. 15) / Mid term

Week 8, Literature Workshops (in-class project)


Sept. 20th-22nd Literature Workshops (in-class project)

Week 9, Feedback session 1 (Sept. 25)


Sept. 25th-29th Feedback session 2 (Sept. 27)
Feedback session 3 (Sept. 29)
Week 10, Presentation of the unit + task+ feedback session (Oct. 2)
Oct. 2nd- 6th Making inclusive education a reality
Workshop 6: Academic writing + Pronouns
Language Workshop 4: Syntactic structure (patrones gramaticales)
Making inclusive education a reality.

Week 11, Quality Education


Oct. 11th- 13th Language Workshop 5: Syntactic structure (patrones gramaticales)

Week 12, Guidelines for Inclusion: Ensuring Access to Education for all
Oct. 16th- 20th Workshop 7: Academic writing + Gerunds and infinitives (part 1)
Language workshop 6: Syntactic structure (patrones gramaticales)

Week 13, Ley SEP, Ley de Inclusin, Ley PIE + The Science of Inclusion
Oct. 23rd-25th (video)
In-class project (written)

Week 14, Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms


Oct. 30th- Nov. 3rd In-class project (oral)

Week 15, Workshop 8: Watchamacallit + Gerunds (part 2)


Nov. 6th- 10th Task Tutorial
Task: Oral presentation (Nov. 8)
Task: Oral presentation (Nov. 9)

Week 16, Task: Oral presentation (Nov 13


Nov. 13th- 20th Task: Oral presentation (Nov. 15)
Task: Oral presentation (Nov. 16)
Feedback session (Nov 20)
Feedback session (Nov. 22)

Week 17,
Nov. 24th-Dic. 1st Written final exam: Nov. 24
Oral final exam: Nov. 27, 29, Dic 1.
Toward a Postmethod Pedagogy
B. KUMARAVADIVELU
San Jos State University
San Jos, California, United States

As a consequence of repeatedly articulated dissatisfaction with the


limitations of the concept of method and the transmission model of
teacher education, the L2 profession is faced with an imperative need
to construct a postmethod pedagogy. In this article, I conceptualize the
parameters of a postmethod pedagogy, offer suggestions for implement-
ing it, and then raise questions and concerns that might come up in
implementing it. Visualizing a three-dimensional system consisting of
the parameters of particularity, practicality, and possibility, I argue that
a postmethod pedagogy must (a) facilitate the advancement of a
context-sensitive language education based on a true understanding of
local linguistic, sociocultural, and political particularities; (b) rupture
the rei ed role relationship between theorists and practitioners by
enabling teachers to construct their own theory of practice; and (c) tap
the sociopolitical consciousness that participants bring with them in
order to aid their quest for identity formation and social transforma-
tion. Treating learners, teachers, and teacher educators as coexplorers,
I discuss their roles and functions in a postmethod pedagogy. I
conclude by raising the prospect of replacing the limited concept of
method with the three pedagogic parameters of particularity, practical-
ity, and possibility as organizing principles for L2 teaching and teacher
education.

T he 1990s witnessed a rare congruence of refreshingly new ideas that


can fundamentally restructure second/foreign language teaching
and teacher education. Among them are two mutually informing cur-
rents of thought: One emphasizes the need to go beyond the limitations
of the concept of method with a call to nd an alternative way of
designing effective teaching strategies (Clarke, 1994; Kumaravadivelu,
1994; Prabhu, 1990), and another emphasizes the need to go beyond the
limitations of the transmission model of teacher education with a call to
nd an alternative way of creating ef cient teaching professionals
(Freeman & Johnson, 1998; Johnson, 2000; Woods, 1996). The result has
been a greater awareness of issues such as teacher beliefs, teacher
reasoning, and teacher cognition. A common thread that runs through

TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 35, No. 4, Winter 2001 537


the works cited above is a long-felt dissatisfaction with the concept of
method as the organizing principle for L2 teaching and teacher educa-
tion. These works can therefore be seen as heralding the development of
what might be called a postmethod pedagogy.
Continuing and consolidating the recent explorations, and taking my
TESOL Quarterly article on the postmethod condition (Kumaravadivelu,
1994) as a point of departure, in this article I attempt to provide the
fundamentals of a postmethod pedagogy. In the rst section, I conceptu-
alize the parameters of a postmethod pedagogy. In the second, I offer
suggestions for actualizing it in terms of the anticipated roles and
functions of learners, teachers, and teacher educators. In the third, I
problematize it by raising questions and concerns that might come up in
the process of actualizing it. I conclude by raising the prospect of the
parameters of a postmethod pedagogy replacing the concept of method
as an organizing principle for L2 learning, teaching, and teacher
education.

CONCEPTUALIZING POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY


I use the term pedagogy in a broad sense to include not only issues
pertaining to classroom strategies, instructional materials, curricular
objectives, and evaluation measures, but also a wide range of historical,
political, and sociocultural experiences that directly or indirectly in u-
ence L2 education. Within such a broad-based de nition, I visualize a
postmethod pedagogy as a three-dimensional system consisting of three
pedagogic parameters: particularity, practicality, and possibility. I discuss
below the salient features of each of these parameters, indicating how
they interweave and interact with each other.

A Pedagogy of Particularity
First and foremost, any postmethod pedagogy has to be a pedagogy of
particularity. That is to say, language pedagogy, to be relevant, must be
sensitive to a particular group of teachers teaching a particular group of
learners pursuing a particular set of goals within a particular institutional
context embedded in a particular sociocultural milieu. A pedagogy of
particularity, then, is antithetical to the notion that there can be one set
of pedagogic aims and objectives realizable through one set of pedagogic
principles and procedures. At its core, the idea of pedagogic particularity
is consistent with the hermeneutic perspective of situational understanding
(Elliott, 1993), which claims that a meaningful pedagogy cannot be
constructed without a holistic interpretation of particular situations and

538 TESOL QUARTERLY


that it cannot be improved without a general improvement of those
particular situations.
All pedagogy, like all politics, is local. To ignore local exigencies is to
ignore lived experiences. Pedagogies that ignore lived experiences will
ultimately prove to be so disturbing for those affected by themso
threatening to their belief systemsthat hostility is aroused and learning
becomes impossible (Coleman, 1996, p. 11). A case in point is the sense
of disillusionment that accompanied the spread of communicative
language teaching. From South Africa, Chick (1996) wonders whether
our choice of communicative language teaching as a goal was possibly a
sort of naive ethnocentrism prompted by the thought that what is good
for Europe or the USA had to be good for KwaZulu (p. 22). From
Pakistan, Shamim (1996) reports that her attempt to introduce commu-
nicative language teaching into her classroom met with a great deal of
resistance from her learners, making her terribly exhausted and
leading her to realize that, by introducing this methodology, she was
actually creating psychological barriers to learning (p. 109). From
India, Tickoo (1996) points out that even locally initiated pedagogic
innovations have failed because they merely tinkered with the method-
ological framework inherited from abroad, without fully taking into
account local linguistic, sociocultural, and political particularities.
An interesting and intriguing aspect of particularity is that it is not a
thing out there to be searched and rescued. Nor is it a chimera that lives
in the fantasy world of fertile imagination, unreal and unrealized.
Particularity, as Becker (1986) succinctly puts it,

is not something we begin with; particularity is something we arrive at, by


repeating. Particularity is something we learn. We dont distinguish birds
until we learn their names and hear their songs. Up to that point we hear
bird around us and then we begin to pick up their particularity along with
the language. Particularity is something we achieve. (p. 29)

From a pedagogic point of view, particularity is at once a goal and a


process. One simultaneously works for and through particularity. It is a
progressive advancement of means and ends. That is to say, it is the
critical awareness of local exigencies that trigger the exploration and
achievement of a pedagogy of particularity. It starts with practicing
teachers, either individually or collectively, observing their teaching acts,
evaluating their outcomes, identifying problems, nding solutions, and
trying them out to see once again what works and what does not. Such a
continual cycle of observation, re ection, and action is a prerequisite for
the development of context-sensitive pedagogic knowledge. To appropri-
ate and extend Beckers (1986) analogy, the generic professional knowl-
edge teachers gain from teacher education programs can help them

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 539


hear bird around them, but it is their lived experience in the classroom
and their pursuit of a pedagogy of particularity that will help them
distinguish birds, learn their names, and hear their songs. In other
words, context-sensitive pedagogic knowledge can emerge only from the
practice of particularity. Because the particular is so deeply embedded in
the practical, and cannot be achieved or understood without it, a
pedagogy of particularity becomes in essence a pedagogy of practicality
as well.

A Pedagogy of Practicality
A pedagogy of practicality does not pertain merely to the everyday
practice of classroom teaching. It pertains to a much larger issue that has
a direct impact on the practice of classroom teaching, namely, the
relationship between theory and practice. General educationists (e.g.,
Elliott, 1991) have long recognized the harmful effect of the theory/
practice dichotomy. They af rm that theory and practice mutually
inform, and together constitute, a dialectical praxis, an af rmation that
has recently in uenced L2 teaching and teacher education as well (e.g.,
Freeman, 1998).
One of the ways by which educationists have addressed the theory/
practice dichotomy is by positing a distinction between professional
theories and personal theories. According to OHanlon (1993), profes-
sional theories are those that are generated by experts and are generally
transmitted from centers of higher learning. Personal theories, on the
other hand, are those that teachers develop by interpreting and applying
professional theories in practical situations while they are on the job.
Although this distinction sounds eminently sensible, in reality the
expert-generated professional theories are often valued whereas the
teacher-generated personal theories are often ignored. Evidently, in a
well-meaning attempt to cross the borders between theory and practice,
yet another line of demarcation has been drawn, this time between
theorists theory and teachers theory.
This distinction between theorists theory and teachers theory has, in
part, in uenced the emphasis on re ective teaching and action research.
The fundamental aim of action research, as Elliott (1991) makes
crystal clear, is to improve practice rather than to produce knowledge
(p. 49). The suggestion that teachers should construct their personal
theories by testing, interpreting, and judging the usefulness of profes-
sional theories proposed by experts creates only a narrow space for
teachers to function fruitfully as re ective individuals. Indeed, this
suggestion leaves very little room for self-conceptualization and self-
construction of pedagogic knowledge, because teachers are treated

540 TESOL QUARTERLY


merely as implementors of professional theories (for similar views, see
Giroux, 1988; Kincheloe, 1993). This realization has recently led to some
soul-searching among educationists. Zeichner (1996), one of the pio-
neering advocates of re ective teaching and action research, has some
sobering thoughts on their limitations:

Despite the lofty rhetoric surrounding efforts to help teachers become more
re ective, in reality re ective teacher education has done very little to foster
genuine teacher development and to enhance teachers roles in educational
reform. Instead, an illusion of teacher development has often been created
that has maintained in more subtle ways the subservient position of the
teacher. (p. 201)

A pedagogy of practicality, as I visualize it, seeks to overcome some of


the de ciencies inherent in the theory-versus-practice, theorists-theory-
versus-teachers-theory dichotomies by encouraging and enabling teach-
ers themselves to theorize from their practice and practice what they
theorize (Kumaravadivelu, 1999b). If context-sensitive pedagogic knowl-
edge has to emerge from teachers and their practice of everyday
teaching, then they ought to be assisted in becoming autonomous
individuals. This objective cannot be achieved simply by asking teachers
to put into practice theories conceived and constructed by others. It can
be achieved only by helping teachers develop the knowledge and skill,
attitude, and autonomy necessary to construct their own context-sensitive
pedagogic knowledge that will make their practice of everyday teaching
a worthwhile endeavor.
In short, a pedagogy of practicality aims for a teacher-generated
theory of practice. This assertion is premised on a rather simple and
straightforward proposition: No theory of practice can be useful and
usable unless it is generated through practice. A logical corollary is that
it is the practicing teacher who, given adequate tools for exploration, is
best suited to produce such a practical theory. A theory of practice is
conceived when, to paraphrase van Manen (1991), there is a union of
action and thought or, more precisely, when there is action in thought
and thought in action. It is the result of what he has called pedagogical
thoughtfulness. In the context of deriving a theory of practice, pedagogical
thoughtfulness simultaneously feeds and is fed by re ective capabilities
of teachers that enable them to understand and identify problems,
analyze and assess information, consider and evaluate alternatives, and
then choose the best available alternative, which is then subjected to
further critical appraisal. In this sense, a theory of practice is an
on-going, living, working theory (Chambers, 1992, p. 13) involving
continual re ection and action.
If teachers re ection and action are seen as constituting one side of

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 541


the practicality coin, their insights and intuition can be seen as constitut-
ing the other. Sedimented and solidi ed through prior and ongoing
encounters with learning and teaching is the teachers unexplained and
sometimes unexplainable awareness of what constitutes good teaching.
Such an awareness has been variously referred to as the teachers
conception of practice (Freeman, 1996), sense of plausibility (Prabhu, 1990),
or beliefs and assumptions (Woods, 1996). Hargreaves (1994) has called it
the ethic of practicalitya phrase he uses to refer to the teachers

powerful sense of what works and what doesnt; of which changes will go and
which will notnot in the abstract, or even as a general rule, but for this
teacher in this context. In this simple yet deeply in uential sense of practical-
ity among teachers is the distillation of complex and potent combinations of
purpose, person, politics and workplace constraints. (p. 12)

Nearly a quarter century ago, van Manen (1977) called this awareness
simply sense making.
Teachers sense making matures over time as they learn to cope with
competing pulls and pressures representing the content and character of
professional preparation, personal beliefs, institutional constraints, learner
expectations, assessment instruments, and other factors. This seemingly
instinctive and idiosyncratic nature of teachers sense making disguises
the fact that it is formed and re-formed by the pedagogic factors
governing the microcosm of the classroom as well as by the sociopolitical
forces emanating from outside. Consequently, sense making requires
that teachers view pedagogy not merely as a mechanism for maximizing
learning opportunities in the classroom, but also as a means for
understanding and transforming possibilities in and outside the class-
room. In this sense, a pedagogy of practicality metamorphoses into a
pedagogy of possibility.

A Pedagogy of Possibility

The idea of a pedagogy of possibility is derived mainly from the works


of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. General educationists such as
Simon (1988) and Giroux (1988), and TESOL practitioners such as
Auerbach (1995) and Benesch (2001), take the position that pedagogy,
any pedagogy, is implicated in relations of power and dominance, and is
implemented to create and sustain social inequalities. Acknowledging
and highlighting students and teachers subject positionsthat is, their
class, race, gender, and ethnicitythese authors encourage students and
teachers to question the status quo that keeps them subjugated. They
advocate a pedagogy of possibility that empowers participants and point

542 TESOL QUARTERLY


to the need to develop theories, forms of knowledge, and social
practices that work with the experiences that people bring to the
pedagogical setting (Giroux, 1988, p. 134).
The experiences participants bring to the pedagogical setting are
shaped not just by the learning/teaching episodes they have encoun-
tered in the past but also by the broader social, economic, and political
environment in which they have grown up. These experiences have the
potential to alter pedagogic practices in ways unintended and unex-
pected by policy planners, curriculum designers, or textbook producers.
For instance, Canagarajah (1999) reports how Tamil students of English
in civil wartorn Sri Lanka offered resistance to Western representations
of English language and culture and how they, motivated by their own
cultural and historical backgrounds, appropriated the language and
used it on their own terms according to their own aspirations, needs, and
values. He reports how the Tamil students, through marginal comments
and graphics, actually reframed, reinterpreted, and rewrote the content
of their ESL textbooks, written and produced by Anglo-American
authors. The students resistance, Canagarajah concludes, suggests the
strategic ways by which discourses may be negotiated, intimating the
resilient ability of human subjects to creatively fashion a voice for
themselves from amidst the deafening channels of domination (p. 197).
Similarly, analyzing L2 classroom data in terms of the ideology and
structures of apartheid South Africa, Chick (1996) found that classroom
talk represented styles consistent with norms of interaction which
teachers and students constituted as a means of avoiding the oppressive
and demeaning constraints of apartheid educational systems (p. 37).
Unpublished reports from Palestine (Lamice Abdulla, personal commu-
nication, October 19, 1999) indicate how the teaching of English in the
secondary schools of the West Bank and Gaza during the intifada
movement conditioned and constrained classroom events. Although the
Sri Lankan, South African, and Palestinian cases may be considered by
some as extreme examples of classroom life imitating the sociopolitical
turmoil outside the class, there are numerous instances when race,
gender, class, and other variables directly or indirectly in uence the
content and character of classroom input and interaction (see Benesch,
2001).
In the process of sensitizing itself to the prevailing sociopolitical
reality, a pedagogy of possibility is also concerned with individual
identity. More than any other educational enterprise, language educa-
tion provides its participants with challenges and opportunities for a
continual quest for subjectivity and self-identity, for, as Weedon (1987)
points out, language is the place where actual and possible forms of
social organization and their likely social and political consequences are
de ned and contested. Yet it is also the place where our sense of

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 543


ourselves, our subjectivity, is constructed (p. 21). This is even more
applicable to L2 education, which brings languages and cultures in
contact. That this contact results in identity con icts has been convinc-
ingly brought out by Nortons (2000) study of immigrant women in
Canada. The historically and socially constructed identity of learners,
Norton observes, in uences the subject position they take up in the
language classroom and the relationship they establish with the language
teacher (p. 142). In a sense, the classroom behavior of the Sri Lankan,
South African, and Palestinian students mentioned earlier is an unmis-
takable manifestation of their struggle to preserve and protect their
individual and collective identity.
What follows from the above discussion is that language teachers can
ill afford to ignore the sociocultural reality that in uences identity
formation in the classroom, nor can they afford to separate the linguistic
needs of learners from their social needs. In other words, language
teachers cannot hope to fully satisfy their pedagogic obligations without
at the same time satisfying their social obligations. They will be able to
reconcile these seemingly competing forces if they achieve a deepening
awareness both of the sociocultural reality that shapes their lives and of
their capacity to transform that reality (van Manen, 1977, p. 222). Such
a deepening awareness has a built-in quality that transforms the life of
the person who adopts it. Studies by Clandinin, Davies, Hogan, and
Kennard (1993) attest to this self-transforming phenomenon:

As we worked together we talked about ways of seeing new possibility in our


practices as teachers, as teacher educators, and with children in our class-
room. As we saw possibilities in our professional lives we also came to see new
possibilities in our personal lives. (p. 209)

Summary
In this section, I have suggested that one way of conceptualizing a
postmethod pedagogy is to look at it three-dimensionally as a pedagogy
of particularity, practicality, and possibility. As a pedagogy of particularity,
postmethod pedagogy rejects the advocacy of a predetermined set of
generic principles and procedures aimed at realizing a predetermined
set of generic aims and objectives. Instead, it seeks to facilitate the
advancement of a context-sensitive, location-speci c pedagogy that is
based on a true understanding of local linguistic, sociocultural, and
political particularities. As a pedagogy of practicality, postmethod peda-
gogy rejects the arti cial dichotomy between theorists who have been
assigned the role of producers of knowledge and teachers who have been
assigned the role of consumers of knowledge. Instead, it seeks to rupture

544 TESOL QUARTERLY


such a rei ed role relationship by enabling and encouraging teachers to
theorize from their practice and practice what they theorize. As a
pedagogy of possibility, postmethod pedagogy rejects the narrow view of
language education that con nes itself to the linguistic functional
elements that obtain inside the classroom. Instead, it seeks to branch out
to tap the sociopolitical consciousness that participants bring with them
to the classroom so that it can also function as a catalyst for a continual
quest for identity formation and social transformation. The boundaries
of the particular, the practical, and the possible are inevitably blurred.
They interweave and interact with each other in a synergistic relationship
in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
If one assumes that the three pedagogic parameters of particularity,
practicality, and possibility have the potential to form the foundation for
a postmethod pedagogy and propel the language teaching profession
beyond the limited and limiting concept of method, then a crucial
question presents itself: What needs to be done in order to begin to
actualize such a pedagogy? I address this and other related questions in
the following section.

ACTUALIZING POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY


The very nature of a postmethod pedagogy with its emphasis on
context sensitivity demands that various participants actualize it variously
to suit various necessities. Indeed, trying to fabricate a monolithic matrix
of methods for the purpose of actualizing a postmethod pedagogy will be
futile. However, it should be feasible and indeed desirable to chart a
broad road map that indicates the path the actualization process might
pro tably take. I attempt to visualize such a road map in terms of the
anticipated roles of learners, teachers, and teacher educators. I focus on
these three groups of fellow travelers not merely because they embark
upon a common journey toward a common destination, but also because
postmethod pedagogy demands a re-visioning of their roles as postmethod
practitioners.

The Postmethod Learner


The postmethod learner is an autonomous learner. The literature on
learner autonomy has so far provided two interrelated aspects of
autonomy: academic autonomy and social autonomy. Academic auton-
omy is related to learning. Learning becomes autonomous when learn-
ers are willing and able to take charge of their own learning (Holec,
1988). Taking charge has mostly meant teachers giving learners a set of

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 545


cognitive, metacognitive, and affective techniques that they can use for
successful learning. Research on this aspect of learner autonomy has
produced taxonomies of learning strategies (e.g., Oxford, 1990) and
learning styles (e.g., Reid, 1998) as well as user-friendly manuals (e.g.,
Chamot, Bernhard, El-Dinary, & Robbins, 1999). They have been found
useful in making learners more active participants in their language
learning while at the same time making teachers more sensitive to
learner diversity and learning dif culties. Efforts have also been made to
plan and implement learner training for language learners and teachers
(Ellis & Sinclair, 1989; Scharle & Szabo, 2000, Wenden, 1991).
The wealth of information now available on learning strategies and
styles opens up opportunities for learners to monitor their learning
process and maximize their learning potential. With the help of their
teachers and their peers, postmethod learners can exploit some of these
opportunities with a view to
identifying their learning strategies and styles by administering, or
having administered, select portions of strategy inventories and style
surveys, and by writing their own language learning histories
stretching their strategies and styles by incorporating some of those
employed by successful language learners (For example, if some
learners are global in their learning style, they might have to develop
strategies that are associated with the analytic learning style, such as
breaking down words and sentences in order to nd meaning.)
evaluating their ongoing learning outcomes by monitoring language
learning progress through personal journal writings in addition to
taking regular class tests and other standardized tests
reaching out for opportunities for additional language reception or
production beyond what they get in the classroom, for example,
through library resources and learning centers
Unlike academic autonomy, which is mostly intrapersonal, social
autonomy is interpersonal and is related to learners ability and willing-
ness to function effectively as cooperative members of a classroom
community. It refers to the fact that among the strategies and activities
associated with increasing metacognitive awareness and learning man-
agement skills are some that involve interaction with others (Broady &
Kenning, 1996, p. 16). Learners can attempt to develop their social
autonomy by, for instance,
seeking their teachers intervention to get adequate feedback on
areas of dif culty and to solve problems. Learners do this through
dialogues and conversations in and outside the class.
collaborating with other learners to pool information on a speci c
project they are working on. Learners do this by forming small

546 TESOL QUARTERLY


groups, dividing the responsibilities of consulting reference materials
(e.g., dictionaries and encyclopedias) to collect information, and
sharing it with the group.
taking advantage of opportunities to communicate with competent
speakers of the language. Learners can achieve this by participating
in social and cultural events, and engaging in conversations with
other participants.
These activities contribute to at least two noteworthy skills: Learners gain
a sense of responsibility for aiding their own learning and that of their
peers, and they develop a degree of sensitivity and understanding toward
other learners who may be more or less competent than they themselves
are.
Although academic autonomy and social autonomy undoubtedly offer
useful pathways for learners to realize their learning potential, a third
aspect of learner autonomy is necessary to capture the essence of the
postmethod learner: liberatory autonomy. If academic autonomy enables
learners to be effective learners, and social autonomy encourages them
to be collaborative partners, liberatory autonomy empowers them to be
critical thinkers. Thus, liberatory autonomy goes much further than the
other two aspects of learner autonomy by actively seeking to help
learners recognize sociopolitical impediments to realization of their full
human potential and by providing them with the intellectual tools
necessary to overcome those impediments. The sociopolitical impedi-
ments may sometimes take the form of overt political oppression, as
experienced and expressed by the Sri Lankan, South African, and
Palestinian students referred to earlier, or take subtle forms of discrimi-
nation based on race or religion, class or color, gender or sexual
orientation.
More than any other educational enterprise, language pedagogy in
which almost any topic potentially constitutes the content of classroom
activity offers ample opportunities for experimenting with liberatory
autonomy. Teachers can promote meaningful liberatory autonomy in the
language classroom by
encouraging learners to assume, with the help of their teachers, the
role of miniethnographers so that they can investigate and under-
stand how language rules and language use are socially structured,
and also explore whose interests these rules serve
asking learners to write diaries or journal entries about issues that
directly engage their sense of who they are and how they relate to the
social world, and continually re ect on their observations and the
observations of their peers

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 547


helping them form learning communities where learners develop
into uni ed, socially cohesive, mutually supportive groups seeking
self-awareness and self-improvement
providing opportunities for learners to explore the unlimited possi-
bilities offered by on-line services on the World Wide Web and
bringing back to the class their own topics for discussion and their
own perspectives on those topics
The suggestions sketched above, and several others that are implicit in
the professional literature, can easily be modi ed and made more
relevant to suit the instructional aims/activities and institutional con-
straints/resources of various learning/teaching contexts. They may be
treated as foundations for promoting a full range of academic, social,
and liberatory autonomy for the bene t of the learner. Taken together,
these three aspects of autonomy promise the development of the overall
academic ability, intellectual competence, social consciousness, and
mental attitude necessary for learners to avail themselves of opportuni-
ties and overcome challenges both in and outside the classroom. Clearly,
learners working alone cannot attain such a far-reaching goal; they need
the willing cooperation of all others who directly or indirectly shape their
educational endeavor, particularly that of their teachers. Autonomous
learners deserve autonomous teachers.

The Postmethod Teacher


The postmethod teacher, like the postmethod learner, is an autono-
mous individual. Teacher autonomy in this context entails a reasonable
degree of competence and con dence on the part of teachers to want to
build and implement their own theory of practice that is responsive to
the particularities of their educational contexts and receptive to the
possibilities of their sociopolitical conditions. Such competence and
con dence can evolve only if teachers have the desire and the determi-
nation to acquire and assert a fair degree of autonomy in pedagogic
decision making. Teacher autonomy is so central that it can be seen as
de ning the heart of postmethod pedagogy.
Teacher autonomy is shaped by a professional and personal knowl-
edge base that has evolved through formal and informal channels of
educational experience. In the eld of L2 education, most teachers
enter into the realm of professional knowledge by and large through a
methods package. That is, they learn that the supposedly objective
knowledge of language learning and teaching has been inextricably
linked to a particular method, which, in turn, is linked to a particular
school of thought in psychology, linguistics, and other related disci-

548 TESOL QUARTERLY


plines. When they begin to teach, however, they quickly recognize the
need to break away from such a constraining concept of method. In
order to do that, they have to rely increasingly on their personal
knowledge of learning and teaching. Personal knowledge does not
simply entail behavioral knowledge of how to do particular things in the
classroom; it involves a cognitive dimension that links thought with
activity, centering on the context-embedded, interpretive process of
knowing what to do (Freeman, 1996, p. 99). It does not develop
instantly before ones peering eyes, as a lm develops in an instant
camera. It evolves over time, through determined effort. Under these
circumstances, it is evident that teachers can become autonomous only
to the extent they are willing and able to embark on a continual process
of self-development.
There has recently been a systematic effort to investigate the complex
process of teacher knowledge during and after formal teacher educa-
tion. It is a sign of the times that the TESOL profession has bene ted
from the publication in the course of a single calendar year of ve useful
volumes on issues related to teacher knowledge. In a signi cant contri-
bution, Woods (1996) explores how teachers interpret and evaluate the
events, activities, and interactions that occur in the teaching process, and
how these interpretations and evaluations feed back into teachers
subsequent planning, thereby enriching their teaching performance and
enhancing their intellectual competence. Whereas the volume edited by
Freeman and Richards (1996) unfolds the thinking and learning pro-
cesses teachers employ as they learn to teach, the one edited by Bailey
and Nunan (1996) brings out the teachers voices, which have been
rarely articulated or heard before. In another edited volume, Nunan and
Lamb (1996) attempt to help teachers become self-directed individuals
in order to take effective control of the teaching and learning processes
in their classrooms. Finally, van Lier (1996) offers a framework for
pedagogical interaction in terms of teachers awareness, autonomy, and
authenticity.
Although it is highly satisfying to see this robust beginning to the
effort to understand teachers articulated encounters with certain as-
pects of particularity and practicality, teachers must be encouraged and
empowered to embrace aspects of possibility as well. Otherwise, teacher
self-development will remain sociopolitically naive. Such naivet com-
monly occurs, as Hargreaves (1994) wisely warns,

when teachers are encouraged to re ect on their personal biographies


without also connecting them to broader histories of which they are a part; or
when they are asked to re ect on their personal images of teaching and
learning without also theorizing the conditions which gave rise to those
images and the consequences which follow from them. (p. 74)

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 549


He goes on to argue, quite rightly, that when divorced from its surround-
ing social and political contexts, teachers personal knowledge can
quickly turn into parochial knowledge (p. 74).
In light of the above discussion, it is reasonable to ask questions such
as these: How do postmethod teachers pursue professional development
involving the triple pedagogic parameters of particularity, practicality,
and possibility? How do they theorize from practice and practice what
they theorize? One possible answer is that they do so through teacher
research. Teacher research is initiated and implemented by practicing
teachers motivated mainly by their own desire to self-explore and
self-improve.
Contrary to a common misconception, doing teacher research does
not necessarily involve highly sophisticated, statistically laden, variable-
controlled experimental studies, for which practicing teachers have
neither the time nor the energy. Rather, it involves keeping ones eyes,
ears, and mind open in the classroom to see what works and what does
not, with what group(s) of learners, and for what reason, and assessing
what changes are necessary to make instruction achieve its desired goals.
Teachers can conduct teacher research by developing and using investi-
gative capabilities derived from the practices of exploratory research
(Allwright, 1993), teacher research cycle (Freeman, 1998), and critical
classroom observation (Kumaravadivelu, 1999a, 1999b). More speci cally,
teachers can begin their inquiry by
using investigative methods such as questionnaires, surveys, and
interviews to gather learner pro les that include information about
learning strategies and styles, personal identities and investments,
psychological attitudes and anxieties, and sociopolitical concerns
and con icts
identifying researchable questions that emerge from learner pro les
and classroom observationquestions of interest to learners, teachers,
or both that range from classroom management to pedagogic
pointers to sociopolitical problems
clustering the identi ed researchable questions in terms of themes
and patterns, and deciding which ones can be explored individually
and which ones collectively with learners, peers, or both
exploring which of the resources learners bring with them can be
pro tably exploited for learning, teaching, and research purposes,
including learners sociocultural and linguistic knowledge (e.g.,
exploring how often and under what conditions the much-ignored
and much-neglected common L1 can be used as an effective means
of learning and teaching even though the mandated methods and
materials might proscribe its use)

550 TESOL QUARTERLY


nding out to what extent, in carrying out their investigative
activities, they can engage in an electronic, Internet-based dialogue
with local and distant peers and scholars who may have similar
concerns and get useful feedback on their problems and projects
developing interpretive strategies to observe, analyze, and evaluate
their own teaching acts by using a suitable classroom observation
framework that is based on a recognition of the potential mismatch
between teacher intention and learner interpretation
determining what basic assumptions about language, learning, and
teaching are implied in their original pedagogic formulations, what
existing assumptions need to be modi ed in light of research
ndings, and what changes in pedagogic formulations are warranted
by such modi cations
As these suggestions imply, the goal of teacher research and teacher
autonomy is not the easy reproduction of any ready-made package of
knowledge but, rather, the continued recreation of personal meaning
(Diamond, 1993, p. 59). Teachers create and re-create personal meaning
when they exploit and extend their intuitively held pedagogic beliefs
based on their educational histories and personal biographies by con-
ducting more structured and more goal-oriented teacher research based
on the parameters of particularity, practicality, and possibility. Most such
teacher research is doable if, as far as possible, it is not separate from but
is fully integrated with day-to-day teaching and learning. As Allwright
(1993) convincingly argues, language teachers and learners are in a
privileged position to use class time for investigative purposes as long as
the activities are done through the medium of the target language being
taught and learned.
The exploratory activities listed above are no more than a general
road map to help teachers pursue self-autonomy and self-development.
What speci c route they have to follow, what treacherous curves they
have to negotiate, what institutional speed bumps they have to surmount,
and what unexpected detours they have to take will all depend on the
road conditions they encounter in their day-to-day teaching. But their
journey will undoubtedly become less onerous and more joyous if
teacher educators can pave the way by laying a strong and stable
foundation through their teacher education programs.

The Postmethod Teacher Educator


As is well known by now, most models of teacher education are
designed to transmit a set of preselected and presequenced body of
knowledge from the teacher educator to the prospective teacher. In this

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 551


essentially top-down approach, teacher educators perceive their role to
be one of engineering the classroom teaching of student teachers,
offering them suggestions on the best way to teach, modeling appropri-
ate teaching behaviors for them, and evaluating their mastery of discrete
pedagogic behaviors. Such a transmission model of teacher education is
hopelessly inadequate to produce self-directing and self-determining
teachers who constitute the backbone of any postmethod pedagogy.
What is needed, then, is a fundamental restructuring of teacher
education so that it focuses as much on the teacher part of teacher
education as on the education part of it. One way to accomplish this
restructuring is to recognize that prospective teachers embarking on
formal teacher education programs bring with them their notion of what
constitutes good teaching and what does not, largely based on their prior
educational experience as learners and, in some cases, as teachers. Their
minds are anything but atheoretical clean slates. It is therefore important
to recognize their voices and their visions.
Recognizing prospective teachers voices and visions means legitimiz-
ing their knowledge and experience and incorporating them as an
important part of the dialogue between teacher educators and prospec-
tive teachers. In other words, the interaction between the teacher
educator and the prospective teacher should become dialogic in the
Bakhtinian sense (Kumaravadivelu & Bean, 1995). Dialogic discourse
facilitates an interaction between meanings, between belief systems, an
interaction that produces what Bakhtin (1981) calls a responsive under-
standing. In such a dialogic enterprise, the primary responsibility of the
teacher educator is not to provide the teacher with a borrowed voice,
however enlightened it may be, but to provide opportunities for the
dialogic construction of meaning out of which an identity or voice may
emerge. Teacher education must therefore be conceived of not as the
experience and interpretation of a predetermined, prescribed pedagogic
practice but rather as an ongoing, dialogically constructed entity involv-
ing two or more critically re ective interlocutors. When, through a series
of dialogic interactions, channels of communication between teacher
educators and prospective teachers open up, when prospective teachers
actively and freely use the linguistic, cultural, and pedagogic capital they
bring with them, and when teacher educators use the student teachers
values, beliefs, and knowledge as an integral part of the learning process,
then the entire process of teacher education becomes re ective and
rewarding.
A postmethod teacher education program must take into account the
importance of recognizing teachers voices and visions, the imperatives
of developing their critical capabilities, and the prudence of achieving
both of these through a dialogic construction of meaning. In practical
terms, the role of the postmethod teacher educator becomes one of

552 TESOL QUARTERLY


recognizing, and helping student teachers recognize, the inequali-
ties built into the current teacher education programs that treat
teacher educators as producers of knowledge and practicing teach-
ers as consumers of knowledge
enabling prospective teachers to articulate their voices and visions in
an electronic journal in which they record and share with other
student teachers in class their evolving personal beliefs, assumptions,
and knowledge about language learning and teaching at the begin-
ning, during, and at the end of certain courses in their teacher
education program
encouraging prospective teachers to think critically so that they may
relate their personal knowledge to the professional knowledge they
are being exposed to, monitor how each shapes and is shaped by the
other, assess how the generic professional knowledge could be
modi ed to suit particular pedagogic needs and wants, and ulti-
mately derive their own personal theory of practice
creating conditions for prospective teachers to acquire basic skills in
classroom discourse analysis that will help them hypothesize pedagogic
principles from their classroom practice and thereby demystify the
process of theory construction
rechanneling part of their own research agenda to do what Cameron,
Frazer, Harvey, Rampton, and Richardson (1993) call empowering
research, that is, research with rather than on their teacher learners
exposing prospective teachers to a pedagogy of possibility by helping
them critically engage authors such as Phillipson (1992), Pennycook
(1994), Tollefson (1995), and Canagarajah (1999), who have raised
the elds consciousness about the power and politics, ideologies,
and inequalities that inform L2 education around the world
whenever and wherever chances arise, connecting the generic pro-
fessional knowledge base available in the professional literature
directly and explicitly to the particularities of learning/teaching
contexts that prospective teachers are familiar with or the ones in
which they plan to work after graduation, thereby pointing out both
the strengths and the weaknesses of the professional knowledge base
These suggestions portend that current teacher education programs, if
they are to produce self-directing and self-determining teachers, require
a fundamental restructuring that transforms an information-oriented
system into an inquiry-oriented one. Underlying the concept of aca-
demic inquiry is pedagogic exploration.

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 553


Postmethod Practitioners as Pedagogic Explorers
Pedagogic exploration is an integral part of postmethod pedagogy.
Contrary to the commonly held view that research belongs to the
domain of the researcher, postmethod pedagogy considers research as
belonging to the multiple domains of learners, teachers, and teacher
educators alike. These participants, engaged in the joint accomplish-
ment of learning/teaching operations, ought to be engaged in pedagogic
exploration either individually or collaboratively.
Such a formulation of pedagogic exploration opens up concerns
about objectivity and generalizability. Objectivity relates to the concern
that pedagogic explorers may not have adequate research skills and that
therefore their research projects may not turn out to be reliable, valid, or
generalizable. As Burton (1988) rightly points out, the most carefully
designed experiment re ects the bias and values of the experimenter.
Someone had to decide what questions to include and exclude on a survey
or what variable to isolate and attend to during an experimental study
(p. 766). Research in social sciences and humanities can hardly be
absolutely objective. In fact, philosophers of science such as Feyerabend
(1975) would argue that there is no absolute objectivity even in scienti c
research.
The question of generalizability becomes problematic only if it is
approached in its traditional sense of a centralized pedagogic project
having implications for a wider sphere of pedagogic activity. As a
reviewer of this article pointed out, it is even inappropriate to talk about
generalizability in the context of a postmethod pedagogy. Instead, the
reviewer suggested the term particularizability because, in a postmethod
pedagogy, any exploration is by de nition context speci c and has the
capacity, if carried out properly, to produce situated scenarios that are
ever-changing and ever-evolving. Besides, as Allwright (1993) maintains,
a project that concentrates on locally important research questions can
produce individual understandings, and there is no reason in principle
why individual understandings should be incapable of being brought
together towards some sort of overall synthesis (p. 127).
The dif cult task facing pedagogic explorers is how to get ready for
the kind of research they would like to engage in. All pedagogic
explorers, like all informed and inquisitive human beings, do research in
a casual wayobserving what they do, re ecting on why they do what
they do, monitoring its intended and unintended effects, and then
modifying their behavior in light of lessons learned. This informal
research ability has to be made into a more systematic and sustained
activity. Evidently, pedagogic researchers can achieve this in at least two
ways: by developing, either through a formal teacher education program

554 TESOL QUARTERLY


or through self-study, the knowledge and skill necessary to do teacher
research in general (see Freeman, 1998) and classroom discourse
analysis in particular (see van Lier 1996; Kumaravadivelu, 1999b); and by
collaborating with senior and more experienced colleagues and learning
the required skills on the job (see Nunan, 1992).
A postmethod pedagogy, like any other innovative practice, imposes
an extraordinary degree of responsibility on all the participants, particu-
larly the teacher and the teacher educator. Problematizing such a
pedagogy will identify some broad concerns that may arise.

PROBLEMATIZING POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY


In any educational reform, teachers and teacher educators constitute
pivotal change agents. As Kennedy (1999) observes, when teachers wish
to change, they have to change not only their methods and materials but
also their attitudes and beliefs. Teacher educators function as external
change agents whose job is not so much to change the teachers directly
but to create the conditions necessary for change. The challenge of
change, therefore, is chie y borne by teachers and teacher educators.
According to Diamond (1993), the primary challenge for teachers is to
form and reform their own pedagogical theories and relationships (p.
42), and the primary challenge for teacher educators is to help teachers
to see themselves capable of imagining and trying alternativesand
eventually as self-directing and self-determining (p. 52). The essentials
of a postmethod pedagogy demand that both teachers and teacher
educators successfully meet their primary challenges.
Such a demand raises several questions and concerns, some of which
I list below. These questions, and others that perceptive readers may
come up with, are indicative of the problematic nature of any pedagogic
innovation, more so of one that has the potential, if taken seriously and
tried sincerely, to transform the content and character of everyday
practice of teaching.
If a meaningful postmethod pedagogy requires a holistic interpre-
tation of pedagogic particularities, how can appropriate interpreta-
tive strategies be identi ed and made available to postmethod
practitioners?
If pedagogic particularity is at once a goal and a process, in what ways
can postmethod practitioners be helped to monitor what they do in
the classroom and how it affects learning outcomes?
If context-sensitive pedagogic knowledge has to emerge from teach-
ers and their practice of everyday teaching, and if they have to be

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 555


provided with the tools necessary to construct such knowledge, what
exactly are the characteristics of such tools?
If postmethod practitioners have to learn to cope with competing
pulls and pressures representing their professional preparation,
their personal beliefs, institutional constraints, learner needs and
wants, and so on, how can appropriate coping strategies be identi ed
and made available to them?
If a pedagogy of possibility is concerned with postmethod practitio-
ners sensitivity to the broader social, economic, and political envi-
ronment in which they work, to what extent can teacher preparation
programs create such a sensitivity among student teachers?
If a pedagogy of possibility is also concerned with the individual and
group identity of learners in the classroom, what concrete steps can
postmethod practitioners take to maintain such identity and at the
same time promote the group coherence that is so vital for the
accomplishment of pedagogic purposes?
If postmethod learners have to be autonomous in the academic,
social, and liberatory sense, how can they be helped to maximize,
monitor, and manage their autonomy for the individual as well as the
collective good?
If a postmethod pedagogy requires that teachers be given a fair
amount of freedom and exibility to make their own pedagogic
decisions, what speci c demands does such a requirement make on
individuals and institutions, and what can be done to help these
individuals and institutions meet the challenge of change?
If teacher research has to extend its domain to include sociopolitical
factors that shape classroom aims and activities, what potential
theoretical and practical problems are associated with such a re-
search agenda?
If postmethod learners, teachers, and teacher educators all have
active roles to play in the implementation of a postmethod pedagogy,
in what ways can these participants collaborate, and how can their
differential and possibly con icting goals be reconciled for the
bene t of all?
If postmethod pedagogy requires meaningful collaboration and
cooperation among learners, teachers, and teacher educators, how
can L2 professionals identify gaps and biases in their beliefs and
assumptions, and in their intentions and interpretations, and how do
we reduce those gaps and biases once they are identi ed?
Clearly, these questions defy simple answers. In fact, answers to questions
like these will vary from context to context and from time to time. In that
sense, a postmethod pedagogy will always remain a work in progress.

556 TESOL QUARTERLY


CONCLUSION AS INTRODUCTION
A work in progress hardly facilitates a conclusion. Hence, following
the true spirit of an open-ended inquiry presented here, I leave the
reader with more food for thought.
The greatest challenge the emerging postmethod pedagogy imposes
on the professional community today is to rethink and recast its choice of
the organizing principle for language learning, teaching, and teacher
education. The concept of method has long been the preferred choice.
We as L2 professionals have operated all along with the basic assumption
that that path is the only one open to us. We have tinkered with the
concept of method now and then but have never given up on the
concept itself. It has had a magical hold on us. It has guided the form
and function of every conceivable component of L2 pedagogy, including
curriculum design, syllabus speci cations, materials preparation, instruc-
tional strategies, and testing techniques. That a rickety pedagogic
pedestal constructed on the shifting sands of the concept of method has
stood solidly for such a long time is a re ection more of its magic than of
its merit.
In the search for an alternative organizing principle, the pedagogic
parameters of particularity, practicality, and possibility deserve serious
consideration. I believe that these parameters have the potential to offer
the necessary conceptualization and contextualization based on the
educational, cultural, social, and political imperatives of language learn-
ing, teaching, and teacher education. In addition, they offer a pattern
that connects the roles of learners, teachers, and teacher educators,
promising a relationship that is symbiotic and a result that is synergistic.
The choice of the pedagogic parameters as an organizing principle
opens up unlimited opportunities for the emergence of postmethod
pedagogies that can truly serve the interests of those they are supposed
to serve.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank Carol Chapelle and the TESOL Quarterly reviewers for their insightful
comments and suggestions. I am solely responsible for any remaining errors and
omissions.

THE AUTHOR
B. Kumaravadivelu is a professor of applied linguistics and TESOL at San Jos State
University, where he teaches graduate courses in TESOL. He has published exten-
sively on L2 learning, teaching, and teacher education in TESOL Quarterly, Modern
Language Journal, ELT Journal, International Review of Applied Linguistics, and Applied
Language Learning.

TOWARD A POSTMETHOD PEDAGOGY 557


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Policy paper

Making inclusive
education a reality

July 2011

Policy paper: Making inclusive education a reality www.sightsavers.org


required to face and committed to address them. Disability is not a minority issue in
some developing countries, it is estimated that half of the population could be
affected, if one includes the families of disabled people.11 Yet inadequate policy
attention to disability issues is holding back national progress towards realising all
childrens right to education. Unless and until the systemic challenges faced by
disabled children are specifically acknowledged and addressed, around 23 million who
are currently out of school will remain out of school and international targets for
education, most notably the second Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and the
Education for All (EFA) goals, will remain unmet. Failure to act will mean yet another
generation of humanity will be disempowered due to a lack of education just
because they are disabled.

What is inclusive education?


All people have a right to education. There is no single model for ensuring that
education is inclusive and approaches continue to evolve.12 Inclusive education is an
approach that ensures the presence, participation and achievement of all students in
education. This may be in formal schools, or in non-formal places of learning, such as
extra-curricular clubs and humanitarian camps. It often involves working to change the
structures, systems, policies, practices and cultures in schools and other institutions
responsible for education, so that they can respond to the diversity of students in their
locality. Inclusion emphasises opportunities for equal participation, but with options for
special assistance and facilities as needed, and for differentiation,13 within a common
learning framework.

Andy Weekes/Sightsavers
Disabled children: Losing out 1 Defininginclusion

on education Inclusionis: Inclusioninvolves:

Disabled children constitute more than one-third of Recognition of the right to education Providing appropriate responses to the
the approximately 67 million children who are not Statisticsondisability,education and its provision in non-discriminatory broad spectrum of learning needs in
currently enrolled in primary school.2 There are also andunemployment ways. formal and other education settings.
many children living in households headed by A common vision which covers all A particular emphasis on those groups
disabled parents (or other disabled family Approximately 150 million children worldwide
people. of learners who may be at risk of
members). These households are are disabled.5
A belief that schools and other places of marginalisation, exclusion or under-
disproportionately affected by poverty and this is a Less than 10% of disabled children in Africa
learning have a responsibility to educate achievement.
significant factor preventing children from attend primary school.6
accessing education.3 National census data provide all children (and adults) in line with Identification and removal of attitudinal,
The proportion of disabled children receiving
an insight into how poverty, disability and education human rights principles. environmental and institutional barriers
any form of education is as low as 1-3% in
interact. Having a disabled parent who is poor some developing countries.7 A continuous process of addressing and to participation and learning.
increases the likelihood of seven to sixteen year In developing countries, it is estimated that literacy responding to the diversity of needs of
olds never having been to school by 25% in the Modifications and changes in strategies
rates for disabled women are 1%, compared all learners regardless of factors such and plans and in content and
Philippines and 13% in Uganda.4 This is due to a with about 3% for disabled people as a whole.8 as disability, gender, age, ethnicity,
lack of income and a need for children to care for approaches to learning.
In India, 74% of people with physical language, HIV status, geographical
their disabled parents. From this basis, it is easier location and sexuality recognising that Enabling teachers and learners to see
to understand how cycles of poverty emerge and impairments and 94% of people with learning
disabilities are unemployed.9 all people can learn. diversity as an asset rather than a problem.
have intergenerational consequences.
Excluding disabled people from employment Adapted from UNESCOs Guidelines for Inclusion: Ensuring Access to Education
Inclusive education systems and inclusive results in annual GDP losses of US$60.8 billion
societies can only be realised if governments are for All (2005)
in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.10
aware of the nature of the challenges they are

Page 2 Policy paper: Making inclusive education a reality www.sightsavers.org Page 3


What is the difference between
inclusive and integrated education?
Inclusive education differs from the notion of integration, which tends to Observations of early attempts
focus more on ensuring disabled children attend mainstream schools at integrated education
rather than on ensuring that these children are learning.14 Indeed, whether programmes by governments
or not disabled children learn in an integrated system is down to them such as in Ghana and in Nigeria,
and whatever small efforts teachers and other staff can make, given the coupled with the difficulties
demands on their time. When problems arise, blame can therefore be experienced by disabled people
attached to the child and not the teachers or education system.15 An in society, make many people
integrated approach to education suggests that diversity is a problem to apprehensive of what could
be overcome as it is a burden on resources and detracts from the amount happen to a lone child who is
of time a teacher can dedicate to other students. disabled submerged in a large
class of non-disabled children.
By contrast, inclusion is about the childs right to participate and benefit The attitudes of both special
on an equitable basis to their peers. Inclusive approaches stress the and general teachers, and the
duty of schools (and educational systems as a whole) to adapt and, in lack of adequate skills and
principle, accept all children. A premium is placed upon full participation confidence in the children with
by all students, including (but not only) disabled children, and upon disabilities, can generate a lack
respect for their educational and wider social, civil, and cultural rights. of confidence in what inclusive
Resources are used to encourage this participation, rather than to education has to offer.18
provide additional and separate activities. In this way, diversity in the Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame,
classroom (and wider society) is embraced and viewed as an asset.16 Africa Social Inclusion Adviser,
Inclusive education values and principles should promote rather than Sightsavers
undermine a flexible approach to tackling the diversity of learning needs.

Georgina Cranston/Sightsavers
What about special education?
For example, an inclusive approach to education may ensure the
provision of specialised support for disabled children in a mainstream classroom. It is
important to remember that ideological rigidity is not conducive to an education system that
is genuinely empowering. In certain circumstances, for instance, specialised classes (within
the mainstream school) may be beneficial for some students, to facilitate and complement Inclusive education is different from special education, which is where disabled children
their participation in regular classes. Examples of when this may be appropriate are Braille are educated at special schools (or receive specialist education at home or in another
training and physiotherapy that requires the use of special equipment. Taking these points place, for example a hospital). There may be exceptional cases where special education
into account, a basic explanation of the conceptual differences between inclusive and provision may be the most appropriate support for a child, for example one with multiple,
integrated education may be found in the following diagrams.17 severe impairments. However, schools and education systems should recognise that the
most desirable option in principle is inclusive education, and must constantly assess
Integratededucation Inclusiveeducation possibilities for developing a special education experience into an inclusive one.
Sightsavers view from many years of experience in supporting education programmes is
that special schools have often been chosen because the quality of learning for disabled
Does not pupils in mainstream schools has been poor. With an inclusive education system which
Teachers
respond, delivers quality learning as opposed to access alone, the special school choice will be
attitudes
cannot learn less attractive.
Needs Poor quality Rigid methods
specialist
Has special training and curriculum It has been argued that the concepts underpinning special education reflect the thinking
requirements of orthodox medical models of disability19 which locate the source of the problem in the
teachers
child, rather than in the wider society (this criticism is also directed at integrated
education, as the diagram on the previous page illustrates). It is undeniable that some
Lack of Education children in special schools achieve high scores in assessments and enjoy strong social
Child Inaccessible
teaching aids systemas
asproblem environments relationships among those with whom they interact. Ultimately, however, these students
Needs special Needs special and equipment problem are segregated from the rest of society during a crucial part of their lives, and this
environment equipment
negatively impacts both on individual children and on society as a whole.20

Parents not Many repeaters Inclusive education supports and promotes a broader vision of society where all people
involved and drop-outs are included, regardless of their impairment. Moreover, a special education approach runs
Is different Teachers and the risk of creating a complex and parallel system that is ultimately far costlier (one
Cannot get to estimate suggests as much as nine times higher) than providing education in the
from other schools not
school mainstream.21 Nevertheless, for an inclusive education approach to lead to positive social
children supported
and learning outcomes, a range of challenges must be overcome (see page 10).

Page 4 Policy paper: Making inclusive education a reality www.sightsavers.org Page 5


The CRPD
live. Article 32 places an obligation on donor governments to make their
Rights and responsibilities: support inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities. At the
time of writing (June 2011), there were 149 signatories to the CRPD and was negotiated
International commitments to 101 ratifications.23
Ratification of (or accession to) the CRPD means that those countries are
during eight
sessions, making
education for children legally obliged to provide inclusive, quality and free primary and secondary
education to all children, both in their home countries and in those it the fastest
countries where they provide development assistance. Some countries,
A range of international human such as the UK, have ratified the CRPD with reservations that permit them negotiated
to educate some disabled children in special schools, where that is
rights instruments have long
established the right to considered the best and most appropriate way to support those children. human rights
education for all. The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
(1948) firmly established
education as a human right for
The CRPD was negotiated during eight sessions of an Ad Hoc Committee
of the General Assembly from 2002 to 2006, making it the fastest
negotiated human rights treaty. This appeared to signal a global
commitment to ensure that disabled children have equitable and
treaty.

all people. The United Nations sustainable access to learning at all levels. However, as is often the case
Educational, Scientific and with international legal instruments (and policy statements), there is a lag
Cultural Organization between the commitment itself and the implementation of that
(UNESCO) Convention against commitment on the ground.
Discrimination in Education
(1960), the first specific
instrument concerned with the IndiaAdvocatingfortherighttoeducationfordisabledchildren
right to education, is based on (KetanKothari,ProgrammeOfficer,SightsaversIndia)
the principles of non-
discrimination and equal The right to education has become a legal right in India following a long period of advocacy. Those
opportunities in education. responsible for drafting the Constitution of India (1949) were aware of the significance of education,
The Convention on the Rights giving it a prominent place in the Directive Principles of State Policy (Chapter IV). In subsequent years,
of the Child (1990), the most India became party to various international human rights instruments that enshrine the right to
widely ratified international education. However, it was only in 1993 that the Supreme Court categorically stated that every citizen
human rights treaty, highlights of India had the right to education up to the age of fourteen years.
the need for governments to
ensure access to education Despite this judgement, it was almost a decade (2002) until parliament approved the 86th amendment
for disabled children. The to the Constitution of India, which obligated the State to provide free and compulsory education to
Salamanca Statement (1994) children (from six to fourteen years of age). A further delay meant that the Right to Education Act was
stresses the importance of only passed in 2009. Yet disabled children are not included in the legislations definition of
inclusive education, calling on disadvantaged children, who are given additional benefits such as reserved places.
governments to give the While this has been frustrating for the disability movement in India, it is fair to say that the national
highest policy and budgetary government has been responsive to advocacy carried out by civil society organisations (including
priority... to enable them to
Sightsavers and members of the Disability Rights Group) on this issue. The Prime Minister has tabled
include all children regardless
an Amendment to the Right to Education Act that explicitly includes disabled children. Although the
of individual differences or
Amendment may take some time to pass, the Government of India has adopted a positive attitude
difficulties and to adopt as a
Jrg Peter, Zenobi/Sightsavers

towards providing entitlements to disabled children as it draws up its 12th Five-Year Plan (national
matter of law or policy the
development plan).
principle of inclusive
education, enrolling all
children in mainstream
schools, unless there are
compelling reasons for doing
otherwise.22
This commitment to inclusive education became a legal obligation through Article 24 of
the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which reaffirms
the right of disabled children to quality education and committed governments to ensure
that persons with disabilities can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education
and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they

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Sightsavers contribution to
inclusive education
Well planned
and implemented
strategies to
Sightsavers is committed to strengthening inclusive systems of education by
support disabled
demonstrating how high quality programmes for visually impaired children can be children in school
developed in a fair, sustainable and cost-effective way. Our aim is to see increased
access to an education system that fully meets the needs of visually impaired children
can also improve
and enables them to become productive and fulfilled members of society, whilst working the quality of
to ensure that all disabled children have the opportunity to receive a quality education
within a wider education system. Our approach is summarised in the following diagram.24 teaching and
In Sightsavers experience, well planned and implemented strategies to
learning for all

Sightsavers
support disabled children in school can also improve the quality of
Policy,
governance
& leadership
teaching and learning for all children. While greater focus on quality
education and learning outcomes are crucial, we must not forget that
many disabled children have been and continue to be denied the
opportunity to access basic education in the first place. Nevertheless,
children.

changes such as increased community and parent involvement, more
Child & Community Centred Services

Global Education attention to individual needs and learning styles, and more accessible
Education financing school environments have benefits beyond disabled children and should
Initiative Attributes be welcomed and recognised in advocacy efforts. A pilot project for
Education
impact inclusive education developed by the Government of Pakistan and
Access Sightsavers, for example, found that processes such as peer tutoring,
Education
Education
service
Education co-operative learning groups and team teaching improved education for
workforce Equity outcomes
delivery all children, not just disabled children.
Enhanced
Quality quality
Country
of life PakistanCombiningprogrammedeliveryandadvocacy:
Sustainability
Education Education TheIslamabadCommitmentforChildFriendlyInclusiveEducation
System MIS
(NiazUllahKhan,CountryDirector,SightsaversPakistan)
Sightsavers started working with the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education in 1998 on the
Education education of visually impaired children. In 2003, Sightsavers started working on inclusive education
curricula, and now supports 16 schools in Islamabad. Sightsavers understood that focusing only on visually
materials & impaired children rather than on broader inclusion issues creates artificial barriers, so the organisation
equipment worked with other stakeholders for the establishment of a national-level Inclusive Education Group
(IEG) in June 2009.
Research & Evidence Sightsavers took a lead role in the IEG. This included helping to build a relationship with UNESCO and
the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), who are focusing on promoting Child Friendly Schools
Partnership (CFS) in the national education system. IEG members and the two UN agencies agreed that
presenting CFS and inclusive education as one concept would enhance the potential for leveraging
Advocacy resources and achieving policy change.
Thus the IEG has evolved into the National Child Friendly Inclusive Education group, which works to
Monitoring & Evaluation
include all marginalised children in the system (both those already in school and those out of school
who are completely excluded from the system). The new group is concerned with the development of
Sightsavers supports adaptable and scalable programmes to make schools more inclusive inclusive and effective systems at all stages and in all aspects of education.
for visually impaired children. Although no child should be at home when they could be at In November 2010, the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with UNICEF, UNESCO and Sightsavers,
school, Sightsavers recognises that exclusion begins early in many disabled childrens lives, organised high level national consultations which resulted in the Islamabad Commitment for Child
as they are the least likely to access early childhood care and education (ECCE), even though Friendly Inclusive Education. This was signed by the Federal Minister of Education, in conjunction with
they are most likely to benefit. In addition, our organisation understands that vulnerability provincial departments of Education, and explicitly commits the government to promote inclusive
increases as children experience different layers of discrimination, for example a disabled girl education for all children in Pakistan.
from an ethnic minority group may face multiple forms of exclusion and oppression.25

Page 8 Policy paper: Making inclusive education a reality www.sightsavers.org Page 9


What are the key challenges and MaliOvercomingbarrierstoimplementinginclusiveeducation
(ElieKamate,CountryDirector,SightsaversMali)
the solutions? In Mali, Sightsavers initiated an Inclusive Education Project (IEP) for visually impaired children in 2005
in partnership with the National Institute for Blind People of Mali and Ministry of Education. The project
currently involves 15 primary and five high schools in the District of Bamako.
The road to achieving inclusive education is a long and varied one, on which challenges
and opportunities will arise. No government (or other provider such as an NGO) can It has been necessary to overcome some major barriers in the implementation of the IEP. In the
realistically expect to switch overnight from special or integrated approaches to beginning, many parents were over-protective of their children and lacked information on inclusive
education to inclusive ones. Twin track approaches may be adopted, meaning that education. Sightsavers and its partners addressed this by: establishing an inclusive education committee
(members of which include parents of visually impaired children) that participates in decision-making
special or integrated initiatives and inclusive schools sit side-by-side as governments
and helps to share information; sensitising parents, children and the wider community on human rights
work towards the proper inclusion of all children (in line with human rights principles)
and inclusive education principles; and involving parents in monitoring their childrens experiences.
within mainstream education systems over time. Ideally these twin approaches will inform
one another, with learning gained from each informing the development of future At the level of the education system itself, the implementation of inclusive education approaches was
strategies, rather than being parallel processes without links between them. In very much in its infancy. Therefore Sightsavers and its partners worked to: raise awareness of
Sightsavers experience, established special schools can act as useful resource centres inclusive education amongst both students and teachers; involve school administrators in the IEP;
for inclusive schools by providing equipment and helping to develop teachers technical introduce a module on inclusive education in the teacher training curriculum; and support the training
skills. of itinerant teachers.
There are particular challenges around negative attitudes and behaviour, on the part of
both educators and parents, in relation to the ability of disabled children to learn. These
challenges can be overcome by raising awareness of human rights in communities and
publicising positive examples of disabled children (and disabled adults) succeeding in Inclusive education and advocacy:
Key messages
inclusive education and in life beyond school as a result. Other possible methods include
supporting disabled children to express their aspirations and participate in planning
processes, as well as promoting action research and critical pedagogy amongst
teachers.26 Ensuring that oversight bodies such as parent-teacher associations exist, and
that the parents of disabled children are adequately represented in such entities, is also Evidence-based advocacy at local, national and international levels is vital for ensuring the
crucial for addressing parents concerns and, more broadly, ensuring just and democratic inclusion of disabled children in education. Sightsavers, working alone, cannot bring about
governance arrangements. change at the required scale or speed. Other stakeholders must be influenced to
understand the value of inclusion and to meet their obligations towards disabled children.
Other significant challenges relate to organisational structure and leadership. In some This requires networking with a range of actors involved in policy and programme work, as
countries, official responsibility for the education of disabled children does not even lie well as those that influence them, such as the general public and mass media.
with the Ministry of Education. In other cases, the problem will be a lack of joined-up
Sightsavers will continue to:
thinking and practice within the Ministry of Education, where there will often be a Special
Educational Needs (SEN) desk or department that is functionally unconnected with the Conduct high-qualityparticipatoryresearch in partnership with a range of external
rest of the Ministrys work. The political challenges in securing leadership, so that organisations in both developed and developing countries, in order to contribute to the
Ministries of Education develop, implement and monitor an inclusive education strategy evidence base on inclusive education, particularly as it relates to visually impaired
that explicitly focuses on the most marginalised, should not be underestimated.27 It is children.
particularly important to ensure that disabled children are not just registered in Promoteinclusiveeducationatthenationalandinternationallevels, including
mainstream schools but can and do actually attend and genuinely progress in a safe supporting greater attention to disabled children in the work of governments and
environment.28 multilateral organisations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, multilateral development banks and
It is also worth noting that there are challenges around procuring and resourcing for the EFA Fast Track Initiative (FTI).
assistive devices. For example, children who learn to read Braille alongside their sighted Supportdisabledpeoplesorganisations(DPOs)andblindpeoplesorganisations to
peers in an inclusive class need Braille writing equipment and curriculum materials in promote the CRPD and inclusive education.
tactile form. Yet research29 by Sightsavers has shown that distributing such products to
mainstream schools can be expensive as economies of scale are difficult to attain. Support and bepartofbroadercivilsocietycoalitions,networksandalliances on
Moreover, when these products are distributed to individual children in mainstream education and disability to ensure coordinated advocacy and strengthen the call for
schools they may never be used again by other children, especially if there are no inclusive education. Internationally, Sightsavers will continue its work with the Global
redistribution systems in place. At the same time, one should not overstate the costs Campaign for Education, International Council for Education of People with Visual
associated with making schools (and other places of learning) inclusive. For example, Impairment, the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) and the
despite perceptions to the contrary, accessible design is inexpensive, with one study World Blind Union.
stating that making buildings accessible represents less than 1% of total construction Engagewithteacherunions to learn from their experiences and to promote full
costs.30 ownership of inclusive approaches among those directly involved with education.

Page 10 Policy paper: Making inclusive education a reality www.sightsavers.org Page 11


National governments
The primary duty for respecting, protecting and fulfilling the right to
education lies with national governments. In Sub-Saharan Africa, national
It is critical to
engage with
9. Ensure that schools, curricula, assessment procedures and teaching
and learning materials are accessibleandfairforall. Provide assistive
devices such as low vision magnifiers and Braille slates.
governments are responsible, on average, for almost 95% of public government 10. Invest in ECCEprogrammesthatincludedisabledchildren, which
education spend, with donors contributing the remainder.31 It is therefore will provide a foundation for lifelong inclusion of disabled children in
critical to engage with government (particularly Ministries of Education) at (particularly education and society.
country level, to advocate for the changes necessary to ensure all children
realise their right to education.
Ministries of 11. Promote schoolhealthprogrammes as an intervention to: increase
Education) at health promotion and protection; encourage attendance and facilitate


Many national governments have stated their commitment to inclusive better learning; and strengthen detection and referral pathways for
approaches, through the CRPD and other mechanisms such as national country level. those requiring additional care.
policies. However, progress is uneven and, overall, unacceptable. Actions
that national governments can take to accelerate progress towards 12. Develop mechanisms to monitorexclusionandprogressagainst
meeting their commitments include: equityindicators, including disaggregating data on school
participation, type of impairment and gender.
1. Eliminatelegislativeorconstitutionalbarriers to disabled people
being included in the mainstream education system. Ensure that 13. Support the development and utilization of an education
educationpoliciesandstrategies promote inclusive learning managementinformationsystem. This must include the
environments. development of education indicators that include disaggregated data
on disabled children, particularly with regards to enrolment, retention,
2. Ensure that oneministryandschoolsystemisresponsible for the transition and performance.
education of all children and adults. This will help to ensure a
comprehensive and unified approach to education that is obligated to 14. Employ an inter-sectoralapproach, ensuring links between education
count and serve everyone equally. institutions and social protection, health and community-based
rehabilitation.
3. Initiate and facilitate nationalconsultativeprocesses, informed by
international research, experience and standards, to develop national 15. Include adequatefunding for education, and particularly for the above
standards for inclusive education and for enhancing the quality of measures, in budgets and requests for development assistance.
learning outcomes. Excluded groups must be properly targeted when allocating funding
for education and wider socio-economic development initiatives.
4. Involvedisabledchildrenandadults,parentsandDPOs, as well as
other marginalised groups, in developing and monitoring education
plans. Facilitate including through provision of funding the
engagement of such groups and individuals in education sector review KenyaAdvocatingforsupporttodisabledchildren(NancyThuo,
meetings. RegionalDirector,SightsaversEast,Central&SouthernAfrica)
5. Develop strategies which increasecommunityandfamily Sightsavers Kenya convened an education stakeholders forum in 2007 with the intention of identifying
involvement in school management committees and district education factors that were hindering the effective provision of education for visually impaired learners studying
offices, including encouraging inputs into budget priorities and the in mainstream schools. Concerns were expressed regarding the low funding for visually impaired
tracking of expenditure. To facilitate participation, develop awareness children under the free primary education grant, as the allocation per child was uniform for all children
programmes for the parents of disabled children, and the children (US$15), despite the additional costs of providing learning materials for visually impaired children.
themselves, about their rights. Another major issue identified was the lack of a policy on inclusive education for disabled learners.
This had resulted in Ministry of Education officials tending to recognise special schools as a
6. Transformexistingspecialeducationinstitutions into resources to
convenient solution to a problem.
assist the mainstream system. The expertise of special educators and
special schools can support regular teachers and mainstream schools An advocacy task force was created and mandated to take up these two issues. Initially, the task
at district, school and classroom levels. force only involved stakeholders who were focused on the education of visually impaired people
(and only focused on issues of visual impairment). This became a major challenge as the Ministry of
7. Provide pre-serviceandin-servicetraining to teachers so that they Education, which was the advocacy target, is structured in such a way that it prefers to deal with all
can identify and respond to the needs of each child (for example, categories of disability. The advocacy process was therefore redesigned to include the concerns of
using peer-support and activity-based approaches) and promote other disabled people and a broader range of education actors. Such an approach is, ironically,
diversity in the classroom. Ensure there is adequatesupportand more inclusive and sustainable.
expertise in skills such as Braille literacy, and provide for the training
and employment of disabled teachers. Ultimately, the advocacy conducted by the wider task force succeeded in pressuring the Ministry of
Education to increase funding for each disabled child from US$15 to US$40. Moreover, a policy to
8. Trainandorienteducationaladministrators,schoolleadership, govern the implementation of education for disabled people was developed and has been effective
andsupportstaff,aswellascommunities, on the rights of disabled since early 2010.
children to education and on good practice in inclusion.

Page 12 Policy paper: Making inclusive education a reality www.sightsavers.org Page 13


International donors
International Endnotes
1
In this paper we use the UK terms disabled children and 18
Fefoame, G.O. (2009) Barriers to education: A voice from the
International donors have a crucial role to play in supporting developing
country governments to meet international education goals and human
donors have a disabled people in line with the idea that humans are disabled field, http://www.sightsavers.org/in_depth/policy_and_research/
by the interaction of their impairment with their social environment. education/13072_Barriers%20to%20education%20-%20a%20
rights obligations more broadly. MDG 8 is concerned with establishing a crucial role to 2
UNESCO (2006) EFA Global Monitoring Report 2007, Paris: voice%20from%20the%20field.pdf, p. 3 [Accessed 25 April 2011].
global partnership for development. While various international human
rights instruments refer to development assistance and cooperation, the play in supporting UNESCO, p. 74; UNESCO (2011) EFA Global Monitoring Report
2011, Paris: UNESCO, p. 1.
19
It is important to note that many modern medical
practitioners recognise and accept the value of social and
CRPD is a landmark in that it explicitly states that aid must be inclusive of
and accessible to disabled people. In recent years, various bilateral and
developing 3
Sightsavers (2010) The Millennium Development Goals
Summit 2010, http://www.sightsavers.org/in_depth/policy_and_
human rights approaches to disability.
20
UNESCO (2009) Policy Guidelines on Inclusion in Education,
multilateral donors have publicly committed to support education for country research/health/13062_MDG%20Summit%20-%20Policy%20 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0017/ 001778/177849e.pdf


Brief.pdf [Accessed 8 June 2011]. [Accessed 8 June 2011].
disabled children.32 In order to ensure that these commitments are
realised, Sightsavers would like to see international donor agencies
governments. 4
UNESCO (2010) EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010, Paris: 21
OECD (1994) cited in: Peters, S.J. (2004) Inclusive
implement the following actions: UNESCO, p. 184. Education: An EFA Strategy for All Children,
5
UNICEF (2005) The State of the Worlds Children 2006, New http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/
1. Ensure sufficientfinancing is allocated to inclusive education, in a way York: UNICEF, p. 28. 278200-1099079877269/ 547664-1099079993288/
that adheres to internationally agreed principles on aid effectiveness. 6
UNESCO (2006) op. cit., p. 74. InclusiveEdu_efa_strategy_for_children.pdf, p. 23
This should include supporting efforts of partner governments to [Accessed 16 May 2011].
7
UN (2007) From Exclusion to Equality: Realizing the rights of
increase domestic revenue collection in the short-, medium- and persons with disabilities, http://www.un.org/disabilities/
22
The Salamanca Statement on Principles, Policy and Practice
in Special Needs Education, Adopted by the World Conference
long-terms. documents/toolaction/ipuhb.pdf, p. 82 [Accessed 9 May 2011].
on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality, Salamanca,
8
UN General Assembly, The right to education of persons with 7-10 June 1994, para. 3.
2. Strengthen the capacityofpartnergovernments to address inclusion disabilities: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to
through planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation education, Vernor Muoz (19 February 2007) A/HRC/4/29,
23
For a full list of signatures and ratifications, see:
processes. In addition, support partner governments to ensure para. 8. http://www.un.org/disabilities/countries.asp?navid=12&pid=166
adequate coordination amongst ministries and between government [Accessed 7 June 2011].
9
International Disability Rights Monitor (2005) Regional Report
and civil society. of Asia, http://idrmnet.org/pdfs/CIR_IDRM_Asia_05.pdf, p. 29
24
Sightsavers approach to strengthening education systems is
[Accessed 13 May 2011]. based on the World Health Organizations building blocks
3. Ensure that donoragencystaffhavethecapacity to support national 10
This figure is calculated on the basis of data from: Buckup, S.
approach to strengthening health systems; see: WHO (2007)
governments to achieve MDG 2 and the EFA goals. Everybodys business: Strengthening health systems to
(2009) The price of exclusion: The economic consequences of improve health outcomes WHOs Framework for Action,
4. Ensure that donor agency staff and national government officials excluding people with disabilities from the world of work, ILO http://www.who.int/healthsystems/strategy/everybodys_
Employment Working Paper No.43, http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/
reportonprogress towards the achievement of MDG 2 and the EFA groups/public/---ed_emp/---ifp_skills/documents/publication/
business.pdf [Accessed 3 June 2011]. The authors would like
goals. to thank Ranjish Kattady, Manager Information &
wcms_119305.pdf, p. 48 [Accessed 10 May 2011]; IMF, World Communication, Sightsavers India, for developing the original
Economic Outlook database, April 2011, http://www.imf.org/
5. Support the application of the EquityandInclusioninEducation external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/01/weodata/index.aspx [Accessed
version of this diagram.
guide in all countries receiving funding from the EFA Fast Track 10 May 2011]; World Bank, World Development Indicators
25
Miles, S. & Singal, N. (2010) The Education for All and inclusive
Initiative. database, April 2011, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/ education debate: Conflict, contradiction or opportunity?
DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf [Accessed 10 May 2011]. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14, 1, 1-15.
6. Support civil society organisations representing disabled people to 26
Croft, A. (2010) Including Disabled Children in Learning:
11
UN General Assembly, World Programme of Action
develop their capacitytoengage in education sector planning and concerning Disabled Persons (3 December 1982) A/ Challenges in Developing Countries, CREATE Research
reviews. RES/37/52, para. 43. Monograph No. 36.
7. Support the RighttoReadcampaign to ensure that all publications 12
Save the Children (2009) Inclusive education, http://www.
27
ADB (2010) Strengthening Inclusive Education, http://www.
savethechildren.org.uk/en/docs/Inclusive_education_policy_ adb.org/documents/guidelines/strengthening-inclusive-education/
are available to visually impaired people and other print disabled strengthening-inclusive-education.pdf [Accessed 27 May 2011].
brief_30Mar09.pdf [Accessed 13 May 2011].
readers when published. 28
Richler, D. Contribution to partners meeting - Right to Education
13
Differentiation means teachers understanding the
educational needs of their students and adopting different for Persons with Disabilities Flagship, Paris, 20 May 2011.
instructional strategies for different students, thus providing 29
Lynch, P. et al (2009) Literacy for All: Developing literacy
students with a range of options for learning and demonstrating through touch in the mainstream classroom, Research
their learning. commissioned by Sightsavers.
14
DFID (2010) Guidance Note: Education for children with 30
Steinfeld, E. (2005) Education for All: The Cost of
disabilities Improving quality and access, http://www.dfid.gov. Accessibility, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/
uk/Documents/publications1/edu-chi-disabil-guid-note. Resources/Education-Notes/EdNotes_CostOfAccess_2.pdf, p.
pdf?epslanguage=en [Accessed 16 May 2011]. 3 [Accessed 20 May 2011].
15
WHO, UNESCO, ILO & IDDC (2011) Community-Based 31
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2011) Financing Education in
Rehabilitation Guidelines: Education Component, Geneva: WHO. Sub-Saharan Africa Meeting the Challenges of Expansion,
16
Stubbs, S. (2008) Inclusive Education: Where There are Few Equity and Quality, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/
Resources, Oslo: The Atlas Alliance. images/0019/001921/192186e.pdf [Accessed 27 May 2011] p. 33.
17
Adapted from: Enabling Education Network, Lessons from 32
World Vision (2010) Education for all? FTI donor partners and
the South: Making a difference, Report from IDDC seminar on education for children with disabilities, http://www.worldvision.
inclusive education, Agra, 1-7 March 1998, http://www.eenet. org.uk/upload/pdf/Education_for_all_policy_briefing.pdf
org.uk/resources/docs/agra.php [Accessed 26 April 2011]. [Accessed 12 May 2011].

Page 14 Policy paper: Making inclusive education a reality www.sightsavers.org Page 15


This policy paper was written by Juliette Myers and Sunit Bagree.

For more information on Sightsavers work on education, or to find out about other
research and publications, email policy@sightsavers.org

Sightsavers works in developing countries to combat avoidable blindness and promote


equal opportunities for disabled people
Sightsavers, Grosvenor Hall, Bolnore Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 4BX, UK
Tel 01444 446600 Web www.sightsavers.org
Registered charity numbers 207544 & SC038110
ISSN No. 2223-7763

Page 16
EFA Global Monitoring Report 2 0 0 5

Chapter 1

Understanding
education quality
The goal of achieving universal primary education
(UPE) has been on the international agenda since
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed,
in 1948, that elementary education was to be made
freely and compulsorily available for all children in
all nations. This objective was restated subsequently
on many occasions, by international treaties and
in United Nations conference declarations.1 Most
of these declarations and commitments are silent
about the quality of education to be provided.

27
2 0 0 5
28 / CHAPTER 1

Why focus on quality? children to school at all is likely to depend on


EFA Global Monitoring Report

judgements they make about the quality of


Although some of the international treaties, teaching and learning provided upon whether
by specifying the need to provide education on attending school is worth the time and cost for
human rights, reproductive health, sports and their children and for themselves. The
gender awareness, touched on educational instrumental roles of schooling helping
quality,2 they were generally silent about how individuals achieve their own economic and
well education systems could and should be social and cultural objectives and helping society
expected to perform in meeting these objectives. to be better protected, better served by
This remained true as recently as 2000, when the its leaders and more equitable in important ways
United Nations Millennium Declarations will be strengthened if education is of higher
commitment to achieve UPE by 2015 was directly quality.3 Schooling helps children develop
The achievement and simply set out without explicit reference creatively and emotionally and acquire the skills,
of universal to quality (see Box 1.1). Thus, in placing the knowledge, values and attitudes necessary for
emphasis upon assuring access for all, these responsible, active and productive citizenship.
participation in
instruments mainly focused on the quantitative How well education achieves these outcomes
education will be aspects of education policy. is important to those who use it. Accordingly,
fundamentally analysts and policy makers alike should also
dependent upon It seems highly likely, however, that the find the issue of quality difficult to ignore.
the quality of achievement of universal participation in
education education will be fundamentally dependent upon More fundamentally, education is a set of
the quality of education available. For example, processes and outcomes that are defined
available
how well pupils are taught and how much they qualitatively. The quantity of children who
learn, can have a crucial impact on how long participate is by definition a secondary
they stay in school and how regularly they attend. consideration: merely filling spaces called
Furthermore, whether parents send their schools with children would not address even

Box 1.1. The Dakar Framework for Action and Millennium Development Goals

EFA Dakar goals 6. Improving all aspects of the quality of education


1. Such statements are found
and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized
1. Expanding and improving comprehensive early
in the declarations that and measurable learning outcomes are achieved
emerged from a series of childhood care and education, especially for the
United Nations regional by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential
conferences on education
most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.
life skills.
in the early 1960s, in the
treaties that formed the 2. Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly
International Bill of Human girls, children in difficult circumstances and those
Rights in the 1970s, in the Millennium Development Goals
World Declaration on belonging to ethnic minorities have access to
Education for All adopted
at the World Conference on
complete free and compulsory primary education Goal 2. Achieve universal primary education
Education for All in Jomtien, of good quality. Target 3. Ensure that by 2015 children everywhere,
Thailand, 1990 and in the
Millennium Declaration and
3. Ensuring that the learning needs of all young boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full
the Dakar Framework for
Action in 2000 (for details people and adults are met through equitable access course of primary schooling.
see UNESCO, 2003a: 24-8).
The last two reaffirmed to appropriate learning and life skills programmes. Goal 3. Promote gender equality and empower
the commitment to achieve
universal provision and 4. Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels women
access to primary schooling
and added a target year:
of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, Target 4. Eliminate gender disparity in primary and
2015. and equitable access to basic and continuing secondary education, preferably by 2005, and at all
2. This was most notably so education for all adults. levels of education no later than 2015.
with the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, which 5. Eliminating gender disparities in primary and
came into force in 1990.
secondary education by 2005 and achieving gender
3. This categorization of the equality in education by 2015, with a focus on
ways in which education is
valuable to individuals and ensuring girls full and equal access to (and
society is informed by the achievement in) basic education of good quality.
classification suggested by
Drze and Sen (2002: 38-40).
U N D E R S TA N D I N G E D U C AT I O N Q U A L I T Y / 2 9

Box 1.2. Education quality as defined in Jomtien and Dakar

In 1990, the World Declaration on Education for All A decade later, the Dakar Framework for Action
noted that the generally poor quality of education declared that access to quality education was the
needed to be improved and recommended that right of every child. It affirmed that quality was at
education be made both universally available and the heart of education a fundamental determinant
more relevant. The Declaration also identified of enrolment, retention and achievement. Its
quality as a prerequisite for achieving the expanded definition of quality set out the desirable
fundamental goal of equity. While the notion of characteristics of learners (healthy, motivated
quality was not fully developed, it was recognized students), processes (competent teachers using
that expanding access alone would be insufficient active pedagogies), content (relevant curricula) and
for education to contribute fully to the development systems (good governance and equitable resource
of the individual and society. Emphasis was allocation). Although this established an agenda for
accordingly placed on assuring an increase in achieving good education quality, it did not ascribe
childrens cognitive development by improving any relative weighting to the various dimensions
the quality of their education. identified.

quantitative objectives if no real education definition goes beyond the intrinsic and It could be judged
occurred. Thus, the number of years of school instrumental goals of education mentioned unfortunate that the
is a practically useful but conceptually dubious earlier. It seeks to identify unambiguously the
quantitative aspects
proxy for the processes that take place there important attributes or qualities of education
and the outcomes that result. In that sense, it that can best ensure that those goals are actually of education have
could be judged unfortunate that the quantitative met. Similar formulations can be found in become the main
aspects of education have become the main documents produced by other international focus of attention
focus of attention in recent years for policy organizations and in the vast array of literature in recent years for
makers (and many quantitatively inclined social dealing with the content and practice of policy makers
scientists). education. Although the details differ, two key
elements characterize such approaches:
It should come as no surprise, therefore, that
the two most recent United Nations international First, cognitive development is identified
conference declarations focusing on education as a major explicit objective of all education
gave some importance to its qualitative systems. The degree to which systems actually
dimension (Box 1.2). The Jomtien Declaration achieve this is one indicator of their quality.
in 1990 and, more particularly, the Dakar While this indicator can be measured relatively
Framework for Action in 2000 recognized the easily at least within individual societies, if not
quality of education as a prime determinant of through international comparison it is much
whether Education for All is achieved. More more difficult to determine how to improve the
specifically than earlier pledges, the second of results. Thus, if quality is defined in terms of
the six goals set out in the Dakar Framework cognitive achievement, ways of securing
commits nations to the provision of primary increased quality are neither straightforward
education of good quality (Box 1.1). Moreover, nor universal.
the sixth goal includes commitments to improve
all aspects of education quality so that everyone The second element is educations role in
can achieve better learning outcomes, especially encouraging learners creative and emotional
in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills. development, in supporting objectives of peace,
citizenship and security, in promoting equality
Notwithstanding the growing consensus about and in passing global and local cultural values
the need to provide access to education of good down to future generations. Many of these
quality, there is much less agreement about objectives are defined and approached in diverse
what the term actually means in practice.4 ways around the world. Compared with cognitive
Box 1.3 summarizes the evolution of UNESCOs development, the extent to which they are 4. Adams (1993) identifies about
fifty different definitions of the
understanding of education quality. This effort in achieved is harder to determine. term.
2 0 0 5
30 / CHAPTER 1

Box 1.3. The evolution of UNESCOs conceptualization of quality


EFA Global Monitoring Report

One of UNESCOs first position statements on quality in Learning to do focuses on the practical application
education appeared in Learning to Be: The World of of what is learned.
Education Today and Tomorrow, the report of the
Learning to live together addresses the critical skills
International Commission on the Development of Education
for a life free from discrimination, where all have equal
chaired by the former French minister Edgar Faure. The
opportunity to develop themselves, their families and
commission identified the fundamental goal of social
their communities.
change as the eradication of inequality and the
establishment of an equitable democracy. Consequently, Learning to be emphasizes the skills needed for
it reported, the aim and content of education must be individuals to develop their full potential.
recreated, to allow both for the new features of society
This conceptualization of education provided an integrated
and the new features of democracy (Faure et al., 1972:
and comprehensive view of learning and, therefore, of what
xxvi). The notions of lifelong learning and relevance,
constitutes education quality (Delors et al., 1996).
it noted, were particularly important. The Report strongly
emphasized science and technology as well. Improving The importance of good quality education was resolutely
the quality of education, it stated, would require systems reaffirmed as a priority for UNESCO at a Ministerial Round
in which the principles of scientific development and Table on Quality of Education, held in Paris in 2003.
modernization could be learned in ways that respected
UNESCO promotes access to good-quality education as
learners socio-cultural contexts.
a human right and supports a rights-based approach to all
More than two decades later came Learning: The Treasure educational activities (Pigozzi, 2004). Within this approach,
Within, Report to UNESCO of the International Commission learning is perceived to be affected at two levels. At the
on Education for the Twenty-first Century, chaired by level of the learner, education needs to seek out and
another French statesman, Jacques Delors. This acknowledge learners prior knowledge, to recognize formal
commission saw education throughout life as based upon and informal modes, to practise non-discrimination and
four pillars: to provide a safe and supportive learning environment.
At the level of the learning system, a support structure is
Learning to know acknowledges that learners build their
needed to implement policies, enact legislation, distribute
own knowledge daily, combining indigenous and external
resources and measure learning outcomes, so as to have
elements.
the best possible impact on learning for all.

Quality for whom and what? education. These commitments, in turn, have
Rights, equity and relevance implications for the content and quality of
education. Box 1.4 summarizes the relevant
Education should Although opinions about quality in education are sections.
allow children to by no means unified, at the level of international
debate and action three principles tend to be The Convention takes the educational
reach their fullest
broadly shared. They can be summarized as the development of the individual as a central aim.
potential in terms need for more relevance, for greater equity of It indicates that education should allow children
of cognitive, access and outcome and for proper observance to reach their fullest potential in terms of
emotional and of individual rights. In much current international cognitive, emotional and creative capacities.
creative capacities thinking, these principles guide and inform The learner is at the centre of the educational
educational content and processes and represent experience, in a context also characterized by
more general social goals to which education respect for others and for the environment.
itself should contribute.
The Convention has important implications for
Of these, the question of rights is at the apex. both the content and the process of education.
Although, as indicated earlier, most human It implies that the learning experience should
rights legislation focuses upon access to be not simply a means but also an end in itself,
education and is comparatively silent about its having intrinsic worth. It suggests an approach
quality, the Convention on the Rights of the Child to teaching (and the development of textbooks
is an important exception. It expresses strong, and learning materials) that upholds the idea
detailed commitments about the aims of of a child-centred education, using teaching
U N D E R S TA N D I N G E D U C AT I O N Q U A L I T Y / 3 1

Box 1.4. The aims of education, from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 29 (1)

1. States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:

(a) The development (b) The development (c) The development of (d) The preparation of the (e) The development
of the childs of respect for human respect for the childs parents, child for responsible life in of respect for the
personality, talents rights and fundamental his or her own cultural a free society, in the spirit natural environment.
and mental and freedoms, and for the identity, language and values, of understanding, peace,
physical abilities to principles enshrined for the national values of the tolerance, equality of sexes,
their fullest in the Charter of the country in which the child is and friendship among all
potential; United Nations; living, the country from which peoples, ethnic, national and
he or she may originate, and religious groups and persons
for civilizations different from of indigenous origin;
his or her own;

processes that promote or at least do not Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Such The Convention
undermine childrens rights. Corporal legal safeguards permit stakeholders to hold on the Rights of
punishment is deemed here to be a clear governments accountable for progressive
the Child stresses
violation of these rights. Some dimensions of this realization of the right to education and for
rights-based approach to education is evident aspects of its quality. (Wilson, 2004) a child-centred
in the position adopted by UNICEF (Box 1.5). approach to
Where human rights legislation deals with teaching and
Other international legislation, such as the education, its central concern is equity: the learning
International Covenant on Civil and Political objective of increasing equality in learning
Rights and the International Covenant on outcomes, access and retention. This ambition
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, addresses reflects a belief that all children can develop
the principle of equity by stressing governments basic cognitive skills, given the right learning
responsibility to ensure that all children have environment. That many who go to school fail to
access to education of an acceptable quality. develop these skills is due in part to a deficiency
Brazil, Costa Rica and the Philippines provide in education quality. Recent analyses confirm
three examples of countries that have that poverty, rural residence and gender
constitutional provisions guaranteeing a inequality persist as the strongest inverse
percentage of the budget for education, in correlates of school attendance and performance
accordance with the International Covenant on (UNESCO, 2003a) and that poor instruction is a
significant source of this inequality. Quality and
equity are inextricably linked.

Box 1.5. The UNICEF The notion of relevance has always attended
approach to quality debates about the quality of education. In the
past, and particularly in developing countries,
UNICEF strongly emphasizes what might be called imported or inherited curricula have often been
desirable dimensions of quality, as identified in judged insufficiently sensitive to the local context
the Dakar Framework. Its paper Defining Quality and to learners socio-cultural circumstances. 5. According to the Appendix
to General Comment No. 1 on
in Education recognizes five dimensions of quality: The Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 29 (1) of the Convention
learners, environments, content, processes and stresses a child-centred approach to teaching on the Rights of the Child (United
Nations, 2001a), this article
outcomes, founded on the rights of the whole and learning.5 This in turn emphazises the emphasizes the message of
child, and all children, to survival, protection, child-centred education: that
importance of curricula that as far as possible the key goal of education is the
development and participation (UNICEF, 2000). respond to the needs and priorities of the development of the individual
childs personality, talents and
Like the dimensions of education quality learners, their families, and communities. abilities, in recognition of the
identified by UNESCO (Pigozzi, 2004), those fact that every child has unique
characteristics, interests,
recognized by UNICEF draw on the philosophy abilities, and learning needs.
Relevance is also an issue for national policy. Thus, the curriculum must be of
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
With the acceleration of global economic direct relevance to the child's
social, cultural, environmental
integration, governments have become more and economic context
2 0 0 5
32 / CHAPTER 1

preoccupied with whether their education


Humanist approaches
EFA Global Monitoring Report

systems produce the skills necessary for


economic growth in an increasingly competitive The ideas that human nature is essentially good,
environment. Increasing mobility has also that individual behaviour is autonomous (within
6. See footnote 24. brought concerns about the extent to which the constraints of heredity and environment), that
7. The traditions discussed learning, measured in terms of qualifications, everyone is unique, that all people are born equal
here entail different ideas of
what constitutes quality in
is transferable. This has led to increased and subsequent inequality is a product of
teaching and learning. While monitoring and regulation of education systems circumstance and that reality for each person
each differs in its ideology,
epistemology and disciplinary and to a flourishing industry of cross-national is defined by himself or herself characterize a
composition, all ask what
individual or social purposes learning assessment using comparative range of liberal humanist philosophers from
education should serve and
how teaching and learning
benchmarks. Critics have voiced caution that Locke to Rousseau.10 Such principles, where
should occur. It is important such studies, such as those discussed in accepted, have immediate relevance for
to distinguish between these
broad traditions and the more Chapters 2 and 3 of this Report, may contribute educational practice. Learners, for humanists,
specific pedagogies discussed
later in the Report. While few
to the standardization of cognitive skills informed are at the centre of meaning-making, which
pedagogies are value-neutral, by a set of culturally exclusive principles and implies a relativist interpretation of quality.
none is restricted to one
tradition. Nor do education knowledge. Recent research has shown that Education, strongly influenced by learner actions,
systems usually reflect a
single model of education. even skills as basic as literacy and numeracy is judged central to developing the potential of
Accordingly, this Report will
consider pedagogies in
can be conceived and taught in quite varied the child.11
functional terms rather than ways6 and thus run the risk of misrepresentation
from the philosophical
perspectives that inform by culturally insensitive assessment. The notion that acquisition of knowledge and
them.
skills requires the active participation of
8. Focusing on absolute As with all aspects of development, a balance individual learners is a central link between
output characteristics of
education programmes does should be struck between ensuring the relevance humanism and constructivist learning theory.
not preclude a value-added
approach that takes of education to the socio-cultural realities of The latter was influenced strongly by the work
differences in ability into
account.
learners, to their aspirations, and to the well- of John Dewey, who emphasized the ways in
being of the nation. which people learn how to construct their own
9. Some writers distinguish
between two relative meanings and to integrate theory and practice
approaches. One,
emphasizing the extent to
as a basis for social action.12 Piaget (1971) was
which an education
programme suits its intended
Education traditions and also influential in developing a more active
purpose, might focus on
organizational processes; the
associated notions of quality7
other, emphasizing learners
needs and capacities, would When thinking about the quality of education it
be strongly responsive to
particular client groups is useful to distinguish between educational Box 1.6. Quality in the humanist
(Sallis, 1996: 15-7).
outcomes and the processes leading to them. tradition
10. See Russell (1961: 577-83) People who seek particular, defined outcomes
and Elias and Merriam (1980).
may rate quality in those terms, ranking Standardized, prescribed, externally defined
11. In this context, Rousseau
believed there was one educational institutions according to the extent or controlled curricula are rejected. They are
developmental process
common to all humans. to which their graduates meet absolute criteria seen as undermining the possibilities for learners
This, he asserted, was an concerning, for example, academic achievement, to construct their own meanings and for
intrinsic, natural process
whose primary behavioural sporting prowess, musical success, or pupil educational programmes to remain responsive
motivation was curiosity.
An advocate of universal behaviour and values. The standard of to individual learners circumstances and needs.
schooling, Rousseau designed comparison would be in some sense fixed, and
a method that involved The role of assessment is to give learners
removing children from separate from the values, wishes and opinions of information and feedback about the quality
society (for example, to a
country home) and exposing the learners themselves.8 By contrast, relativist of their individual learning. It is integral to the
them to changed
environments and problems approaches emphasize that the perceptions, learning process. Self-assessment and peer
to solve or overcome. Once experiences and needs of those involved in the assessment are welcomed as ways of developing
children reached the age of
reason (about 12 years), they learning experience mainly determine its quality.9 deeper awareness of learning.
were considered capable of
engaging as free individuals Drawing on a business analogy, client The teachers role is more that of facilitator
in a continuing process of orientation in education puts strong emphasis
education (Rousseau, 1911). than instructor.
upon whether a programme fits its purposes in
12. Dewey (1916) saw pupils Social constructivism, while accepting these
as creating knowledge in the ways that reflect the needs of those who use it.
classroom and transforming tenets, emphasizes learning as a process of social
their identities through a These different emphases have deep roots, and practice rather than the result of individual
process of learning by are reflected in major alternative traditions of intervention.
performing new roles
(Fenwick, 2001: 3). educational thought.
U N D E R S TA N D I N G E D U C AT I O N Q U A L I T Y / 3 3

Box 1.7. Quality in the behaviourist tradition

Standardized, externally defined and controlled Tests and examinations are considered central
13. Piaget (1972), in his theory of
curricula, based on prescribed objectives and features of learning and the main means of planning genetic epistemology, identifies
patterns of physical and mental
defined independently of the learner, are endorsed. and delivering rewards and punishments. activity corresponding to stages
of child development. Rather than
Assessment is seen as an objective measurement The teacher directs learning, as the expert who seeing new learning as simply
of learned behaviour against preset assessment controls stimuli and responses. linking to prior learning, Piaget
argues that learners need to be
criteria. faced with a conflict between the
Incremental learning tasks that reinforce desired two; otherwise, knowledge is static
associations in the mind of the learner are favoured. and learning cannot take place.

14. These approaches derive largely


from Deweys pragmatism and
the social development theory of
Vygotsky (1978). The latter advances
the notion that learning happens
first in relation to others, only later
and participatory role for children in their
Critical approaches being internalized individually. Thus,
learning.13 More recently, social constructivism, social interaction leads to cognitive
development. This is the opposite of
which regards learning as intrinsically a social Over the final quarter of the twentieth century, Piagets standpoint.
and, therefore, interactive process, has several important critiques of the precepts of 15. As an example of classic
tended to supersede more conventional humanism and behaviourism emerged. behaviourist theory, consider two
types of conditioning respondant
constructivist approaches.14 Box 1.6 summarizes Sociologists had already perceived society as a and operant (Skinner, 1968). The
first refers to a process by which a
the approach to education quality in the humanist system of interrelated parts, with order and subject is conditioned to respond to
an external stimulus (for example,
tradition. stability maintained by commonly held values.18 Pavlovs dog salivating at the sound
Since the role of education is to transmit these of the bell announcing feeding time).
Operant conditioning refers to
values, quality in this approach would be reinforcement of such a response
Behaviourist approaches through reward/punishment
measured by the effectiveness of the processes systems (for example, feeding the
Behaviourist theory leads in the opposite of value transmission. In the latter part of the dog or withholding food) that
stimulate new learning and/or the
direction to humanism. It is based on twentieth century, critics began to acknowledge abandonment of old behaviour.
manipulation of behaviour via specific stimuli.15 these processes as highly political. Some neo- 16. These notions generated the
objective school of education, first
Behaviourism exerted a significant influence Marxist approaches characterized education in manifested in attempts by Bobbitt
on educational reform during the first half of capitalist societies as the main mechanism for (1918) to apply the ideas of the
management expert F. W. Taylor to
the twentieth century (Blackman, 1995). Its main legitimizing and reproducing social inequality.19 school curricula. Other noteworthy
approaches are Tylers Basic
tenets were that: Others, in the new sociology of education Principles of Curriculum and
movement of the 1970s and 1980s, focused their Instruction (1949) and Blooms
taxonomy (1956), which set out
Learners are not intrinsically motivated or able critiques on the role of the curriculum as a social educational objectives against which
finely tuned testing instruments
to construct meaning for themselves. and political means of transmitting power and could be developed.
Human behaviour can be predicted and knowledge.20 A separate group of critical writers, 17. Jarvis (1983: 61) suggests that
controlled through reward and punishment. known as the de-schoolers, called for the even seemingly innocent practices
such as praising a reticent student
Cognition is based on the shaping of behaviour. abandonment of schooling in favour of more for contributing to a group
discussion have underpinnings in
Deductive and didactic pedagogies, such as community-organized forms of formal Skinners operant conditioning.
graded tasks, rote learning and memorization, education.21 Other critiques of orthodox 18. These included functionalist
are helpful.16 approaches included various postmodern and theorists (e.g. Parsons, 1959) and
some structuralists (e.g. Durkheim,
feminist views.22 1956).
Although few educationists accept the full 19. Notably Bourdieu and Passeron
behaviourist agenda in its pure form, elements While the critical approaches encompass a vast (1964), Bowles and Gintis (1976),
Apple (1978), Spring (1972) and
of behaviourist practice can be observed in many array of philosophies, they share a concern that Micha (1999).
countries in teacher-training programmes, education tends to reproduce the structures and 20. Notably Young (1971), Keddie
curricula and the ways teachers actually operate inequalities of the wider society. Though many (1971) and Bourdieu (1977).

in classrooms.17 Forms of direct or structured retain the founding humanist principle that 21. Notably Illich (1971).
instruction, which have an important place in this human development is the ultimate end of 22. Postmodernism and post-
Report, share a key element with the thought and action, they question the belief that structuralism are often used
interchangeably. Their common
behaviourist tradition: the belief that learning universal schooling will result automatically in theme is that power and knowledge
reside in discourse, not in
achievement must be monitored and that equal development of learners potential. structures. Foucault (1977) argues
that power and power relationships
frequent feedback is crucial in motivating and As a reaction against this, advocates of an create the conditions for the
guiding the learner. Box 1.7 summarizes the emancipatory pedagogy suggested that critical production of knowledge. This is
reflected at a deep level within
behaviourist approach to education quality. intellectuals should work to empower curricula.
2 0 0 5
34 / CHAPTER 1

Box 1.8. Quality in the critical tradition of whom proposed new and alternative education
EFA Global Monitoring Report

systems with culturally relevant emphases on


Critical theorists focus on inequality in access to and outcomes of
self-reliance, equity and rural employment.23
education and on educations role in legitimizing and reproducing social
structures through its transmission of a certain type of knowledge that Such indigenous approaches challenged the
serves certain social groups. Accordingly, these sociologists and critical imported knowledge, images, ideas, values and
pedagogues tend to equate good quality with: beliefs reflected in mainstream curricula. A
positive example of the alternatives offered, in
education that prompts social change;
curriculum terms, is in the field of mathematics.
a curriculum and teaching methods that encourage critical analysis Ethno-mathematicians claim that standard
of social power relations and of ways in which formal knowledge is mathematics is neither neutral nor objective, but
produced and transmitted;
culturally biaised and that alternative forms exist
active participation by learners in the design of their own learning that have implications for teaching and
experience. learning.24 Box 1.9 presents some important
features common to indigenous approaches.

Adult education approaches


marginalized students by helping them analyse
their experience and thus redress social Adult education is frequently ignored in debates
inequality and injustice. Critical pedagogy, in this about education quality, but it has its share of
view, is emancipatory in the sense that it lets behaviourist, humanist and critical approaches
students find their own voices (Freire, 1985), (see Box 1.10). Some writers, with roots in
frees them from externally defined needs (Giroux, humanism and constructivism, emphasize
1993) and helps them to explore alternative ways the experience of adults as a central learning
of thinking that may have been buried under
dominant norms (McLaren, 1994). Box 1.8
outlines the key features of the critical
23. Gandhi and Nyerere both
incorporated the teaching of approaches as regards education quality. Box 1.10. Quality in adult
simple vocational skills in
formal curricula. Nyerere education approaches
(1968) set out a vision of
Education for Self Reliance Indigenous approaches
for the United Republic of
Tanzania. His vision rested on In the adult education tradition, experience and
several key educational aims: Some important efforts to develop alternative critical reflection in learning is an important
preserving and transmitting educational ideas are rooted in the realities of
traditional values, promoting aspect of quality. Radical theorists see learners
national and local self- lower-income countries and have often arisen as socially situated, with the potential to use their
reliance, fostering co-
operation and promoting as challenges to the legacies of colonialism. experience and learning as a basis for social
equality. In southern Africa,
the notion of ubuntu, with its Prominent examples include the approaches action and social change.
connotations of community, of Mahatma Gandhi and Julius Nyerere, both
informs an alternative vision
of education as embracing the
social nature of being, rather
than individual advancement
(Tutu, 2000).

24. Examples of this


approach, as identified by
Box 1.9. Quality in the indigenous tradition
Gerdes (2001), include:
Sociomathematics of
Africa: Zaslavsky (1973: 7) Challenging dominant Northern ideas about the Assuring relevance implies local design of
examines the applications
of mathematics in the lives quality of education, indigenous approaches curriculum content, pedagogies and assessment.
of African people and, reassert the importance of educations relevance
conversely, the influence All learners have rich sources of prior knowledge,
that African institutions had to the socio-cultural circumstances of the nation
upon the evolution of their
accumulated through a variety of experiences, which
and learner.
mathematics. educators should draw out and nourish.
Mathematics in the The following principles are implied:
(African) socio-cultural Learners should play a role in defining their
environment: Tour (1984:
1-2) draws attention to the Mainstream approaches imported from Europe own curriculum.
mathematics of African are not necessarily relevant in very different social
games in Cte dIvoire Learning should move beyond the boundaries
and suggest that crafts and economic circumstances.
belonging to learners socio- of the classroom/school through non-formal and
cultural environment should lifelong learning activities.
be integrated in the
mathematics curriculum.
U N D E R S TA N D I N G E D U C AT I O N Q U A L I T Y / 3 5

resource.25 Others see adult education as an that straightforward relationships between the
essential part of socio-cultural, political and conditions of education and its products are not
historical transformation.26 The latter view is easy to determine.
most famously associated with literacy
programmes and with the work of the radical Nevertheless, it helps to begin by thinking about
theorist Paulo Freire, for whom education was the main elements of education systems and how
an intensely important mechanism for awakening they interact. To this end, we might characterize Links between
political awareness.27 His work urges adult the central dimensions influencing the core education and
educators not only to engage learners in processes of teaching and learning as follows:
society are strong,
dialogue, to name oppressive experiences,
but also, through problem posing and learner characteristics dimension; and each influences
conscientization, to realize the extent to which contextual dimension; the other
they themselves have been influenced by enabling inputs dimension;
repressive societal forces. teaching and learning dimension.
outcomes dimension.

A framework for understanding, Figure 1.1 illustrates these dimensions and their
relationships, and the following subsections
monitoring and improving discuss their characteristics and interactions.
education quality
Learner characteristics
Given the diversity of understanding and
interpretation of quality evident in the different How people learn and how quickly is strongly
traditions discussed above, defining quality influenced by their capacities and experience.
and developing approaches to monitoring and Assessments of the quality of education outputs
improving it requires dialogue designed to that ignore initial differences among learners are
25. Knowles (1980) lists
achieve: likely to be misleading. Important determining experience as one of five
characteristics can include socio-economic principles of adult learning theory
in which reflection by individuals is
broad agreement about the aims and background, health, place of residence, cultural a central part of the educational
process. The learning cycle
objectives of education; and religious background and the amount and developed by Kolb (1984) also has
concrete experience as the
a framework for the analysis of quality that nature of prior learning. It is therefore important starting point for learning, based
enables its various dimensions to be specified; that potential inequalities among students, on reflection.

an approach to measurement that enables the deriving from gender, disability, race and 26. For an overview of paradigms
in adult learning, see UIE (2004).
important variables to be identified and assessed; ethnicity, HIV/AIDS status and situations of
a framework for improvement that emergency are recognized. These differences 27. In his most influential work,
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire
comprehensively covers the interrelated in learner characteristics often require special characterized the education
normally provided to the poor
components of the education system and allows responses if quality is to be improved. as banking education, seeing it
as being of inferior quality and
opportunities for change and reform to be irrelevant to learners needs. He
identified. argued that educational practice
Context that excludes alternative
interpretations of a particular
reality reinforces the power of
As earlier sections of this chapter have indicated, Links between education and society are strong, the teacher and encourages non-
cognitive development and the accumulation of and each influences the other. Education can critical analysis by students.
Freire saw the agency of the
particular values, attitudes and skills are help change society by improving and learner and her or his prior
knowledge as central to the
important objectives of education systems in strengthening skills, values, communications, learning process, maintaining that
the learner must take on full
most societies. Their content may differ but their mobility (link with personal opportunity and responsibility as an actor with
broad structure is similar throughout the world. prosperity), personal prosperity and freedom. knowledge and not as recipient
of the teachers discourse
This may suggest that in one sense the key to In the short term, however, education usually (Freire, 1985: 47-8). This activist
perspective drew attention to the
improving the quality of education to helping reflects society rather strongly: the values and deeper political changes and
education systems better achieve these attitudes that inform it are those of society at reforms necessary for
improvement in education quality.
objectives could be equally universal. large. Equally important is whether education Newer approaches include those
of Usher and Edwards (1994), who
Considerable research has been directed takes place in the context of an affluent society bring post-structural and
postmodern perspectives to bear
towards this question in recent years. As or one where poverty is widespread. In the latter on adult education and learning,
Chapter 2 shows, however, the number of factors case, opportunities to increase resources for and Fenwick (2001), who draws on
experiential learning in innovative
that can affect educational outcomes is so vast education are likely to be constrained. ways.
2 0 0 5
36 / CHAPTER 1

Figure 1.1: A framework for understanding education quality


EFA Global Monitoring Report

Enabling inputs

Teaching and learning


Learning time
Teaching methods
Learner Outcomes
Assessment, feedback, incentives
characteristics Literacy, numeracy
Class size
Aptitude and life skills
Perseverance Teaching and learning materials Creative and
School readiness Physical infrastructure and facilities emotional skills
Prior knowledge Human resources: teachers, principals, Values
Barriers inspectors, supervisors, administrators Social benefits
to learning School governance

Context
Economic and labour Educational knowledge Philosophical standpoint National standards
market conditions in and support infrastructure of teacher and learner Public expectations
the community Public resources available Peer effects Labour market demands
Socio-cultural and religious for education Parental support
factors Globalization
Competitiveness of Time available for
(Aid strategies) the teaching profession schooling and homework
on the labour market
National governance and
management strategies

It is obvious that More directly, national policies for education teaching and learning processes, which in turn
schools without also provide an influential context. For example, affects the range and the type of inputs used and
goals and standards, curricula and teacher how effectively they are employed. The main
teachers,
policies set the enabling conditions within which input variables are material and human
textbooks or educational practice occurs. These contextual resources, with the governance of these
learning materials circumstances have an important potential resources as an important additional dimension:
will not be able to influence upon education quality. International
do an effective job aid strategies are also influential in most Material resources, provided both by
developing countries. governments and households, include textbooks
and other learning materials and the availability
of classrooms, libraries, school facilities and
Enabling inputs
other infrastructure.
Other things being equal, the success of teaching
and learning is likely to be strongly influenced Human resource inputs include managers,
by the resources made available to support the administrators, other support staff, supervisors,
process and the direct ways in which these inspectors and, most importantly, teachers.
resources are managed. It is obvious that Teachers are vital to the education process.
schools without teachers, textbooks or learning They are both affected by the macro context in
materials will not be able to do an effective job. which it takes place and central to its successful
In that sense, resources are important for outcomes. Useful proxies here are pupil/teacher
education quality although how and to what ratio, average teacher salaries and the proportion
extent this is so has not yet been fully of education spending allocated to various items.
determined. Inputs are enabling in that they Material and human resources together are often
underpin and are intrinsically interrelated to measured by expenditure indicators, including
U N D E R S TA N D I N G E D U C AT I O N Q U A L I T Y / 3 7

public current expenditure per pupil and the education quality. The framework is
proportion of GDP spent on education. comprehensive, in that the quality of education
is seen as encompassing access, teaching and
Enabling school-level governance concerns the learning processes and outcomes in ways that
ways in which the school is organized and are influenced both by context and by the range
managed. Examples of potentially important and quality of inputs available. It should be
factors having an indirect impact on teaching and remembered that agreement about the Agreement about
learning are strong leadership, a safe and objectives and aims of education will frame any the objectives and
welcoming school environment, good community discussion of quality and that such agreement
aims of education
involvement and incentives for achieving good embodies moral, political and epistemological
results. issues that are frequently invisible or ignored. embodies moral,
political and
Teaching and learning While the framework is by no means the only epistemological
one available or possible, it does provide a issues that are
As Figure 1.1 indicates, the teaching and learning broad structure which can be used for the dual frequently invisible
process is closely nested within the support purposes of monitoring education quality and
or ignored
system of inputs and other contextual factors. analysing policy choices for its improvement.
Teaching and learning is the key arena for In Chapters 2 and 3 of this Report, the
human development and change. It is here that determinants of education quality are analysed
the impact of curricula is felt, that teacher according to the extent to which variables from
methods work well or not and that learners are different dimensions result in improved learning
motivated to participate and learn how to learn. outcomes (measured primarily in terms of
While the indirect enabling inputs discussed cognitive achievement). Chapter 4 then adapts
above are closely related to this dimension, the and modifies the framework to facilitate a more
actual teaching and learning processes (as these holistic discussion of policy strategies for the
occur in the classroom) include student time improvement of education quality. It focuses
spent learning, assessment methods for on the central teaching and learning dimension
monitoring student progress, styles of teaching, of Figure 1.1, placing the learner at the core.
the language of instruction and classroom
organization strategies.
The structure of the Report
Outcomes
The primary purpose of the EFA Global
The outcomes of education should be assessed Monitoring Report is to monitor changes in
in the context of its agreed objectives. They are education around the world in the light of the
most easily expressed in terms of academic Dakar goals. As in the earlier volumes, a
achievement (sometimes as test grades, but substantial amount of attention is given
more usually and popularly in terms of (particularly in Chapter 3) to analysing progress
examination performance), though ways of towards the goals mainly in a quantitative
assessing creative and emotional development sense. In taking the quality of education as its
as well as changes in values, attitudes and theme and thus focusing attention particularly
behaviour have also been devised. Other proxies upon progress and prospects for achieving the
for learner achievement and for broader social sixth Dakar goal, the Report has already
or economic gains can be used; an example is illustrated the importance of education quality
labour market success. It is useful to distinguish to EFA and addressed questions of how it can
between achievement, attainment and other be defined and monitored (Chapter 1). It now
outcome measures which can include broader goes on to identify what factors particularly
benefits to society. affect education quality (Chapter 2), what
strategies for improvement can be adopted,
particularly by developing countries28 (Chapter 4),
Using the framework and how the international community is meeting
its international commitments to EFA 28. Throughout the Report, the
This framework provides a means of organizing (Chapter 5). word countries should generally
be understood as meaning
and understanding the different variables of countries and territories.
Guidelines
for Inclusion:
Ensuring Access
to Education for All
Acknowledgments

In UNESCOs efforts to assist countries in making National Plans for Education


more inclusive, we recognised the lack of guidelines to assist in this important
process. As such, the Inclusive Education Team, began an exercise to develop
these much needed tools. The elaboration of this manual has been a learning
experience in itself. A dialogue with stakeholders was initiated in the early stages
of elaboration of this document. Guidelines for Inclusion: Ensuring Access to
Education for All, therefore, is the result of constructive and valuable feedback
as well as critical insight from the following individuals:

Anupam Ahuja, Mel Ainscow, Alphonsine Bouya-Aka Blet, Marlene Cruz,


Kenneth Eklindh, Windyz Ferreira, Richard Halperin, Henricus Heijnen,
Ngo Thu Huong, Hassan Keynan, Sohae Lee, Chu Shiu-Kee, Ragnhild
Meisfjord, Darlene Perner, Abby Riddell, Sheldon Shaeffer, Noala Skinner,
Sandy Taut, Jill Van den Brule-Balescut, Roselyn Wabuge Mwangi, Jamie
Williams, Siri Wormns and Penelope Price.

Published in 2005
by the United Nations Educational,
Scientic and Cultural Organization
7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 PARIS 07 SP

Composed and printed in the workshops of UNESCO

UNESCO 2005
Printed in France

(ED-2004/WS/39 cld 17402)


Foreward

T
his report has gone through an external and internal peer review process, which
targeted a broad range of stakeholders including within the Education Sector at
UNESCO headquarters and in the eld, Internal Oversight Service (IOS) and Bu-
reau of Strategic Planning (BSP). These guidelines were also piloted at a Regional Work-
shop on Inclusive Education in Bangkok. A wide range of experts from the Asia Pacic
region provided feedback for further development. Finally, this document was circulated to
Steering Committee of the Flagship The Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities:
Towards Inclusion. This document is a response to the need for a systematic approach
for identifying excluded groups. It is intended to be a living document which serves as a
dynamic tool of analysis which will be revised in the coming years to reect the reality of
marginalized and excluded children.
Abstract

O
ver half a billion persons are disabled as a result of mental, physical or sensory im-
pairment. These individuals are often limited by both physical and social barriers
which exclude them from society and prevent them from actively participating
in the development of their nations. Approximately 80 per cent of the worlds disabled
population lives in developing countries. The key to unlocking this potential rests in the
minds of men; it is through education and the respect for the rights of all individuals that
change can effectively take place.

Today there are an estimated 140 million children who are out of school, a majority
being girls and children with disabilities. Among them, 90% live in lower middle-income
countries and over 80% of these children are in Africa. There are countless others within
the school system not receiving quality education. How many of these children who are
not attending school live in your country? How can we take steps towards ensuring that
these children, who have a right to education, are not left behind? This document provides
guidelines and concepts for rendering National Education Plans / Education for All (EFA)
more inclusive, with the objective of ensuring access and quality education for ALL learn-
ers.
This paper is intended to systematize how excluded children are planned for in edu-
cation. It begins with a brief introduction, which provides a historical perspective on the
origins of inclusion and describes the shift from integration towards inclusion. It is then
divided into three main parts. The rst provides a theoretical framework. It denes inclu-
sion, explains how it is founded in a human rights approach and how is relates to factors
such as quality and cost-effectiveness. The second part looks at more practical changes at
the school level. It outlines the key elements in the shift towards inclusion with a particu-
lar focus on the key players including teachers, parents and educational policymakers as
well as curricula. The third part brings together the rst two sections by providing tools for
policymakers and educational planners for hands-on analysis of education plans.
These guidelines are intended to provide information and awareness, to be a policy
tool for revising and formulating EFA plans, and to serve as a basis for discussion among
policymakers, educators, NGOs and international organizations impacting policy in both
private and public education and concerned with promoting access for ALL learners.
These guidelines attempt to demystify the notions surrounding inclusion and dem-
onstrate that challenges can be overcome through a willingness to change attitudes regard-
ing inclusion. By following these guidelines, those working with and analyzing National
Plans for Education can identify gaps and strategies in order to take steps to ensure that
inclusion is achieved within their educational systems and that every child has access to a
quality education.
Contents

Introduction
1 Inclusions Origins in Special Education: The Shift from Integration
to Inclusion
2 How Inclusion Relates to Education for All
1 Why Inclusion
Rationale & Rights
1 Inclusion in Education a human right
Figure 1.1: The Rights Framework for Inclusion
2 How is inclusion dened?
3 Inclusion how does it relate to quality?
4 Inclusion and cost effectiveness
2 Key Elements in the Shift towards Inclusion
Resource & Recourse
1 Key players in support of inclusion who are they?
2 Attitudes and values how can they affect inclusion?
Figure 2.2: Understanding the process of inclusion
3 Accessible and exible curricula how can they serve as keys
to schools for all?
Figure 3.1: Education through the Inclusion Lens
4 Inclusion empowering for All?
3 Inclusive Education and Education for All
Reflection & Reform
1 Tools for Educational Planners and Policymakers
2 Steps Towards Inclusion Checklist
3 Strategic Planning for Inclusion - Inclusion Matrix Worksheet
Annex 1 EFA & Millennium Developement Goals
References and further reading
Introduction

1 Inclusions Origins in Special Education: The Shift


from Integration to Inclusion

Inclusion as we know it today has its origins in Special Education. The development of the
eld of special education has involved a series of stages during which education systems
have explored different ways of responding to children with disabilities, and to students
who experience difculties in learning. In some cases, Special education has been pro-
vided as a supplement to general education provision, in other cases it has been entirely
separate. In recent years, the appropriateness of separate systems of education has been
challenged, both from a human rights perspective and from the point of view of effective-
ness.
Special education practices were moved into the mainstream through an approach
known as integration. The main challenge with integration is that mainstreaming had
not been accompanied by changes in the organisation of the ordinary school, its curriculum
and teaching and learning strategies. This lack of organisational change has proved to be
one of the major barriers to the implementation of inclusive education policies. Revised
thinking has thus led to a re-conceptualisation of special needs. This view implies that
progress is more likely if we recognize that difculties experienced by pupils result from
the ways in which schools are currently organized and from rigid teaching methods. It has
been argued that schools need to be reformed and pedagogy needs to be improved in ways
that will lead them to respond positively to pupil diversity seeing individual differences
not as problems to be xed, but as opportunities for enriching learning.

2 How Inclusion relates to Education for All?

The issue of inclusion has to be framed within the context of the wider international dis-
cussions around the United Nations organisations agenda of Education for All (EFA),
stimulated by the 1990 Jomtien Declaration.
The Salamanca Statement on Principles, Policy and Practice in Special Needs Edu-
cation (UNESCO 1994) provides a framework for thinking about how to move policy and
practice forward. Indeed, this Statement, and the accompanying Framework for Action, is 9
arguably the most signicant international document that has ever appeared in special edu-
cation. It argues that regular schools with an inclusive orientation are:
the most effective means of combating discriminatory attitudes, building an inclusive
society and achieving education for all.
In the early documentation on EFA, there was a rather token mention of special
needs
This has been gradually replaced by a recognition that the inclusion agenda should
be seen as an essential element of the whole EFA movement. In taking an inclusive ap-
proach we must not lose sight of its origins in special needs discourse as well as the fact that
children with disabilities remain the largest group of children out of school.
Education for All means ensuring that all children have access to basic education
of good quality. This implies creating an environment in schools and in basic education
programmes in which children are both able and enabled to learn. Such an environment
must be inclusive of children, effective with children, friendly and welcoming to children,
healthy and protective for children and gender sensitive. The development of such child-
friendly learning environments is an essential part of the overall efforts by countries around
the world to increase access to, and improve the quality of, their schools.

10
1 Why Inclusion? Rationale & Rights

E
xclusion from meaningful participation in the economic, social, political and cultural
life of communities is one of the greatest problems facing individuals in our society
today. Such societies are neither efcient nor desirable.

Despite encouraging developments, there are still an estimated 115-130 million children
not attending school. Ninety percent of them live in low and lower middle income coun-
tries, and over 80 million of these children live in Africa.1 As alarming are the countless
others within the school system being excluded from quality education. Among those who
do enrol in primary school, large numbers drop out before completing their primary educa-
tion.
Current strategies and programmes have not been sufcient to meet the needs of
children and youth who are vulnerable to marginalisation or exclusion. In the past, efforts
have consisted of specialized programmes, institutions and specialist educators. The un-
fortunate consequence of such differentiation, although well intended, has often been fur-
ther exclusion. Achieving the EFA and Millennium Development Goals2 by their assigned
time lines will require unprecedented intersectoral and interagency collaboration among
partners. Education must be viewed as a facilitator in everyones human development and
functionality, regardless of barriers of any kind, physical or otherwise. Therefore, disability
of any kind (physical, social and/or emotional) cannot be a disqualier. Inclusion, thus, in-
volves adopting a broad vision of Education for All by addressing the spectrum of needs of
all learners, including those who are vulnerable to marginalisation and exclusion.
Some examples of Marginalised/Excluded/Vulnerable Groups are:

11

1 International Consultative Forum on Education for All, 2000.


2 See annex for a list of goals.
1 Inclusion in Education a human right

UNESCO views inclusion as a dynamic approach of responding positively to pupil diversity and
of seeing individual differences not as problems, but as opportunities for enriching learning.
Therefore, the move towards inclusion is not simply a technical or organisational
change but also a movement with a clear philosophy. In order for inclusion to be imple-
mented effectively, countries need to dene a set of inclusive principles together with
practical ideas to guide the transition towards policies addressing inclusion in education.
The principles of inclusion that are set out in various international declarations can be used
as a foundation. These then can be interpreted and adapted to the context of individual
countries.
At the core of inclusive education is the human right to education, pronounced in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 which states,
Everyone has the right to education... Education shall be free, at least in the el-
ementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Education
shall be directed to the full development of human personality and to the strengthening
of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding,
tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the
activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (art.26 - Universal Declara-
tion of Human Rights)
Equally important are the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
(UN, 1989), such as the right of children not to be discriminated against, stated in Article 2
and Article 23. Article 23 stipulates that children with disabilities3 should have:
effective access to and receive education, training, health care services, rehabilitation services,
preparation for employment and recreation opportunities in a manner conducive to the childs achiev-
ing the fullest possible social integration and individual development, including his or her cultural
and spiritual development. (Article 23)
Article 29 on the Aims of education, expresses that the educational development
of the individual is the central aims and that education should allow children to reach their
fullest potential in terms of cognitive, emotional and creative capacities. In addition, the
UNESCO Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960) and the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) are other key inter-
national human rights treaties that not only emphasize the prohibition but also the active
elimination of discrimination. A logical consequence of these rights is that all children have
the right to receive the kind of education that does not discriminate on any grounds such as
caste, ethnicity, religion, economic status, refugee status, language, gender, disability etc.
and that specic measures be taken by the State to implement these rights in all learning
environments.
A rights-based approach to education4 is founded upon three principles:
Access to free and compulsory education
Equality, inclusion and non-discrimination
The right to quality education, content and processes

12 3 The General Assembly resolution 56/168 of 19 December 2001 established an Ad Hoc Committee to consider proposals for a com-
prehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, based
on the holistic approach in the work done in the elds of social development, human rights and non-discrimination and taking into
account the recommendations of the Commission on Human Rights and the Commission for Social Development.The Committee is in
the process of working on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and
Dignity of Persons with Disabilities.
4 Tomasevski, K. (2004) Manual on Rights Based Education, UNESCO Bangkok
The move towards inclusion has involved a series of changes at the societal and
classroom level that have been accompanied by the elaboration of numerous legal instru-
ments at the international level. Inclusion has been implicitly advocated since the Univer-
sal Declaration in 1948 and it has been mentioned at all stages in a number of key UN Dec-
larations and Conventions. (As seen in the following Figure 1.1: The Rights Framework for
Inclusion)
While there are also very important human, economic, social and political reasons for
pursuing a policy and approach of inclusive education, it is also a means of bringing about
personal development and building relationships among individuals, groups and nations.
The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action (1994) asserts that:
Regular schools with inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating dis-
crimination, creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving education
for all. (Salamanca Statement, Art. 2)
The Jomtien World Conference on Education for All (1990) set the goal of Educa-
tion for All (EFA). UNESCO, along with other UN agencies, international development
agencies and a number of international and national non-governmental organisations, has
been working towards achieving this goal - adding to the efforts made at the country level.
All children and young people of the world, with their individual strengths and weaknesses,
with their hopes and expectations, have the right to education. It is not our education systems that have
a right to certain types of children. Therefore, it is the school system of a country that must be adjusted
to meet the needs of all children. (B. Lindqvist, UN-Rapporteur, 1994)
It is thus imperative that schools and local authorities take the responsibility to en-
sure that this right is implemented. Concretely this involves:
Initiating debates around how the community understands human rights;
Generating collective thinking and identifying practical solutions such as
how human rights can be made part of the local school curriculum;
Linking the Human Rights movement with educational access;
Fostering grassroots action and strengthening its ties to the policy level in
order to promote protection;
Encouraging the creation of community and childrens councils where issues
of access can be discussed; and
Developing community-school mechanism to identify children not in school
as well as develop activities to ensure that children enroll in school and learn.
Furthermore, adequate resources must be matched with political will, and constitu-
ent pressure maintained on governments to live up to their obligations. Ultimately, how-
ever, success will be judged by the quality of basic education provided to all learners. In the
following sections we discuss how inclusion is dened and what practical steps are required
to make inclusion in education a reality.

2 How is inclusion defined?

Inclusion is seen as a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all
learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reduc- 13
ing exclusion within and from education. It involves changes and modications in content,
approaches, structures and strategies, with a common vision which covers all children of the
appropriate age range and a conviction that it is the responsibility of the regular system to
educate all children.
Figure 1.1: The Rights Framework for Inclusion

UN Disability Convention (in progress)


Promotes the rights of persons with disabilities and mainstreaming
disability in development.
2005

EFA Flagship on The Right to Education for


Persons with Disabilities: Towards Inclusion 2001
Salamanca Statement &
World Education Forum
Framework for Action on
Framework for Action, Dakar,
Special Needs Education
(EFA goals) + Millennium Deve-
schools should accommodate all
lopment goals
children regardless of their physical,
Ensuring that all children have
intellectual, social, emotional,
linguistic or other conditions.
asccess to and complete free and 2000
compulsary primary education by
This should include disabled and
2015. Focus on marginalized + girls.
gifted children, street and working
children, children from remote
or nomadic populations, children
from linguistic, ethnic or cultural
minorities and children from other
disadvantaged or marginalised
areas or groups. (para 3) 1994

The UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of Op-


portunities for Persons with Disabilities Rule 6
Not only affirms the equal rights of all children, youth and
adults with disabilities to education but also states that edu-
cation should be provided in an integrated school settings
1993 and in the general school settings.

The World Declaration


on Education for All
(Jomtien Declaration) 1990

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child


1989 Ensures the right for all children to receive education without discrimination on any grounds

14
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1948 Ensures the right to free and compulsing elementary education for all children.
Inclusion is concerned with providing appropriate responses to the broad spectrum
of learning needs in formal and non-formal educational settings. Rather than being a mar-
ginal issue on how some learners can be integrated in mainstream education, inclusive
education is an approach that looks into how to transform education systems and other
learning environments in order to respond to the diversity of learners. It aims towards
enabling teachers and learners both to feel comfortable with diversity and to see it as
a challenge and enrichment of the learning environment, rather than a problem. Inclu-
sion emphasizes providing opportunities for equal participation of persons with disabilities
(physical, social and/or emotional) whenever possible into general education, but leaves
open the possibility of personal choice and options for special assistance and facilities for
those who need it.
In dening inclusion, it is important to highlight the following elements:

Inclusion IS about: Inclusion is NOT about:

welcoming diversity reforms of special education alone, but re-


form of both the formal and non-formal educa-
tion system

beneting all learners, not only targeting the responding only to diversity, but also improv-
excluded ing the quality of education for all learners

children in school who may feel excluded special schools but perhaps additional sup-
port to students within the regular school system

providing equal access to education or mak- meeting the needs of children with disabili-
ing certain provisions for certain categories of ties only
children without excluding them

meeting one childs needs at the expense of


another child

In particular, four key elements have tended to feature strongly in the conceptualisa-
tion of inclusion. The four elements are as follows:
Inclusion is a process. That is to say, inclusion has to be seen as a never-ending
search to nd better ways of responding to diversity. It is about learning how
to live with difference and learning how to learn from difference. In this way
differences come to be seen more positively as a stimulus for fostering learn-
ing, amongst children and adults.
Inclusion is concerned with the identication and removal of barriers. Consequently,
it involves collecting, collating and evaluating information from a wide variety
of sources in order to plan for improvements in policy and practice. It is about
using evidence of various kinds to stimulate creativity and problem-solving.
Inclusion is about the presence, participation and achievement of all students. Here
presence is concerned with where children are educated, and how reliably 15
and punctually they attend; participation relates to the quality of their ex-
periences whilst they are there and, therefore, must incorporate the views of
the learners themselves; and achievement is about the outcomes of learn-
ing across the curriculum, not merely test or examination results.
Inclusion involves a particular emphasis on those groups of learners who may be at
risk of marginalization, exclusion or underachievement. This indicates the moral
responsibility to ensure that those groups that are statistically most at risk
are carefully monitored, and that, where necessary, steps are taken to ensure
their presence, participation and achievement in the education system.
It is important to highlight that a holistic view of the education system, encompassing
both the private and public system, must be taken when considering adopting an inclusive
approach. Increasingly the world over, privatisation of education is on the rise. It is becom-
ing evident that the private system of education in many countries is competing with the
Government system. In some cases, government schools are closing because children are
increasingly attending private schools. This trend could inadvertently lead to planners only
planning for schools catering to poorer communities; this would inevitably be counterproduc-
tive to promoting principles of inclusion. Furthermore, in many countries the public system
is generally considered lower in terms of quality of education being provided as compared to
private schools. Thus, poorer children tend to be limited to the public system. It is impera-
tive, therefore, that education planners consider both the public and the private system in
planning in order to effectively address the needs of all learners and combat exclusion.
The move towards inclusion is a gradual one that should be based on clearly articu-
lated principles, which address system-wide development. If barriers are to be reduced, as
we will discuss later in this paper, policy-makers, educational personnel and other stake-
holders need to take certain steps which must involve all members of the local community,
including political and religious leaders, local education ofces and the media. Some of
these actions include:
Mobilising opinion
Building consensus
Carrying out local situation analyses
Reforming legislation
Supporting local projects
In short, promoting inclusion is about improving educational and social frameworks
to cope with new trends in educational structures and governance. It involves improving
inputs, processes and environments to foster learning both at the level of the learner in his/
her learning environment as well as at the level of the system which supports the learning
experience. In the following section we will look at how inclusion and quality are related.

3 Inclusion how does it relate to quality?

According to the 2005 Global Monitoring Report, Education should allow children to reach
their fullest potential in terms of cognitive, emotional and creative capacities.
An inclusive approach to education is one that strives to promote quality in the class-
room. In order to move towards quality in education, changes are required at several levels.
Human variations and differences are a naturally occurring and valuable part of society and
should be reected in schools. Schools should be able to offer opportunities for a range of
16 working methods and individualized learning in order that no pupil is obliged to stand out-
side the fellowship of and participation in the school.
An inclusive school for all must put exibility and variation at the centre, structurally
as well as in terms of content, with the goal of offering every individual a relevant education
and optimal opportunities for development.
Characteristics of a school for all include exercising exibility with regard to the
individual pupils capabilities and placing his/her needs and interests at the core. The
school for all is therefore a coherent, but differentiated learning environment. All knowl-
edge and experience about the development of children says that this can best take place
in an environment where self-esteem and positive conception of oneself are strong, i.e.
an environment where real participation and fellowship are experienced and actively pro-
moted.
Placing the pupil at the centre does not imply that students need to be taught and
will learn subject matter and content separately. Within the framework of the classroom, in-
dividual adaptations can be made. Furthermore, it involves pupils supporting one another
according to their abilities and strengths. It is about seeing differences as opportunities for
learning.
Nonetheless, quality in education is often perceived and measured as the academic
results attained by the pupils through the successful completion of nal exams and other
quantitative measures. In some cases, privatized systems of education focus on provisions
of good infrastructure, technology and facilities aiming at assuring comfort to students.
These therefore become parameters of quality rather than content and value of educa-
tion. Quality, however, is more than this and entails a school system where all children are
welcome and where diversity and exibility are seen as important ingredients for the de-
velopment and personal growth of all learners. Educational planners must bear these issues
in mind when generating discussions among receivers and providers in order to remove
disparities in quality of education in the public and private systems.
An inclusive perspective on quality education is concerned with the need to ensure
that learning opportunities contribute to effective inclusion of individual and groups into
the wider fabric of society. Quality education is therefore education that is inclusive as it
aims at the full participation of all learners. We have learned from constructive and trans-
actional theories that the quality of learning can be enhanced by the diversity of student
involvement. Teacher attitudes and tolerance are the vehicles for the construction of an
inclusive and participatory society. Focusing on quality education for enhanced inclusion
implies identifying strategies for overcoming or eliminating the barriers to full participation
for individuals and groups which experience discrimination, marginalization and exclusion
or which are particularly vulnerable.

4 Inclusion and cost effectiveness

According to a recent World Bank study and a growing body of global research, Inclusive
Education is not only cost-efcient but also cost-effective and equity is way to excel-
lence5 This research likewise points to increased achievement and performance for all
learners. Furthermore, within education, countries are increasingly realizing the inef-
ciency of multiple systems of administration, organisational structures and services and the
nancially unrealistic option of special schools.6
One area where efciency can be improved to yield results is in the realm of school
health. UNESCO along with its partners, WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank joined forces 17
in the development of the FRESH7 initiative aimed at raising the education sectors awareness

5 Skrtic OECD, 1999 in Peters.


6 Dyson & Forlin, in Peters.
7 Focus Resources on School Health
of the value of implementing an effective school health, hygiene and nutrition programmes
as one of its major strategies to achieve Education for All. According to recent ndings cited
by the FRESH initiative, as a result of universal basic education strategies, some of the most
disadvantaged children - girls, the rural poor, children with disabilities - are for the rst time
having access to school. However, their ability to attend school and to learn while there is
compromised by poor health. These are the children who will benet most from health inter-
ventions, since they are likely to show the greatest improvements in attendance and learning
achievement. School health programmes can thus help modify the effects of socio-economic
and gender- related inequities. They also help create learning-friendly environments which
ensure greater equity and better educational outcomes . Furthermore, school health pro-
grammes help link resources of the health, education, nutrition and sanitation centers in an
infrastructure - the school that is already in place, is persuasive and sustained. The effec-
tiveness of this is measurable not only in terms of educational outcomes, reduced wastage
less repetition but generally enhanced returns on educational investment.
Inclusive education is about improving learning environments but also about pro-
viding opportunities for all learners to become successful in their learning experiences. A
range of resources (e.g. teaching materials, special equipment, additional personnel, new
teaching approaches or other learners) can provide support in the task of learning. Sup-
port refers to all of these resources and, in particular, those resources beyond what the
teacher can provide.
The cost of education is a critical issue to all school systems, especially when cre-
ating education facilities for all learners. Often questions are raised about the costs of
education for traditionally excluded groups. It is falsely perceived as being costly when it
is often only about making minor adjustments to accommodate all learners. Furthermore,
there is a risk that with privatisation, education is becoming more of a commercial
venture. This may in turn lead to cost-cutting in areas that are essential for educational
access for all.
If we adopt a holistic perspective of society, it is more relevant to ask about the
costs to society when it does not provide education for all children. In such a context, it
is clear that the most cost effective solution is to offer education to all children. Educa-
tion is the fundamental basis upon which the survival of the human race and develop-
ment of a nation depend; it is an important investment where no compromises should be
made. Therefore, systems need to consider minimizing wastage of resources and using
resources optimally in making education cost effective, rather than focusing on cost cut-
ting measures.
One example that illustrates this is that schools with high repetition rates often fail
to work in preventive ways, which in the long term is both inefcient and costly. The ex-
penditure incurred by schools that have high rates of repetition in many cases would be
better used to provide additional support to learners who encounter difculties in educa-
tion. Such preventive activities could minimize repetition and be less costly than the ex-
penditure incurred by learners, for instance, who require seven or eight years to complete
a four or ve-year cycle of education.
A recent study entitled, Investing in the Future: Financing the Expansion of Edu-
18 cational Opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean, looked at the role that rep-
etition plays in the number and share of expected primary and secondary school years.
It shows that repetition accounts for more than one-quarter of the total number of school
years in Brazil. Other countries where repetition accounts for a large share of the total vol-
ume of school years are Uruguay (10.5%), Costa Rica (8.7%) and Peru (6.8%).
Such unnecessary repetition is detrimental to those students themselves, as they of-
ten fall behind, drop-out of school and require additional support when they resume their
studies. Repetition impacts negatively on students who could benet from additional sup-
port in the classroom rather than having such resources utilized in the same way, without
success, ostensibly for their benet.
Several cost-effective measures to promote Inclusive Education have been devel-
oped in countries with scarce resources. These include: (a) trainer-of-trainer models for
professional development; (b) linking university students in pre-service training institu-
tions with schools for their clinical experiences; (c) converting special needs education
schools into resource centers to provide expertise and support to clusters of general educa-
tion schools; building capacity of parents and linking with community resources; utilizing
children themselves in peer programs.
In short, providing education for all learners in schools and offering extra support to
those encountering difculties should reduce the need of costly repetition in schools and
considerably reduce societal costs of supporting these individuals later on in life.

19
2 Key elements in the shift towards inclusion
Resource & Recourse

I
ncorporating inclusion as a guiding principle typically requires change in education
systems, and this change process is frequently faced with several challenges. It involves
important shifts and changes at the systems as well as the societal level.

To understand change at all levels, it is important to know what change looks like
from different points of view. How the teacher, student, local and national government see
change is vital to understand how individuals and groups act and, indeed, react to each
other. Reforming school systems to become inclusive is not only about putting in place
recently-developed inclusive policies that meet the needs of all learners, but also about
changing the culture of classrooms, schools, districts and universities etc. It is important to
note that these change processes towards inclusion often begin on a small scale and involve
overcoming some obstacles such as:
Existing attitudes and values
Lack of understanding
Lack of necessary skills
Limited resources
Inappropriate organisation
Accepting change is really about learning. It means that schools should foster en-
vironments where teachers learn from experience in the same way that they expect their
pupils should learn from the tasks and activities in which they are engaged. Teachers who
regard themselves as learners in the classroom as more likely to successfully facilitate the
learning of their pupils. The sensitivity they acquire as a result of reecting on their own
attempts to learn new ideas or new ways of working is inuential in terms of they way chil-
dren are dealt with in their classes.
There are several important conceptual elements that contribute to successful
change. These include:
Clarity of purpose
Realistic goals
Motivation
Support
Resources
Evaluation
There are several levels and dimensions to the educational change process, some of
which are intangible. Good change processes develop trust, relevance and the desire to
20 get better results. Accountability and improvement can be effectively interwoven, but it
requires great sophistication.8 However, it is important to recognize that some dimensions
of change can effectively be measured. Such measurements include:

8 Fullan, M.
Direct benets to children
Wider impact on policies, practices, ideas and beliefs
Enhanced childrens participation
Reduced discrimination (e.g. gender, disability, caste, minority status, etc)
Strengthened partnerships and improved collaboration between ministries, at
the national and local level of government and at the community level
Development and strengthening of the education system, technology and
pedagogy to include all learners
The following sections will explore some of these additional barriers and supports
to change. The theoretical ideas and examples below are useful when trying to understand
the barriers to change when implementing inclusive policies and practices.

1 Key players in support of inclusion who are they?

Teachers, parents, communities, school authorities, curriculum planners, training institutes


and entrepreneurs in the business of education are among the actors that can serve as valu-
able resources in support of inclusion. Some (teachers, parents and communities) are more
than just a valuable resource; they are the key to supporting all aspects of the inclusion
process. This involves a willingness to accept and promote diversity and to take an active
role in the lives of students, both in and out of school. The optimal learning environment
for inclusion depends largely upon the relationship among teachers, parents, other students
and society. Ideally, effective inclusion involves implementation both in school and in so-
ciety at large.
However, it is only rarely that such a symbiosis exists between the school and soci-
ety. Thus, it is the regular teacher who has the utmost responsibility for the pupils and their
day-to-day learning. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Education to
ensure that school-accessible and child-centered programmes are elaborated, implemented
and evaluated. The outcome of such programmes and the results of their evaluation will
facilitate new incentives and ideas for teaching.
The discussion of a pupils progress and difculties should involve the pupil and the
pupils parents. No matter how successfully a child is taught at school, participation of the
family, and in some cases the community, is deemed indispensable if one aims at ensuring
that the childs school learning is applied at home and in other real-life daily settings.
Family members and communities can be important resources - when informed,
stimulated, entrusted and prepared in effective ways. Efforts should not be spared when
guiding and directing families in work that is supportive to their child. It is often a great
challenge to get the families of the most marginalised learners involved.

At a primary school in Durban, South Africa, teachers use grandmothers as a re-


source to develop the reading abilities of the children. Grandmothers have been
trained to listen to children read and to encourage them to interact with texts.
Twice a week, grandmothers come to the school and work with groups of children
in the playground or under a tree. This also frees up the teachers to work with 21
children who may be experiencing difculties in learning and who may need in-
dividual attention from the teacher.
Source: Inclusive Schools and Community Support Programmes, UNESCO.
2 Attitudes and values how can they affect inclusion?

It has been shown that teachers positive attitudes towards inclusion depend strongly on
their experience with learners who are perceived as challenging. Teacher education,
the availability of support within the classroom, class size and overall workload are all
factors which inuence teachers attitudes. Several studies have revealed that negative
attitudes of teachers and adults (parents and other family members) are the major barrier
to inclusion; children do not have prejudices unless adults show them. Thus, introducing
inclusion as a guiding principle in these different areas will have implications for teachers
attitudes.
Shared values make cooperation possible, just as lack of them makes it difcult for
people to work together. However, when common values are lacking, common interests,
which are precursors to values, may substitute for them and in daily life are often a signi-
cant driving force.9 Changes in attitudes involve signicant changes in conceptions and role
behaviour. Among other factors, this is why change is so difcult to achieve.

One successful example of a rst experience with inclusive schooling was in Burkina
Faso through the Inclusive schools and community support programmes project
which, according to those involved, contributed to tackling the problem of educa-
tion of children with special educational needs, marginalized for too long, as well
as to changing attitudes regarding these children. A genuine new awareness on
the part of parents and students was created. The pupils themselves observed such
changes. One of them indicated that, He was afraid to approach his comrades with
intellectual disabilities, because it was said that they were inhabited by spirits and
could contaminate you. Now, he concluded, I know that is not true. Now, we
work and play together and Ive learned to understand them, to like them and to
help them when necessary.
Source: Inclusive Schools and Community Support Programmes, UNESCO.

Negative attitudes towards differences and resulting discrimination and prejudice in


society manifests itself as a serious barrier to learning. However, it is a barrier that can be
overcome through the practice of inclusion and is not a necessary pre-cursor to the proc-
ess.
There are many misconceptions surrounding inclusion that often serve as obstacles
to adopting an inclusive approach at the policy level which will be discussed in greater de-
tail in the last section. Among them are:
Inclusion is costly
Implementing inclusion needs societal change in attitudes rst
Inclusion is a positive theoretical concept, but is not practical
Inclusion requires special skills and capacities that are difcult to develop
Inclusion is the responsibility of the Social Ministry and not of the Ministry
of Education
Inclusion is a disability-specic issue
22 Overcoming these misconceptions about inclusion is one of the challenges to change.
Furthermore, in the process of changes required for incorporating inclusion as a guiding
principle, conict and disagreement can occur. This is both inevitable and is fundamental

9 Darnell and Hom.


to successful change. Individuals involved in a change process may require some pressure
to change, but change will only be effective when they are able and allowed to react to form
their own positions on the change process. In many cases, policymakers, parents, teachers
and other stakeholders in the school need to realise that inclusion is a process which re-
quires changes at both the level of the education system as well as the school level. This
can be challenging to accept as it may involve readjusting conceptual understandings and
may have multiple practical consequences. Some deep changes are at stake when we real-
ise that peoples basic conceptions of the school system are involved, i.e. their occupational
identity and sense of competence.10
The diagram on the following page traces the stages of understanding in the move
towards inclusion. It demonstrates that the attitudes in society direct the actions, level of
commitment and services provided to traditionally excluded groups. However, this schema
is merely an example of a general process, which may differ from country to country. (See
Figure 2.2: Understanding the process of Inclusion)

An example of this in China, is the Golden Key Project, which promotes educa-
tion for the visually impaired in poor rural areas. For each county, a professional
guidance network has been set up including an itinerant supervisor, an admin-
istrative ofcial and a social worker who are responsible for creating the link be-
tween the school and the community and have been able to successfully mobi-
lize community forces to support inclusion. Initially resistance was encountered
among members of the community and teachers who argued that they were not
specially trained or equipped to handle these students. Others claimed that these
pupils would slow their classes down and that the parents of the other children
would not be pleased to know that their children were in classes with these chil-
dren who are different. However, once this transition to change was overcome,
teachers came to recognise the contribution to the learning environment as well
as the implications for the community. Eventually, even the most sceptical vil-
lagers were convinced of the importance of sending blind children to school and
banded together to help support these children by volunteering to repair the path
they used to go to school and provide them with other support services. 11
Source: Inclusive Schools and Community Support Programmes, UNESCO.

The implementation of more inclusive systems of education is possible if schools


themselves are committed to becoming more inclusive. The development of enabling
mechanisms such as national policies on inclusion, local support systems and appropri-
ate forms of curriculum and assessment are important in creating the right context for the
development of inclusion. Inclusion has important benets for all children as it produces
schools with more enriching learning environments that view diversity as a positive force
which must be acknowledged and celebrated. Inclusion produces schools that move away
from rote learning and place greater emphasis on hands-on, experienced based, active and
co-operative learning.

23

10 Meisfjord, R.
11 UNICEF, 2003, Inclusive Education Initiatives for Children with Disabilities: Lessons from the East Asia and Pacic Region.
Figure 2.2: Understanding the Process of Inclusion

Ensuring the Right to Education for ALL

Knowledge
Education for All
(Inclusion in Education)

Understanding
Integration/ Special Needs Education

Acceptance (benevolence, charity)


Segregation

Denial
Exclusion

Steps from Exclusion to Inclusion

24
3 Accessible and flexible curricula how can they serve as keys
for schools for all?

UNESCOs work on quality and relevance of education is based on the premise that educa-
tional quality and access are intricately linked. The concept Education for All thus ques-
tions a large part of the current schools way of organizing teaching. Teachers often retain
the perspectives gained from their own school experiences.
According to the 2005 EFA Report, One way to move towards a relevant, balanced
set of aims is to analyse the curriculum in terms of inclusion. An inclusive approach to cur-
riculum policy recognizes that while every learner has multiple needs even more so in
situations of vulnerability and disadvantage everyone should benet from a commonly
accepted basic level of quality education. In the United Kingdom, a government sup-
ported Index for Inclusion identies three dimensions of inclusion: creating inclusive
cultures, producing inclusive policies and evolving inclusive practices.12
Schools often have general, common goals regarding what is desirable in terms of
pupil achievement. An inclusive approach seeks to discourage teaching which is based on
a criterion of averages, meaning that some pupils will not be able to keep up, while others
will nd it too easy and consider the teaching boring. Instead, Education for All places the
pupil at the centre of teaching and learning based on an appreciation of his or her differ-
ences in understanding, feelings, social and perceptual skills, etc. This results in all pupils
having optimal opportunities for becoming motivated and activated.
Accessible and exible curricula can serve as the key to creating schools for all.
It is important that the curriculum be exible enough to provide possibilities for adjust-
ment to individual needs and to stimulate teachers to seek solutions that can be matched
with the needs and abilities of each and every pupil.
Many curricula expect all pupils to learn the same things, at the same time and by
the same means and methods. But pupils are different and have different abilities and
needs.
Therefore, the curriculum must take into consideration the various needs of pupils
to ensure access for all. Some of these strategies are:
providing a exible time-frame for pupils studying particular subjects
giving greater freedom to teachers in choosing their working methods
allowing teachers the opportunity of giving special support in practical sub-
jects (e.g. orientation, mobility) over and above the periods allotted for more
traditional school subjects.
allotting time for additional assistance for classroom-based work
emphasizing aspects of pre-vocational training
Furthermore, some practical steps can be taken towards making curricula more in-
clusive. Some of the questions to consider are:
What human values promoting inclusion are being fostered through the cur-
riculum?
Are human rights and childrens rights part of the curriculum? Do they ad-
dress the coexistence of rights with responsibilities, and how are they taught?
Is the content of the curriculum relevant to childrens real lives and future? 25
Does the curriculum take gender, cultural identity and language background
into consideration?

12 Booth and Ainscow, 2000


Does the curriculum include environmental education?
Are teaching methods child-centered and interactive?
How is feedback gathered/integrated for curriculum revision?
How is the curriculum related to national assessment systems?
To what extent are the education authorities responsible for monitoring the
school in tune with the curriculum revisions and transactions?
Together with exible curricula, exible teaching-learning methodology should be
introduced. Making this a reality involves other changes in policy including shifting away
from long, theoretical, pre-service-based teacher training to greater, continuous, in-service
capacity building. Schools often need to be assisted in modifying subject matters and work-
ing methods, and this should be linked to appropriate skills training.
Looking at education through an inclusive lens implies a shift from seeing the child
as a problem to seeing the education system as a problem. Initial views, which emphasized
that the source of difculties in learning came from within the learner, ignored the environ-
mental inuences on learning. It is now being strongly argued that reorganizing ordinary
schools within the community, through school improvement and a focus on quality, ensures
that all children can learn effectively, including those categorized as having special needs.
See Figure 3.1: Education through the Inclusion Lens

26
Figure 3.1: Education through the Inclusion Lens

Seeing education through the inclusion lens implies a shift from seeing the child as a problem to
seeing the education system as the problem that can be solved through inclusive approaches

Child as a problem Education system


as a problem

Is different from other children Not equipped to handle diversity

Rigid methods

Rigid curriculum
Has special needs

Parents not involved

Needs special equipment


Many drop-outs,
many repeaters
Needs special environment

Needs special teachers


Lack of teaching aids;
and training equipment

Does not respond; cannot learn Does not respond; cannot teach

27
Inaccessible environments
Child is excluded from school excluding children from
school
4 Inclusion empowering for All?

According to a recent report for the World Bank Disability Group, Education is wide-
ly seen as a means to develop human capital, to improve economic performance and to
enhance individual capabilities and choices in order to enjoy freedoms of citizenship.13
Within this context, therefore, empowerment refers to acquiring the awareness and skills
necessary to take charge of ones own life chances. It is about facilitating the ability of indi-
viduals (and groups) to make their own decisions and, to a greater extent than hitherto, to
shape their own destinies. Some educational theorists tie the concept to Freires notion of
the collective struggle for a life without oppression and exploitation and the expression
of students and teachers voices which can be emancipatory in different degrees.14 This
is the understanding of empowerment embedded in these guidelines.
Social transformation requires self-formation. Curriculum can play an instrumental
role in fostering tolerance and promoting human rights. It is the means by which respect for
the dignity of persons and awareness of responsibilities as national and global citizens are
instilled in children. Such knowledge can be a powerful tool for transcending cultural, reli-
gious and other diversities and empowering teachers, students and all members of society.
Furthermore, education is an important vehicle through which economically and so-
cially marginalized adults and children can be empowered to change their life chances, and
obtain the means to participate more fully in their communities.
The advantage of inclusion versus special education has been demonstrated on sev-
eral levels. Studies in both OECD and non-OECD countries indicate that students with
disabilities achieve better school results in inclusive settings. Inclusive education also pro-
vides opportunities to build social networks, norms of reciprocity, mutual assistance and
trustworthiness. Special schools tend to perpetuate the segregation of disabled people,
yet, for students with some types of disabilities, provision of high quality education in
special schools may be more appropriate than inclusion in a regular school that does
not provide meaningful interaction with classmates and professionals. Another option is
to reconcile the inclusive and specialised approaches in a twin track approach in which
parents and learners decide whether to opt for an inclusive regular school or a special school
initially, with inclusive education remaining the ultimate goal.15
When communities can hold teachers, administrators, and government ofcials ac-
countable for the inclusion of all children through formal institutional mechanisms, com-
munity members become more interested in school improvement and more willing to com-
mit their own resources to the task. This commitment may include forming partnerships
with outside contributors. According to the World Bank, programs that expand the access
of excluded groups to education have led to important shifts in mind-set among community
members and government leaders regarding the contributions that those groups can make
to society16. This is where change processes and empowerment go hand in hand to move
towards inclusion for all learners.

28
13 Peters, Susan.
14 Giroux, H.
15 Nordstrm , Richler, Magrab , Wormnaes (2004) in EFA Global Monitoring Report, The Quality Imperative, 2005.
16 World Bank, 2004
4 Inclusive Education and Education for All

T
he Dakar Framework For Action acknowledges the major education conferences
throughout the 1990s, such as the Salamanca World Conference on Special Needs
Education (1994 Salamanca, Spain), and urges the international community to con-
tinue working on achieving the goals set (Dakar Framework for Action, Para 4.). The Ex-
panded Commentary on the Dakar Framework for Action describes the broad vision of
Education for All. This vision needs to be adopted in order to achieve the Dakar Frame-
work for Action goals. It places a special emphasis on those learners who are the most
vulnerable to marginalization and exclusion and identies Inclusive Education as one of
the key strategies to address issues. The Dakar Framework for Action thus clearly sets
inclusive education as one of the main strategies to address the question of marginaliza-
tion and exclusion. The fundamental principle of EFA is that all children should have the
opportunity to learn. The fundamental principle of Inclusive Education is that all children
should have the opportunity to learn together.17

It is important to highlight that Education for All does not automatically imply inclu-
sion. Inclusion properly understood is precisely about reforming schools and ensuring that
every child receives quality and appropriate education within these schools. To this extent,
inclusion is critical to the EFA movement since without it, a group or groups of children are
excluded from education. Thus, EFA by denition cannot be achieved if these children are
excluded. Both EFA and inclusion are both about access to education, however, inclusion
is about access to education in a manner that there is no discrimination or exclusion for any
individual or group within or outside the school system.
Toward this end, inclusion needs to be the fundamental philosophy throughout pro-
grammes so that the goal of Education for All can be achieved. Inclusion, therefore,
should be the guiding principle for UNESCO and other agencies interface with Govern-
ments and other providers on Education for All.
In his speech to the 160th Executive Board, the Director General of UNESCO high-
lighted the need to make the special and urgent needs of marginalized and excluded groups
an integral part of all UNESCOs programmes so as to enable the Organization to make a
more effective contribution.
UNESCOs actions in promoting inclusive approaches in education will aim at:
forging a holistic approach to education which ensures that the concerns of
marginalized and excluded groups are incorporated in all education activities,
and cooperating to reduce wasteful repetition and fragmentation;
developing capacities for policymaking and system management in support
of diverse strategies towards inclusive education; and
bringing forward the concerns of groups who are currently marginalized and
excluded. 29

17 Peters, Susan.
1 Tools for Educational Planners and Policymakers
Reflection & Reform

In conclusion, we have looked at how inclusion is dened, some reasons and justications
for its implementation as well as some key elements in the shift towards inclusion. We now
ask that you consider the following questions at the level of policy and legislation in greater
detail before engaging in an in-depth analysis of the educational plans:
What policies promote inclusion and which ones go against it?
What are the existing barriers at the policy level that can act as a deterrent to
the practice of inclusion and how can this issue be addressed?
How can suitable guidelines to address and facilitate inclusion be prepared
and followed?
How can debate and discussion be generated among relevant stakeholders to
promote inclusion?
How can monitoring mechanisms be formulated and incorporated into plans
and realistic goals set for achieving intended targets?
There are some indicators to determine whether your school system is on track to moving
towards inclusion. The Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (CSIE) piloted and re-
ned and Index for Inclusive Schooling. The Index takes the social model of disability as its
starting point, builds on good practice, and then organizes the Index work around a cycle
of activities which guide schools through stages of preparation, investigation, development
and review.18

Index for Inclusive Schooling


1.1 Pupils are entitled to take part in all subjects and activities
1.2 Teaching and learning are planned with all pupils in mind
1.3 The curriculum develops understanding and respect for differences
1.4 During lessons all pupils participate
1.5 A variety of teaching styles and strategies is used
1.6 Pupils experience success in their learning
1.7 The curriculum seeks to develop understanding of the different cultures in
society
1.8 Pupils take part in the assessment and accreditation systems
1.9 Difculties in learning are seen as opportunities for the development of prac-
tice

The checklist and matrices that follow are intended to help facilitate the process
of identifying gaps and corresponding strategies to address these gaps and move towards
inclusion.

30

18 Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education (2003). Index for Inclusion: developing learning and participation in schools. CSIE web-
site http://inclusion.uwe.ac.uk/csie/indexlaunch.htm
2 Steps towards inclusion Checklist

The questions below can be used as a checklist to promote the incorporation of inclusive
approaches in National Education Plans. The answers will serve as a background when
analysing the present status of the National Plan and the level of its inclusiveness. Find-
ings can be used in discussions with responsible education authorities. Furthermore, they
should be used as guidelines in advising on possible improvements in the National Educa-
tion Plans.
The ndings should serve as a source for the identication of the needs for capacity
building for Inclusive Education.
The questions have been grouped under two headings to facilitate a structure for
the analysis of the National Education Plans / EFA plans. If the plan is still in draft form,
then responding to the checklist below can provide some insight into areas that need to be
elaborated in order to make the plans more inclusive. If the plan has already been com-
pleted, then the responses to these questions can serve as a guide to amending the plan
based on addressing the issues that may have been overlooked during the initial planning
process.

3 Strategic Planning for Inclusion Inclusion Matrix Worksheet

The worksheet which follows the Checklist Questions, is intended as a tool to help iden-
tify and analyze your current situation including your strengths (e.g., available resources
that currently support inclusion; statement(s) on inclusion in your National /EFA Plan)
and needs (e.g., resources that are needed to support inclusion, challenges that need to be
overcome; gaps in your Plan or your system related to moving toward inclusion).

31
Checklist Questions

A. Situation analysis

1. Have studies, needs-based analyses, etc. been undertaken to identify and address
the needs and challenges of the children missing out on education or at risk of drop-
ping out? If so, what are the ndings?
2. Are any measures being taken with regard to data collection, indicators and statistics
to ascertain the magnitude of marginalized and excluded children in the country?
3. What accommodations in teaching are made to ensure access for children with dis-
abilities, ethnic and language minorities?
4. What capacity exists to build and strengthen community level involvement (eg. CBR,
C-EMIS, ECCD initiatives)?

B. Policy, goals, objectives

1. Which are the main action programmes in regard to marginalized/excluded/vulner-


able groups? Is there specic mention made of particular groups? Are children with
disabilities and other groups specically planned for?
2. Are there specic policies/programmes/strategies in place to identify out-of-school
children, provide speed-up and/or second chance educational opportunities? Are there
specic family-based strategies to support them on a nancial and/or emotional basis?
3. What are the linkages between formal and non-formal education in the plans/pro-
grammes for more inclusive education?
4. Do current educational policies favor particular groups at the expense of marginal-
ized ones? If so, in which ways? Does this create obstacles to inclusion?
5. Is there any policy statement with regard to excluded groups? Are any particular
groups specied?
6. Is there a policy statement regarding language of instruction?
7. Is there language with negative connotations referring to excluded/marginalized
groups? I f so, how can this be changed?
8. What kind of priorities are reected in the countrys objectives of education? Do
these priorities stimulate or discourage inclusion?
9. Does the plan include provisions or measures regarding access to the curriculum for
all learners?
10. Does the plan include provisions or measures regarding physical access to school for
all learners?
11. Is reference made to UN declarations, the Salamanca Statement, the Dakar Frame-
work of Action? The Convention on the Rights of the Child?
12. Are references made to quality of/in education?
32 13. Does the plan address required competence and quality of teachers in relation to
inclusion?
14. What are the main objectives and targets for the education described in the plan?
Does the plan make reference to the EFA and/or Millennium Development Goals?
C. Implementation

1. Who are the partners/service providers in the provision of education (other Min-
istries, private, etc)? Does the responsibility of education for certain categories of
children lie with other Ministries?
2. How are education costs shared? Do parents/family have to assume direct and/or in-
direct costs for the educational process of their children?
3. Is education regarded as a Right for all children? Are there mechanisms to ensure
that this right be fullled? Is there an Ombudsperson or mechanism for the imple-
mentation of the Rights of the Child?
4. Is the curriculum exible enough to allow for appropriate adaptation? Does it alien-
ate certain social and cultural groups? Does it permit progression and accreditation
for all students?
5. Do the plans reect the readiness to deal with disasters or events that affect access
to education?

D. Monitoring and evaluation

1. Is registration data collected on all children which would allow identication of those
not in school?
2. Are there mechanisms to identify children already in schools, but excluded from
quality education?
3. Does the plan establish a school-community mechanism to identify children not in
schools, and are ways identied to ensure they enroll and learn? Are children en-
couraged to identify peers in the community not in school?
4. Do the plans discuss exibility in the assessment procedures to evaluate learning?

E. Capacity-building/stakeholder involvement/participation

1. Which stakeholders (parents, pupils, managers, etc) have been consulted in the elab-
oration of the plan?
2. How do international conferences, research, etc. feed into policies and program-
ming?
3. In which ways are parents/communities expected to be involved? To what extent are
parents/communities supported, how and by whom?
4. Are there social mobilization and communication strategies/materials to support and
create public awareness for inclusion?
5. What resources are allocated for plans/programmes with regard to inclusion? What
are additional sources of support for education (private sector, community, bi-lateral,
etc)?
6. Are pupil participation and co-operative learning encouraged?
33
34
Planning Matrix

Indices of Situation Analysis Policy Goals, Implementation Monitoring,


Inclusion Objectives Evaluation
What is the What actions are needed? How will the actions be What information needs
current taken and by whom25? to be collected, how will
situation? you know what has been
achieved?

References to Inclusive Education in


National EFA Plans

References to vulnerable/marginalized/
excluded groups. Specific references to
children with disabilities?

Linkage with National Programming


Frameworks CCA-UNDAF, PRSPs) and
other sector-wide approaches

Legislation and Policies

Physical Infrastructure, transportation


and facilities

Training

25 This entails cooperation with other Ministries as well as bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, including private sector.
Indices of Situation Analysis Policy Goals, Implementation Monitoring,
Inclusion Objectives Evaluation
What is the What actions are needed? How will the actions be What information needs
current taken and by whom25? to be collected, how will
situation? you know what has been
achieved?

Activities

Curriculum Development

Additional activities supporting


Inclusion (workshops, training,
awareness raising campaigns, materials)

Treaties, Tools, etc (To


International
what extent are they recognised?)

Community and Non-formal Education


(What are the linkages with formal
education)

Examinations, Assessment (of students


and teachers)
35
Annex 1

EFA Goals

Education for All Goals

1. Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education,


especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;
2. Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difcult
circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to a com-
plete free and compulsory primary education of good quality;
3. Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met
through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes;
4. Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015,
especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education
for all adults;
5. Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005,
and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring
girls full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good
quality;
6. Improving all aspects of the quality of education, and ensuring excellence of
all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all,
especially in literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills.

Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger halve the number of people
living on one dollar a day and who suffer from hunger.
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women equal access to primary
and post-primary education for girls.
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability reduce by half those without 37
access to safe water.
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development more aid, more debt
relief, access to essential drugs and good governance.
References and further reading

Ainscow, M. (1999) Understanding the development of inclusive schools. London: Falmer.


Bernard, A. (2000) Education for All and Children who are Excluded. Education for All 2000 Assessment. Thematic Studies.
On the Internet: http://www2.unesco.org/wef/en-leadup/ndings_excluded%20summary.shtm
Booth, T. (1996)
Chambers, R. 1997: Whos reality counts? Putting the rst last. London, Intermediate Technology Publications.
Booth, T. and Ainscow, M. (eds) (1998) From Them To Us: An international study of inclusion in education, Routledge
Tackles questions such as Can there be a global view of inclusive education? through a series of case studies set in eight
different countries. ISDN numbers are as follows:
Booth, T and Ainscow, M (revised 2002) Index for Inclusion: Developing Learning and Participation in Schools, CSIE
This practical guide is now being used in different parts of the world. It encourages a process of inclusive school develop-
ment.
Dakar Framework for Action Education for All, meeting our collective commitment. On Internet: http://www2.unesco.org/wef/en-
conf/dakframeng.shtm
Darnell, F. and Hom, A. 1996: Taken to Extremes. Education in the Far North. Oslo, Scandinavian University Press.
EFA Global Monitoring Report, The Quality Imperative, 2005.
Engebrigtsen, A. 1974: Frigjrende dialog om frigjringspedagogikk, Paulo Freire og utviklingsarbeid. Oslo, Norsk Fred-
skorpssambands Studiehefte.
Fine, M. (2000) Creating Inclusive Communities. An Inquiry into organizational approaches for Pursuing Diversity. Academy for
Education Development and The National Youth Leadership Council, Service-Learning Diversity project. On the
Internet: http://www.aed.org/publications/pubs_inclusion.pdf
Freire, P. 1970: Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London, Penguin Education.
Fullan, M. 1999: The New Meaning of Educational Change. London, Cassell Educational Limited.
Giroux, H. (1997) Pedagogy and the politics of hope Boulder, CO: Westview Press
Human Sciences Research Council (HSCR) (2000) With Africa for Africa. Towards Quality Education for all. 1999 MLA Project.
UNESCO. UNICEF. HSCR.
International Consultative Forum on Education for All (2000) Statistical Document. Education for All Year 2000 Assessment.
Paris: UNESCO Publishing.
International Consultative Forum on Education for All (2000). Global Synthesis. Education for All Year 2000 Assessment. Paris:
UNESCO Publishing.
McGregor, G. & Timm Vogelsberg, R. (1998) Inclusive Schooling Practices: Pedagogical and Research Foundations. A Synthesis of the
Literature that Informs Best Practice about Inclusive Schooling. Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices. The Univer-
sity of Montana. Rural Institute on Disabilities.
Meijer, C. (1999) Financing of Special Needs Education. A Seventeen Country Study of the Relation between Financing of Special Needs
Education and Integration. European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education. Middelfart: Denmark.
Meisfjord, R. Mathisen, 2001, Womenss Views A qualitative case study of the impact of adult training on Women in South Africa,
Oslo University College, Oslo, Norway.
National Commission on Special Needs in Education and Training (NCSNET) and National Committee on Education Sup-
port Services (NCESS) (1997) Quality Education for All. Overcoming barriers to learning and development. Department of
Education: Pretoria.
National Department of Education (1997) Curriculum 2005. Lifelong learning for the 21st century. South Africa: CTB Books.
OECD CERI (1999) Inclusive Education at Work. Students with Disabilities in Mainstream Schools. Paris: OECD.
Susan J. Peters (2003) Inclusive Education: Achieving Education for All by Including those with Disabilities and Special
Needs; Prepared for the World Bank Disability Group
Supovitz, J. and Brennan R. (1997) Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Which Is the Fairest Test of All? An Examination of the Equi-
tability of Portfolio Assessment Relative to Standardized Tests. Harvard Educational Review. Vol. 67 No.3 Fall.
Theis, Joachim (2003) Rights-based Approach to Education, Save the Children, Sweden.
Tomasevski, Katarina (2003) Education Denied. Costs and Remedies. Zed Books London and New York, University Press, Dhaka,
White Lotus Bangkok, David Philip Cape Town.
UNESCO (1985) Helping Handicapped Pupils in Ordinary Schools: Strategies for Teacher Training.
UNESCO (1990) World Declaration on Education for All and Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs. International
Consultative Forum on Education for All. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO (1994) The Salamanca World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality. UNESCO and the Ministry of
Education, Spain. Paris: UNES CO. 39
UNESCO (1996) Learning: the Treasure Within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-rst
Century. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO (1998) Wasted Opportunities: When Schools Fail. Education for All. Status and Trends. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO (1999a) From Special Needs Education to Education for All. A Discussion Document. Tenth Steering Committee Meeting
UNESCO Paris 30 September - 1 October 1998. Unpublished manuscript.
UNESCO (1999b) Welcoming Schools. Students with Disabilities in Regular Schools. Paris: UNESCO
UNESCO (2001a) Including the Excluded: Meeting diversity in education. Example from Romania. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO (2001b) Including the Excluded: Meeting diversity in education. Example from Uganda. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO (2001c) Open File on Inclusive Education. Paris: UNESCO.
UNESCO (2003) Overcoming Exclusion through Inclusive Approaches in Education. A challenge and a vision. Conceptual paper. Paris:
UNESCO
UNESCO (2004) Investing in the Future: Financing the Expansion of Educational Opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean.
UIS.
UNICEF (2003) Inclusive Education Initiatives for Children with Disabilities: Lessons from the East Asia and Pacic Region
United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child. New York: United Nations.
UNICEF (2004) The State of the Worlds Children Report.

40
www.unesco.org/education/inclusive
Anexo I

Resumen Ley de Subvencin Escolar


Preferencial

1
Ley N 20.248 de la Subvencin Escolar
Preferencial
Junio 2008

El fundamento de la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial es el mejoramiento de la


calidad y equidad de la educacin subvencionada del pas. Por primera vez, el
sistema de financiamiento no slo se asocia a la entrega de recursos por
prestacin del servicio educativo, sino tambin a los resultados que alcanzan las
y los estudiantes.

Para ello exige compromisos que involucran y comprometen a toda la comunidad


escolar. Los sostenedores voluntariamente adscriben a esta Subvencin a los
establecimientos bajo su dependencia que decidan y asumen todas las
responsabilidades que ella implica.

La Subvencin Escolar Preferencial se instaura con la Ley N 20.248, promulgada


el 2 de febrero del 2008.

Objetivos de la Ley

Asignar ms recursos por Subvencin a los estudiantes ms vulnerables

La asignacin de recursos se realiza mediante la Subvencin Escolar


Preferencial, que se entrega por cada uno de las y los alumnos prioritarios,
matriculados en los establecimientos educacionales. La Ley reconoce que el
costo de la enseanza es mayor, a medida que aumenta la vulnerabilidad
socioeconmica de las y los estudiantes.

Adicionalmente, se crea una Subvencin por Concentracin, que entrega un


monto de recursos, segn la proporcin de alumnos y alumnas prioritarias en
relacin al total de estudiantes matriculado en el establecimiento. La Ley
reconoce que no slo importa la condicin del nio y la nia, sino que el
entorno de aprendizaje juega un rol fundamental en el proceso educativo.

2
Establecer compromisos, por parte de las y los actores educativos, para
mejorar la calidad de la enseanza.

Las y los sostenedores, segn establece la Ley, asumen compromisos. Ellos


estn asociados al mejoramiento de resultados de aprendizaje de las y los
estudiantes y de los procesos del establecimiento que impacten en ellos.

Estos compromisos se expresan en el Convenio de Igualdad de


Oportunidades y Excelencia Educativa que cada sostenedor suscribe con el
Ministerio de Educacin. El Convenio tiene una vigencia de cuatro aos y
puede renovarse por perodos iguales.

El sostenedor firma un nico Convenio por el conjunto de escuelas bajo su


administracin que adscriba a la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial.

El Convenio contiene:

9 Compromisos con las y los estudiantes, en especial los ms vulnerables:

Aceptar a las y los alumnos que postulen entre el primer nivel de


Transicin y sexto Bsico, de acuerdo a procesos de admisin, sin
considerar el rendimiento escolar pasado o potencial de las y los
postulantes.

Asegurar que en los procesos de admisin, no sea requisito la presentacin


de antecedentes socioeconmicos de la familia del o la estudiante que
postula a una escuela.

Eximir a las y los alumnos prioritarios de los cobros referidos a


financiamiento compartido. No pueden ser objeto de cobro alguno que
condicione su postulacin, ingreso o permanencia en el establecimiento.

Retener a las y los alumnos, entre primer Nivel de Transicin y sexto


Bsico, sin que el rendimiento escolar sea obstculo para la renovacin de
su matrcula.

Asegurar el derecho de las y los alumnos a repetir de curso en un mismo


establecimiento, a lo menos en una oportunidad por cada nivel de
enseanza. Esa no ser una causa para cancelar y no renovar su matrcula.

3
9 Compromisos institucionales y pedaggicos:

Destinar la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial a la implementacin de las


medidas comprendidas en un Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo, con
especial nfasis en las y los alumnos prioritarios. Tambin pueden impulsar
asistencia tcnico-pedaggica especial, para mejorar los resultados de las
y los alumnos con bajo rendimiento acadmico.

Elaborar y cumplir un Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo elaborado con la


comunidad escolar, que contemple acciones desde primer nivel de
Transicin hasta octavo Bsico en las reas de gestin curricular,
liderazgo, convivencia escolar y gestin de recursos.

Establecer y cumplir metas de resultados acadmicos de las y los alumnos,


en especial de los prioritarios, concordadas con el Ministerio de Educacin,
en funcin de los resultados que se obtengan por aplicacin del sistema de
evaluacin nacional, SIMCE.

Acreditar el funcionamiento efectivo del Consejo Escolar, el Consejo de


Profesores y el Centro General de Padres y Apoderados.

Acreditar la existencia de horas docentes destinadas a cumplir la funcin


tcnico-pedaggica y asegurar el cumplimiento efectivo de las horas
curriculares no lectivas.

Cautelar que las y los docentes de aula presenten al director o directora


del establecimiento, dentro de los primeros quince das del ao escolar,
una planificacin educativa anual de los contenidos curriculares.

Contar con una malla curricular que incluya actividades artsticas y/o
culturales y deportivas que contribuyan a la formacin integral de las y los
alumnos.

9 Compromisos de informacin a la familia y autoridades ministeriales:

Informar respecto del Proyecto Educativo Institucional (PEI) y su


reglamento interno. Esta informacin debe estar dirigida a las y los
postulantes, y a sus madres, padres y apoderados. Ellos debern aceptar
por escrito el PEI de la escuela que elijan para sus hijos o hijas.

4
Resguardar que los procesos de admisin de los establecimientos sean de
conocimiento pblico en los proyectos educativos.

Informar a las madres, padres, apoderadas y apoderados sobre la


existencia de este Convenio. Enfatizar las metas fijadas en materia de
rendimiento acadmico.

Presentar anualmente al Ministerio de Educacin y a la comunidad escolar


un informe relativo al uso de todos los recursos percibidos por Subvencin
Escolar Preferencial y de los dems aportes contemplados en la Ley. Dicho
informe debe incluir la rendicin de cuentas respecto de todos los recursos
recibidos por concepto de esta Ley.

Sealar dentro del Convenio, el monto de las subvenciones o recursos que


se reciben por la va del financiamiento pblico. Esta informacin debe ser
actualizada anualmente. Adems, el sostenedor municipal deber sealar,
el aporte promedio de los tres aos anteriores a la suscripcin del
Convenio.

2. Sostenedores y Ministerio de Educacin: Compromiso y responsabilidad al


suscribir el Convenio

La Subvencin Escolar Preferencial establece compromisos especficos para las y


los sostenedores y el Ministerio de Educacin. Son las y los actores que firman el
Convenio y deben cumplir funciones diversas, pero complementarias.

El rol del Sostenedor es fundamental y sus responsabilidades son:

9 Presentar la postulacin de los establecimientos a la Subvencin Escolar


Preferencial, a travs de la plataforma informtica que el Ministerio de
Educacin dispone para este fin.

9 Suscribir el Convenio de Igualdad de Oportunidades y Excelencia


Educativa.

9 Asignar los recursos de la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial a las acciones de


mejoramiento planificadas por los establecimientos.

9 Trabajar con las y los integrantes de la comunidad educativa,


particularmente con las y los directivos de los establecimientos, en la
elaboracin de su Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo.

5
9 Fomentar la articulacin de las acciones de mejoramiento que se definan
con las polticas comunales de educacin.

9 Revisar la elaboracin del Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo y


retroalimentar el trabajo de la escuela.

9 Presentar el Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo ante el Ministerio de


Educacin, para su aprobacin en el caso de las escuelas clasificadas como
emergentes.

9 Contribuir al cumplimiento del Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo de las


escuelas.

9 Mantener a disposicin del Ministerio de Educacin un estado anual de


resultados financieros. As dar cuenta de los ingresos provenientes del
financiamiento pblico y de los gastos realizados, por un perodo mnimo
de cinco aos. El informe deber contemplar la rendicin de cuentas
respecto de todos los recursos recibidos por concepto de la Ley de
Subvencin Escolar Preferencial.
En sntesis, el sostenedor o la sostenedora tiene la responsabilidad final por el
cumplimiento del Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo. Debe velar por el progreso de
la calidad educativa de los establecimientos de su dependencia y asegurar
mayores y mejores condiciones educacionales para las y los estudiantes ms
vulnerables.

El Ministerio de Educacin tiene a su cargo la administracin de la Subvencin


Escolar Preferencial y sus responsabilidades son:

9 Fijar los criterios que determinan la clasificacin de los establecimientos y


de las y los estudiantes prioritarios.

9 Clasificar a los establecimientos en las distintas categoras e informar a las


escuelas. Esto incluye a los Consejos Escolares, a las madres, padres,
apoderadas y apoderados, a la comunidad escolar y al pblico en general.

9 Tomar conocimiento de los Convenios de Igualdad de Oportunidades y


Excelencia Educativa suscritos y verificar su cumplimiento.

6
9 Entregar orientaciones y apoyo para la elaboracin del Plan de
Mejoramiento Educativo, en particular a las escuelas uni, bi y tri docentes,
pequeas y en situacin de aislamiento geogrfico.

9 Elaborar un registro pblico de las entidades de Asistencia Tcnico


Educativa (ATE) que cumplan con los requisitos para realizar asesora a los
establecimientos educacionales.

9 Aprobar los Planes de Mejoramiento Educativo para escuelas emergentes y


en recuperacin y traspasar los recursos al sostenedor.

9 Revisar y hacer recomendaciones para mejorar el Plan de Mejoramiento


Educativo.

9 Determinar los instrumentos y momentos en que se verificar el


cumplimiento de los compromisos contrados.

9 Establecer estndares nacionales y criterios especficos para la calificacin


de resultados educativos. stos deben ser actualizados, a lo menos, cada
cinco aos.

9 Supervisar el uso de los recursos, las acciones y el nivel de cumplimiento


de las metas comprometidas.

9 Supervisar y asesorar pedaggicamente a las escuelas emergentes y en


recuperacin. Esto puede hacerlo en forma directa o por medio de

instituciones o personas acreditadas en el Registro de Asistencia Tcnica


Educativa (ATE).

9 Establecer la forma y periodicidad en que los sostenedores deben informar


a la comunidad escolar respecto del cumplimiento de los compromisos
adquiridos.

9 Revisar la clasificacin de escuelas cada cuatro aos.

7
Sostenedores de establecimientos educacionales rurales uni, bi y tri
docentes, multigrado o en situacin de aislamiento

La Ley seala que el Convenio, puede establecer la obligatoriedad de funcionar en red


con otros establecimientos de similares caractersticas.

Adems, el Ministerio de Educacin entregar orientaciones especficas para la


elaboracin del Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo de estos establecimientos. Asimismo,
brindar apoyo y supervisin pedaggica especial en forma directa o mediante personas
o entidades pedaggicas y tcnicas de apoyo acreditadas en el Registro de Asistencia
Tcnica Educativa (ATE).

Sanciones ante el incumplimiento de la Ley

El incumplimiento de las obligaciones sealadas en la Ley de Subvencin Escolar


Preferencial, o de los compromisos establecidos en el Convenio de Igualdad de
Oportunidades y Excelencia Educativa, ser sancionado por el Ministerio de Educacin.
Las sanciones se aplicarn conforme al artculo 52 de la Ley de Subvenciones y mediante
el procedimiento establecido en el artculo 53 de la misma.

Las sanciones consisten en:

Multas no inferiores a un cinco por ciento o superiores al cincuenta por


ciento de una unidad de subvencin educacional por alumno matriculado a
la fecha en que se incurre en la infraccin.

Privacin total o parcial, definitiva o temporal de la Subvencin Escolar


Preferencial. En caso de privacin temporal, sta no podr exceder de
doce meses consecutivos.

Revocacin del reconocimiento oficial.

Inhabilidad temporal o perpetua del sostenedor para mantener o


participar de cualquier forma en la administracin de establecimientos
educacionales subvencionados. Si el sostenedor es persona jurdica, se
aplica a las y los socios, representantes legales, gerentes, administradores
y directores o directoras.

8
3. Implementacin de la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial

Las fases involucradas son:

Primera Fase: Comunicacin y difusin de los aspectos clave de la Ley

Para iniciar el proceso de comunicacin, las y los sostenedores y sus escuelas


reciben informacin general sobre la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial. Conocen
sus objetivos, condiciones, funcionamiento y las fases para su implementacin.
La informacin detallada sobre todos los aspectos de la Ley se encuentra en la
pgina Web del Ministerio de Educacin (www.mineduc.cl).

Luego, en el portal de Comunidad Escolar (www.comunidadescolar.cl), el o la


sostenedora, se puede informar sobre la cantidad de alumnos prioritarios
matriculados entre primer nivel de Transicin y cuarto Bsico, para cada
establecimiento de su dependencia.

La operacin de identificacin de alumnos y alumnas prioritarias


Es realizada anualmente por la Junta Nacional de Auxilio Escolar y Becas (JUNAEB).La
determinacin de la calidad de estudiante prioritario, as como la prdida de esta condicin, es
informada anualmente a la familia y al sostenedor del establecimiento.

Metodologa de identificacin de alumnas y alumnos prioritarios


Los criterios establecidos por la Ley y la metodologa utilizada para que un nio o nia sea considerado como
alumno prioritario, es la siguiente:

Pe rten ece a C hile


P rio rita rio (a )
S o lid ario SI

NO

T ercil m s v ulne ra b le
seg n F PS
SI
NO
S in d a to

P erte nece a Tram o A


d e FO N A S A
SI

S in d a to NO

In g reso s fam iliares d el h o g ar, b aja


esco larid ad M adre, ru ralid ad ,
p o breza com u na l SI

S in d ato NO

N o P rio rita rio (a )

9
La Ley clasifica a los establecimientos educacionales, como una manera de
reconocer las diferencias en sus condiciones y necesidades de mejoramiento. En
www.comunidadescolar.cl el sostenedor puede revisar la clasificacin asignada a
las escuelas bajo su administracin, e informarse acerca de los compromisos y
obligaciones que asume de acuerdo a ella.

Metodologa de clasificacin de escuelas

Se definen tres categoras de escuelas:

o Autnoma. Es la escuela que ha demostrado sistemticamente buenos resultados educativos


de sus alumnos y alumnas, en relacin a las mediciones de carcter nacional, aplicadas al 4
y 8 ao de educacin general Bsica.

o Emergente. Es la escuela que no ha mostrado sistemticamente buenos resultados educativos


de sus estudiantes, en relacin a las mediciones de carcter nacional, aplicadas al 4 y 8
ao de educacin general Bsica. Se reconocen problemas especficos en algunas reas de la
gestin escolar. Aquellas escuelas con menos de 20 estudiantes que rinden SIMCE; las
escuelas rurales que no han rendido SIMCE en las tres ltimas mediciones; las escuelas que
slo imparten primer y segundo nivel de transicin y los establecimientos educacionales
nuevos, quedan clasificados en esta categora.

o En recuperacin. Es la escuela que ha presentado un historial de resultados de aprendizaje y


condiciones institucionales deficientes. Las escuelas pueden ser clasificadas en
recuperacin, solamente a partir del ao 2010.

Las escuelas son clasificadas segn un ndice de Calidad Educacional para la Clasificacin de
Escuelas. Este ndice se construye utilizando dos grandes insumos: SIMCE (70%) e Indicadores
Complementarios (30%).

Para el factor SIMCE, se consideran los grupos similares: A, B, C, y (D+E), mientras que los
indicadores complementarios consideran:

Municipales P. Subvencionadas

Tasa de Aprobacin 25%


50%
Tasa de Retencin 25%

Mejora 17% 20%

Integracin 13% 15%


50%
Iniciativa 13% 15%

Evaluacin Docente 7% 0%

10
Si el sostenedor de la escuela est en desacuerdo con el nmero de alumnas y
alumnos prioritarios o con la clasificacin de escuelas, puede apelar en lnea. A
travs del mismo sistema de postulacin alojado en Comunidad Escolar, debe
fundamentar su apelacin y el Secretario Regional Ministerial de Educacin
sancionar y emitir un juicio definitivo.

. Para dar respuesta a las apelaciones, se cuenta con el apoyo de JUNAEB y la


Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile. stas son las entidades encargadas de
la identificacin de alumnos prioritarios y la clasificacin de escuelas,
respectivamente

Adicionalmente, se pone a disposicin de toda la comunidad educativa y


especialmente de las familias, el sitio Web Infoescuela (www.infoescuela.cl) que
cuenta con informacin general y especfica de las principales caractersticas de
las escuelas. As se garantiza la existencia de mecanismos de informacin
transparentes para todos los actores del sistema educativo, que es uno de los
propsitos centrales de la Ley.

Segunda Fase: Postulacin y firma de los Convenios

Una vez que el o la sostenedora cuenta con toda la informacin de alumnos


prioritarios y la clasificacin de sus escuelas, debe decidir con cules
establecimientos desea participar. No es condicin que postule con todos a la
Subvencin Escolar Preferencial.

La postulacin se realiza a travs del portal de Comunidad Escolar


(www.comunidadescolar.cl). En esta pgina Web, encuentra el listado de
escuelas de su dependencia que cumplen con los requisitos para postular.
Entonces, el sostenedor puede seleccionar aquellas escuelas con las que
participar en Subvencin Escolar Preferencial.

Plazos para postular a la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial

La apertura de las postulaciones en el inicio de la implementacin de la Subvencin Escolar


Preferencial, se realiz entre el 28 de enero de 2008 y el 15 de mayo.
En rgimen, el proceso de postulacin para ingresar a Subvencin Escolar Preferencial es el mes
de agosto de cada ao y a partir del ao siguiente las escuelas comienzan.

11
Los datos ingresados en el sistema de postulacin son recibidos por el Secretario
Regional Ministerial de Educacin quien valida la informacin y comunica la
aceptacin o rechazo de la postulacin.

De ser aceptada la postulacin por la Secretara Regional Ministerial de


Educacin, los datos son traspasados automticamente a un convenio tipo, que
puede ser impreso en la Secretara. Con esto se inicia la elaboracin del
Convenio de Igualdad de Oportunidades y Excelencia Educativa.

En el Convenio, adems se adjuntan anexos con la informacin especfica


asociada a los alumnos y clasificacin de escuelas, pues esto afecta los recursos a
percibir y tambin las obligaciones por parte de los sostenedores.

Luego, el sostenedor de la escuela procede a firmar el Convenio de Igualdad de


Oportunidades y Excelencia Educativa con el Secretario Regional Ministerial de
Educacin respectivo.

Posterior a la firma del Convenio, se emite la resolucin que da curso al pago de


la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial. Emitida la resolucin y a los 30 das de
firmado el Convenio, el o la sostenedora recibe el primer pago.

12
Recepcin de recursos

La Subvencin Escolar Preferencial implica un valor adicional a la subvencin normal y su monto


vara segn los alumnos prioritarios y la clasificacin de la escuela. En la fase inicial de la
poltica, el beneficio ser por los alumnos matriculados desde primer nivel de Transicin a cuarto
Bsico.
En esta primera fase cada sostenedor recibe los siguientes tipos de recursos:
1. Subvencin Escolar Preferencial:
Valor mensual por alumno prioritario matriculado. Se expresa en unidades de subvencin
educacional (USE), segn la categora del establecimiento educacional. El monto mensual que
percibe el Sostenedor, se determina multiplicando el valor de la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial
por la asistencia promedio del establecimiento en los niveles a los que asisten los alumnos
prioritarios.
En particular, el sostenedor recibe el monto de recursos que resulta de la aplicacin de la
siguiente frmula:
o Escuela autnoma: (N Alumnos Prioritarios * 1,4 USE * % Asist. Promedio)
o Escuela emergente: (N Alumnos Prioritarios * 0,7 USE * % Asist. Promedio)
2. Aporte adicional para escuelas emergentes:
Adicionalmente, para contribuir al diseo e implementacin del Plan, el Sostenedor recibir por
cada escuela emergente, un Aporte adicional equivalente a lo que recibira si el establecimiento
fuese autnomo. El 30 por ciento de este aporte se entrega durante el proceso de elaboracin del
Plan, y el 70 por ciento, una vez que ste es aprobado.
Se calcula de la siguiente manera:
(N Alumnos Prioritarios * 0,7 USE * %Asist. Promedio)
3. Subvencin por Concentracin
Monto mensual segn el porcentaje de alumnos prioritarios en la escuela. Los sostenedores
pueden impetrarla por todos los alumnos que estn cursando desde primer nivel de Transicin
hasta cuarto Bsico. El resto de los niveles se ir incorporando progresivamente.
Independiente de la clasificacin de la escuela, la Subvencin por Concentracin que percibe el
Sostenedor, se calcula de la siguiente manera:
(Matrcula Total * Factor Concentracin * %Asist. Promedio)
El factor concentracin se expresa en USE, como lo muestra la siguiente tabla:

Factor concentracin (USE)


Tramos segn 1 NT a 4 5 y 6 7 y 8
% de Alumnos Prioritarios bsico bsico bsico
60% o ms 0,252 0,168 0,084
Entre 45% y menos de 60% 0,224 0,149 0,075
Entre 30% y menos de 45% 0,168 0,112 0,056
Entre 15% y menos de 30% 0,098 0,065 0,033

13
Tercera Fase: Elaboracin e implementacin de Planes de Mejoramiento
Educativo

El Convenio establece que sostenedores y escuelas que participan de la


Subvencin Escolar Preferencial, deben disear e implementar un Plan de
Mejoramiento Educativo, de cuatro aos de duracin. La escuela y su
sostenedor, cuentan con un ao como plazo mximo para la elaboracin del Plan.
ste debe ser construido de manera participativa con todos los integrantes de la
comunidad escolar. La escuela, a travs de su sostenedor, puede optar tambin
por la contratacin de una institucin externa, inscrita en el Registro de
Asistencia Tcnica, que la asesore en este proceso, tanto para la elaboracin
como para la posterior implementacin del Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo.

4. Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo: pieza central del proceso

En el marco de la Subvencin Escolar Preferencial, el sostenedor debe presentar


ante el Ministerio de Educacin, un Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo, por cada
escuela adscrita.

El Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo es el instrumento a travs del cual se


planifica y organiza el mejoramiento educativo. Precisa los compromisos
adquiridos durante la vigencia del Convenio de Igualdad de Oportunidades y
Excelencia Educativa. Establece las metas de aprendizaje y las acciones a
desarrollar, indicando los recursos asociados.

Requisitos del Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo

Fijar las Metas de Efectividad del rendimiento acadmico de los


estudiantes que deben lograrse en el transcurso de la ejecucin del Plan,
en especial de las y los alumnos con bajo rendimiento.

Contemplar acciones desde el primer Nivel de Transicin en la educacin


parvularia hasta octavo Bsico.

Considerar acciones en las reas de gestin curricular, liderazgo escolar,


convivencia escolar y/o gestin de recursos.

Involucrar a toda la comunidad escolar en su elaboracin e informar


especialmente a madres, padres y apoderados.

14
El Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo en las escuelas rurales multigrado o aisladas requiere
considerar:

La especial relacin que tienen estos establecimientos con la comunidad y el entorno


rural.
La necesidad de tener instancias de intercambio y desarrollo profesional de su o sus
docentes, a travs de redes, como los microcentros rurales.
La particularidad de su gestin pedaggica, considerando que son escuelas pequeas, uni,
bi o tri docentes.
La importancia, como en cualquier otra institucin escolar, de dejar registro de los
avances de sus estudiantes y de los procesos desarrollados.

Requisitos del Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo de acuerdo a la clasificacin


de la escuela

A continuacin, se indican las obligaciones de los sostenedores en relacin al


Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo, de acuerdo a la clasificacin de escuelas.

- El sostenedor de una escuela autnoma cumple con todas las obligaciones


contenidas en el Convenio de Igualdad de Oportunidades y Excelencia
Educativa, en especial la de retencin de las y los alumnos prioritarios y la
de cumplimiento de los logros acadmicos de todos sus estudiantes.

Los sostenedores estn obligados a presentar un Plan de Mejoramiento


Educativo por escuela autnoma que incorpora a Subvencin Escolar
Preferencial. Sin embargo, dicho Plan no requiere, para su
implementacin, ser aprobado por el Ministerio de Educacin.

- El sostenedor de una escuela emergente, adems de cumplir con las


obligaciones del Convenio de Igualdad de Oportunidades y Excelencia
Educativa, debe procurar que se incorpore en el Plan de Mejoramiento
Educativo, lo siguiente:

o Un diagnstico de la situacin inicial del establecimiento, el que


debe incluir la evaluacin respecto de los recursos humanos,
tcnicos y materiales con que cuenta la unidad educativa.

o Un conjunto de Metas de Resultados Educativos a ser logrados


durante la implementacin del Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo.

15
o La coordinacin y articulacin de acciones con las instituciones y
redes de servicios sociales competentes para detectar, derivar y
tratar problemas psicolgicos, sociales y necesidades educativas
especiales de las y los alumnos prioritarios.

o Establecer actividades docentes complementarias a los procesos de


enseanza y aprendizaje de las y los alumnos prioritarios, para
mejorar su rendimiento escolar.

El Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo de esta escuela debe ser presentado


por el sostenedor, al Ministerio de Educacin para su aprobacin.

- El sostenedor de una escuela clasificada en recuperacin, adems de


cumplir con el Convenio de Igualdad de Oportunidades y Excelencia
Educativa y el Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo, debe velar que el
establecimiento cumpla con las siguientes obligaciones:

o Lograr los estndares nacionales correspondientes a la categora


emergentes en un plazo mximo de cuatro aos, mejorando el
rendimiento acadmico de los alumnos prioritarios.

o Cumplir un Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo que establezca un


equipo tripartito, conformado por un representante del Ministerio
de Educacin, por el o la sostenedora, o un representante que
designe, y por una persona o entidad externa con capacidad tcnica
sobre la materia.

o El Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo surgir de un Informe de


Evaluacin de la Calidad Educativa del establecimiento, propuesto
por la persona o entidad externa, del equipo tripartito.

o Implementar, cumplir y aplicar las medidas de reestructuracin


contenidas en el Plan de Mejoramiento Educativo.

o Responder adecuadamente al mayor grado de apoyo y supervisin


de externos, que tendrn para cada etapa del proceso.

Al trmino del Convenio, el Ministerio de Educacin evaluar, los Planes de


Mejoramiento Educativo, el avance en las metas de resultados educativos y si
corresponde, modificar la clasificacin de las escuelas a una determinada
categora en funcin de los criterios que establece la Ley y su reglamento.

16
Ley de Inclusin Escolar

Mayo de 2015
Pilares Ley de Inclusin

La provisin de educacin seguir siendo mixta:

Establecimientos Pblicos.
Colegios Particulares Subvencionados.
Colegios Particulares Pagados.

Los actuales sostenedores seguirn sirviendo a la


educacin:

Con seguridad para los proyectos educativos.


Con ms opciones de recursos para mejorar la calidad.
Con permanencia del proyecto en el tiempo.
Nuevos Principios del
Sistema Educativo

No discriminacin arbitraria e Inclusin


lo que conlleva el deber del Estado de velar
por la inclusin e integracin en los
establecimientos educacionales.

Gratuidad Progresiva que deber


implantar el Estado en los establecimientos
subvencionados o que reciben aportes
permanentes del Estado.

Dignidad del Ser Humano y el de


Educacin Integral.

Se modifican adems otros principios como el


de diversidad, flexibilidad, responsabilidad
de estudiantes, padres y apoderados, y
sustentabilidad.
Reforzando los Diversos Proyectos Educativos
Ley de Inclusin:
Reforzando los diversos proyectos educativos

Tendrn libertad los sostenedores para mantener y/o


determinar el Proyecto Educativo ?

S. La nueva normativa establece claramente que,


el sostenedor tendr plena libertad para
determinar su proyecto educativo, el Estado
respetar la diversidad de procesos y proyectos
educativos institucionales, as como la
diversidad cultural, religiosa y social de las
familias que han elegido un proyecto diverso
y determinado.

El Estado reconoce as, la importancia de la


identidad de un colegio o comunidad educativa y
su aporte a la pluralidad de la nacin.
Ley de Inclusin:
Reforzando los diversos proyectos educativos

El Proyecto Educativo se valora y resguarda

Los padres y apoderados optarn por el proyecto educativo de su preferencia, pero


debern informarse, comprometerse expresamente, respetar y contribuir a su
cumplimiento.

Los recursos de la subvencin podrn destinarse a todos los gastos consistentes con
el proyecto educativo.

Los sostenedores podrn abrir nuevos colegios si hay demanda insatisfecha o no


existe un proyecto educativo similar en el territorio en que se pretende desarrollar.
Ley de Inclusin:
Reforzando los diversos proyectos educativos

Cualquier estudiante podr postular a un colegio?

S, siempre y cuando los padres y apoderados conozcan, adhieran y se comprometan


con el proyecto educativo declarado por el establecimiento y a las normas de
su reglamento interno.

SE PROHBE

Solicitar cualquier tipo de prueba Solicitar antecedentes vinculados al


de admisin. desempeo acadmico, condicin
socioeconmica, as como cualquier
cobro por la postulacin de los
estudiantes.
Asegurando Derechos a la Comunidad Educativa
Ley de Inclusin:
Asegurando derechos a la Comunidad Educativa

Cundo entrar en vigencia el nuevo Sistema de Admisin?

El Sistema de Admisin entrar en vigencia


gradualmente en las diferentes regiones del
pas, una vez que la Presidenta fije, dentro
de un ao, el calendario e itinerario de su
implementacin.
Ley de Inclusin:
asegurando derechos a la Comunidad Educativa

La Ley establece y consagra los derechos para todos los


miembros de la Comunidad Educativa (A partir de 1 marzo 2016)

La ley regula las normas de proteccin de los estudiantes, la repitencia, la cancelacin


de matrcula y prohbe la expulsin por cambio de estado civil de los padres,
rendimiento acadmico, o no pago de obligaciones durante el ao escolar.

Se establecen reglas generales para los procesos de admisin de todos los


establecimientos con reconocimiento oficial y accin de no discriminacin arbitraria de
la Ley N 20.609.

Se reconoce el derecho de los padres, madres y apoderados a asociarse libremente.


Ley de Inclusin:
asegurando derechos a la Comunidad Educativa

La Ley establece y consagra los derechos para todos los


miembros de la Comunidad Educativa (A partir de 1 marzo 2016)

Antes de la expulsin se debern implementar todas las medidas de apoyo


pedaggico o psicosocial que correspondan.

No se puede expulsar o cancelar matrcula en un perodo del ao que haga imposible


que el estudiante pueda ser matriculado en otro establecimiento.

El proceso debe estar definido en el reglamento interno y debe garantizar el


derecho a la defensa por parte del estudiante, su familia o su apoderado.

La decisin final deber ser adoptada por el director del establecimiento educacional
con consulta al Consejo de Profesores.

El Consejo Escolar tendr carcter informativo, consultivo y propositivo. En ningn


caso el sostenedor podr impedir o dificultar la constitucin del Consejo, ni
obstaculizar, de cualquier modo su funcionamiento regular.
Mayores Recursos para Fortalecer la Educacin
Ley de Inclusin:
Mayores recursos para fortalecer la educacin

Nuevos recursos y mayores aportes del Estado

A partir del 1 de marzo de 2016 se incrementar la Subvencin Escolar


Preferencial en un 20% para todos los establecimientos que ya cuenten con SEP.

A partir de esa fecha se establece la categora de alumnos preferentes, para los


alumnos del tercer y cuarto quintil de establecimientos gratuitos que cuenten con
SEP, por un monto equivalente a media SEP.

Tambin se crea el Aporte de Gratuidad (0,25 USE:2016 /0,35 USE:2017 /0,45


USE:2018) para alumnos de establecimientos gratuitos, sin fin de lucro y que estn
incorporados al rgimen SEP.
Ley de Inclusin:
Mayores recursos para fortalecer la educacin

Financiamiento compartido actuales sostenedores:

Seguirn afectos al Financiamiento Compartido (FICOM) hasta el ao escolar en el


cual el cobro mximo mensual promedio por alumno sea igual o inferior al Aporte
por Gratuidad.

En 2016, los cobros mensuales por alumno no podrn exceder al cobro mensual por
alumno correspondiente al ao escolar 2015 convertidos en UF al 1 de agosto de
2015.

A contar de inicio del ao escolar 2017 los lmites mximos de cobro disminuirn en
el monto que hayan aumentado subvenciones e incrementos.

A ms tardar el 25 de enero de cada ao el Mineduc publicar y notificar a los


establecimientos el lmite mximo de cobro o la obligacin de no seguir cobrando.
Ley de Inclusin:
Mayores recursos para fortalecer la educacin

El copago se va reduciendo en el tiempo en la misma medida que crece la subvencin


del Estado.

Se fija un techo de copago en UF (segn lo que hoy recibe cada colegio).

Techo

6,25 Cuando este


monto sea
menor o
igual al
5 Aporte de
Copago Gratuidad,
se termina
3,75 el copago.

2,5

Subvencin
General 1,25

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ao 0 Ao n
Ley de Inclusin:
Mayores recursos para fortalecer la educacin

Ejercicio con alumnos preferentes y prioritarios en distintos escenarios financieros para


un colegio con la Ley de Inclusin.

Asistencia 555

Alumnos Prioritarios Bsica 185

Alumnos Prioritarios Media 96

Alumnos Preferentes Bsica 171

Alumnos Preferentes Media 80

Ingresos por Copago 45.971.937


Ley de Inclusin:
Mayores recursos para fortalecer la educacin

Ejercicio con alumnos preferentes y prioritarios en distintos escenarios financieros para


un colegio con la Ley de Inclusin.

Ao 2016
SITUACIN SIN SEP SITUACIN CON
SITUACIN SIN SEP SITUACIN CON SEP
Y GRATUIDAD RGIMEN

COPAGO 45.971.393 45.971.393

SUB. GENERAL 385.466.378 385.466.378 385.466.378 385.466.378

SEP PRIO BSICA 103.168.246 103.168.246 103.168.246

SEP PRIO MEDIA 35.680.102 35.680.102 35.680.102

SEP PREF BSICA 47.680.459 47.680.459

SEP PREF MEDIA 14.866.709 14.866.709

APORTE DE
38.078.957
GRATUIDAD

TOTAL 431.438.615 570.286.963 568.862.194 624.941.150


Uso de Recursos para Fines Educativos
Ley de Inclusin:
Uso de recursos para fines educativos

Destino de la Subvencin a Fines Educacionales

La ley establece once categoras en las que se pueden usar


los recursos que reciben los establecimientos y prohbe que
se realicen contratos con personas relacionadas a los
actuales sostenedores y a los miembros asociados de las
nuevas personas jurdicas sin fines de lucro.

Se excepciona de la norma de relacin a las personas que


desempeen funciones docentes o administrativas bajo
contrato laboral .

Los fines educativos reconocen el derecho del gestor a


recibir una remuneracin, as como a los directivos ,
docentes y asistentes de la educacin.
Ley de Inclusin:
Uso de recursos para fines educativos

Destino de la Subvencin a Fines Educacionales

Gastos consistentes con el proyecto educativo del o los


establecimientos educacionales.

El sostenedor podr adquirir toda clase de servicios,


materiales e insumos para el buen desarrollo de la gestin
educativa, as como recursos didcticos e insumos
complementarios que sean tiles al proceso integral de
enseanza y aprendizaje de los y las estudiantes.

El sostenedor podr efectuar consultas a la


Superintendencia, respecto a si determinadas operaciones se
enmarcan o no dentro de los fines educativos. (dentro del
plazo de 5 aos a la entrada en vigencia de la ley).
Un Marco Regulatorio Robusto
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

Se establece como requisito para impetrar la Subvencin que los


sostenedores se constituyan como personas jurdicas sin fines de
lucro

Los sostenedores pueden hacerlo por medio de la


legislacin actual (que exige un mnimo de 3
personas) o, a partir del 1 de marzo de 2016,
como Corporaciones Educacionales o Entidades
Individuales Educacionales, ambas que se
constituirn en las Secretarias Regionales de
Educacin.

El plazo para transformarse en persona jurdica sin


fines de lucro es hasta el 31 de diciembre de
2017.
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

La nueva normativa permite que los actuales proyectos educativos


sigan implementndose sin cambios.

Los actuales sostenedores definirn quin o


quines conformarn las nuevas personas jurdicas
sin fines de lucro, pudiendo ser ellos mismos.

La Ley establece que se pueda transferir la calidad


de sostenedor a las nuevas personas jurdicas.

La transferencia de la calidad de sostenedor


establece la continuidad para efectos laborales y
contractuales.
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

Los Sostenedores deben ser propietarios o comodatarios de los


inmuebles en que funciona el establecimiento.

Los actuales sostenedores tendrn tres aos


desde que se han constituido como persona
jurdica sin fines de lucro para ser dueos o
comodatarios. Si ya lo son, tendrn 3 aos desde
la entrada en vigencia de la ley.

Si el sostenedor tuvo en el ao 2014 una


matrcula total en sus establecimientos de hasta
400 alumnos, el plazo para ser propietario se
extender a 6 aos.
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

La persona jurdica sin fines de lucro, que


quiera adquirir el inmueble, en el cual
Cmo se puede adquirir el funciona el establecimiento educacional
inmueble de forma definitiva? podr acceder a crditos bancarios,
garantizados por el Estado, los que se
podrn pagar con los recursos pblicos
entregados por concepto de subvencin.

Estos crditos debern ser a 25 aos.

S. El Estado, por medio de la CORFO,


CORFO ser aval en los garantizar los crditos hipotecarios que
crditos hipotecarios? se contraten para que las nuevas
personas jurdicas adquieran los
establecimientos educacionales.
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

El precio ser la tasacin comercial.

La persona jurdica sin fines de lucro,


que quiera adquirir el inmueble en el
Adquisicin con crdito cual funciona el establecimiento
bancario garantizado educacional, podr acceder a crditos
bancarios, garantizados por el Estado.

El plazo del crdito ser por 25 aos.

El pago del dividendo se entender un


fin educativo, por lo que podr
imputarse a la subvencin.
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

Tope del 25 % de los recursos que


recibe anualmente el establecimiento
educacional (subvencin + copago, sin
SEP ni PIE) para pagar el crdito de
compra del inmueble con garanta
Adquisicin con crdito CORFO.
bancario garantizado
CORFO podr garantizar el crdito,
siempre y cuando el avalo del
inmueble no supere las 110 UF por
estudiante matriculado (promedio de
los ltimos 3 aos).

El inmueble quedar afecto al servicio


educativo.
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

Las cuotas no podrn superar la


doceava parte del 11% del avalo
fiscal.
Adquisicin a travs de
cuotas mensuales El monto que se impute deber ser
razonablemente proporcionado a los
ingresos del establecimiento.

Las cuotas se podrn pagar


mensualmente hasta por 25 aos.
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

Para los actuales sostenedores existen tambin opciones excepcionales de


arriendo y contrato de uso de infraestructura, debidamente regulados para
evitar su uso con fines de lucro.

Se permite el arriendo permanente con un tope de un 11% del avalo fiscal


dividido en doce mensualidades, en los siguientes casos:

a) Si el propietario del inmueble es una persona jurdica sin fines de lucro , y


b) Si no hay, ni ha habido en los ltimos dos aos, relacin societal o familiar
entre el propietario y los miembros de la entidad sostenedora.

Las nuevas Entidades sin Fines de Lucro podrn pedir al SII el reavalo de los
inmuebles.
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

Los actuales sostenedores con hasta 400 estudiantes en 2014 podrn optar por
celebrar un contrato de uso de infraestructura para fines educacionales.

El contrato de uso de infraestructura puede ser con una persona relacionada.

El contrato ser indefinido, pero el propietario podr poner trmino al mismo,


informando con una anticipacin de 5 aos, y el valor corresponder al costo de
mantencin de la infraestructura, que siempre es de cargo del propietario. Ese valor se
ha fijado con un tope del 4,2% del Avalo Fiscal dividido en doce mensualidades.

El contrato establece prioridades para la compra por parte de la entidad sostenedora o


el Estado
Ley de Inclusin:
Un marco regulatorio robusto

Los sostenedores que tengan contratos de


Qu pasa con los contratos arrendamiento inscritos en el Conservador
de arriendo vigentes? de Bienes Races o no inscritos, al inicio
del ao escolar 2014 podrn continuar con
ellos en las mismas condiciones, hasta el
momento en el cual deban pasar a ser
propietarios o comodatarios del inmueble.

Los NUEVOS contratos de arriendo o


Cules son los plazos de comodato debern estar inscritos en el
arriendos y comodatos? Conservador de Bienes Races y deben
ser establecidos por un plazo de 8 aos,
renovable automticamente por igual
periodo a los cuatro aos, si el propietario
no da aviso de su trmino.
Otras Normas que Cambiarn
Ley de Inclusin:
Otras normas que cambairn

Una nueva Rendicin de Cuentas rige a partir del 1 de enero de 2016

La ley exige que los sostenedores deben llevar su rendicin de cuentas pblica de
conformidad a principios de contabilidad generalmente aceptados.

Los sostenedores debern presentar estados financieros con informacin desagregada


por escuela.

Se faculta a la Superintendencia para realizar auditoras o autorizar la realizacin de


stas por instituciones externas.

Se explicita que el SII tiene facultades para fiscalizar.

Recursos del Estado debern llevarse en cuentas exclusivas.

Se establece la obligacin para los sostenedores que reciben subvencin, de presentar


una declaracin jurada ante el SII como parte del proceso de rendicin de cuentas.
Ley de Inclusin:
Otras normas que cambairn

ATES: debern ser contratadas mediante licitacin o


ATES concurso pblico ( 1 ao desde la publicacin) y
debern ser personas jurdicas sin fines de lucro en el
plazo de 3 aos desde la publicacin. En el mismo plazo
se deber enviar un pdl que las regule.

Se modifica la Ley N 19.979, que crea y regula, entre


Consejo Escolar otras materias, el Consejo Escolar, estableciendo las
sesiones mnimas para su funcionamiento y se
aumentan las materias por las que debe ser consultado.

Giro nico Se amplia plazo para que sostenedores cumplan el


requisito de giro nico (31 de diciembre de 2017).
Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms:
Introducing the Individual Direct Experience Approach
Jodi Peebles, University of Alberta
Sal Mendaglio, University of Calgary

ABSTRACT
Inclusion is a contemporary educational movement impacting the role of the classroom
teacher. As a result, teacher education programs have made attempts to incorporate
inclusive education as part of their curricula. An analysis of the literature reveals that
inclusion training has favorable effects on the attitudes of preservice teachers, but
has little effect on their perceptions of preparedness to teach in inclusive classrooms.
A common complaint is that the focus is heavily weighted on theory, as opposed to
practical experience. To address such concerns, the authors recommend the Individual
Direct Experience Approach (IDEA) as an innovative approach to preparing teachers for
inclusive classrooms.

Introduction

W
ith social justice at the international forefront of educational agendas,
the inclusion of students with exceptionalities in the general education
classroom has propelled a worldwide political and philosophical movement.
In an inclusive model, students with exceptional needs are educated alongside their
peers in the general classroom as the first placement option to be considered. The
inclusion movement is an impetus for change, not only in educational policies, but
also in the role and expectations of the classroom teacher. Inclusion has a tremendous
impact on general classroom teachers as they are increasingly faced with the challenge
of meeting a wide range of student needs through inclusive practices. More than ever

LEARNing Landscapes | Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring 2014 | 245


Jodi Peebles and Sal Mendaglio

before, classroom teachers are required to understand a multitude of exceptionalities,


manage a diverse classroom, implement differentiated instructional strategies, and
make appropriate accommodations for individual needs. Not surprisingly, it has been
found that the general classroom teacher has a profound impact on the success of
inclusive education (Forlin, Loreman, Sharma, & Earle, 2009; Winzer & Mazurek, 2011);
therefore, teacher preparation for inclusion is critical.

In response to the inclusion movement, post-secondary institutions have


recognized their role in preparing preservice teachers with the knowledge, skills,
and attitudes to successfully manage diverse groups of learners (Ashan, Sharma,
& Deppeler, 2012; Lancaster & Bain, 2010). There is an urgent need to equip teachers
to work in diverse settings, and it is evident that most post-secondary institutions
offer some form of inclusion training as part of their teacher preparation program.
The following section outlines a selection of research, and captures recurring themes
based on a comprehensive review of the current literature surrounding approaches to
inclusiontraining.

The Impact of Inclusion Training


Preservice Teacher Attitudes
There is much evidence that inclusion training has a positive impact on preservice
teachers attitudes toward inclusion. Sze (2009) conducted an international review of
the research in this area and determined that teacher education for inclusion brought
an awareness of exceptionalities, which formed positive attitudes in preservice teachers
toward inclusion. Additional research studies support these findings. For example,
Sharma, Forlin, and Loreman (2008) conducted a large study with participants from five
post-secondary institutions located in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore.
The results found that single unit courses and infused approaches, where inclusion
training is included in all course work, were both effective for espousing positive
changes in attitudes. Kims (2011) study also demonstrated increases in positive attitudes
from both single-unit courses and an infused approach. Swain, Nordness, and Leader-
Janssens (2012) study found that a special education course, paired with 24 hours
of field experience, significantly influenced positive attitude changes in preservice
teachers. Lambes (2007) study examined the changes in preservice teachers attitudes
after completing a post-graduate diploma in education in conjunction with a field
experience. The results indicated that the program had a positive effect on preservice
teachers attitudes for teaching in inclusive settings and that the positive attitudes

246 | LEARNing Landscapes | Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring 2014


Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms:
Introducing the Individual Direct Experience Approach

significantly increased after the field experience component. A study conducted by


Boling (2007) provided an in-depth description of one preservice teachers change in
attitude towards inclusion as she participated in an inclusion course combined with field
experiences. At the onset of the study, the participant expressed feelings of confusion,
concern, nervousness, and generally struggled with the idea of inclusion. A key turning
point for her positive change in attitude was her field experience component, which
allowed her to interact with students with various exceptionalities.

Based on a comprehensive analysis of the literature, there is a vast amount of


research on the impact that inclusion training has on preservice teacher attitudes and a
general consensus in the field that teachers feel positively about the idea of inclusion.

Perceptions of Preparedness
While positive attitudes may be able to transcend philosophical barriers to inclusion,
they may not always translate into feeling prepared for the reality of inclusive teaching.
For example, a review conducted by Avramidis and Norwich (2002) concluded that
although most teachers held positive attitudes toward inclusion, teachers did not feel
prepared for teaching students with exceptional needs, especially in the case of students
with severe learning difficulties and behavioral/emotional disorders. A qualitative study
conducted by Fayez, Dababneh, and Jumiaan (2011) reported that preservice teachers
held strong and positive attitudes about the philosophy of inclusion as an entitlement
of children with special needs. However, when asked about their preparedness to
implement inclusion, the participants felt their mandatory inclusion course, while
adding to their knowledge base, only provided a very narrow understanding of practical
skills. Another qualitative study found that a single-unit course on inclusion positively
changed preservice teachers perceptions about inclusion; however, participants
overwhelmingly indicated that they still required additional knowledge and skills in
order to operationalize their changed perceptions and beliefs (McCray & McHatton,
2011, p. 149). Hodkinsons (2006) study found similar findings and concluded that first-
year teachers felt their preservice training provided them with a good understanding
of the theory of inclusive education, however their understanding of the practical
delivery was limited. Moore-Hayes (2008) study reported that preservice teachers cited
the need for more preparation and experience in order to feel prepared for working
with students with exceptional needs. Additionally, in a study conducted by Forlin and
Chambers (2011), the researchers discovered that a unit of study in inclusive education
increased preservice teachers knowledge and their confidence as teachers. In contrast,
it also increased their levels of stress in teaching students with disabilities.

LEARNing Landscapes | Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring 2014 | 247


Jodi Peebles and Sal Mendaglio

Conclusions Drawn From the Literature Reviewed


The selection of reviews and empirical studies provide evidence that while teacher
training for inclusion develops positive attitudes and theoretical knowledge, the lack
of practical skill development and exposure to students with exceptional needs have a
negative impact on perceptions of preparedness.

These findings should be of concern for teacher educators. Although positive


attitudes can create the right climate for inclusion, it is not sufficient for preparing
future teachers for the realities of inclusive teaching. Burton and Pace (2009) suggested
that having positive attitudes cannot compensate for insufficient preparation, while
Lancaster and Bain (2010) concurred that a sense of preparation is not contingent on
attitudes alone, but that preservice teachers must also feel they have the strategies and
the capability to execute the necessary practices.

From this investigation it can be substantiated that there are obvious gaps in teacher
preparation programs. Teacher educators should view these gaps as a major roadblock
to advancing the actualization of inclusion at the very basic level: the general education
classroom. To ensure a better match between teacher preparation and the realities of
inclusive classrooms, changes to the current approaches are necessary and critical.
Based on our review of literature and experience as teacher educators, we conclude that
adding authentic practical experiences to the existing courses in inclusion will benefit
preservice teachers. Practical supervised experiences will add a sense of preparedness
to their positive attitudes toward teaching in inclusive classrooms.

Recommendations: Experience and Education


As a preamble to proposing a recommendation for teacher education for inclusion,
it is useful to consider and discuss the meaning of experience and education. Decades
ago, renowned philosopher, John Dewey (1938) defined traditional education as one
that relies on bodies of knowledge that have been worked out in the past, and the
chief business of teachers and schools is to transmit this information to novice learners.
In traditional education, the focus of curricula design is on content and subject, and
teachers are the knowing agents of the content while students are the receptacles for
which to store this information. The information is taught as a static, finished product.
According to Dewey, traditional education is critiqued for its imposition and funneling
of adult knowledge on less experienced learners, resulting in a gulf between the

248 | LEARNing Landscapes | Vol. 7, No. 2, Spring 2014


Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms:
Introducing the Individual Direct Experience Approach

knowledge the teacher holds and the lived experience of the novice learner. This gulf
is described as being so wide that the very situation forbids much active participation
by pupils in the development of what is taught (Dewey, 1938, p. 19). Oddly enough,
over 70 years later, this concept parallels the current concern in teacher education
forinclusion.

Dewey (1938) attempted to explain what constitutes a new, progressive education


in a positive and constructive manner, rather than simply rejecting the traditional
education. Dewey asserted that amid all uncertainties, one permanent frame of
reference exists: the organic connection between education and personal experience.
Therefore, Deweys progressive education is centered on students acquiring knowledge
from within and from experience, rather than from the outside through texts and
teachers. This is not to reject teachers and theoretical knowledge (Dewey, 1904); the
critique here lies in the process of transmission and the focus on the past rather than the
present. Progressive education explains how a learner can translate static knowledge
from the past into a potent instrument for the present through experience. In other
words, experience closes the gap between the archived past and the living present
essentially it negotiates and narrows the gap between theory and practice.

This concept can be useful for designing programs for teacher education. We
recommend that in preparing teachers for inclusive classrooms, teacher education
programs should incorporate opportunities for direct experiences with students who
have exceptional needs during field experiences. A recent study gathered opinions
from 124 faculty members across the United States, where the majority considered
field experiences to be a leading example in teacher training for inclusion (Harvey,
Yssel, Bauserman, & Merbler, 2010). Not only is this the opinion of faculty members,
but research also demonstrated that when teachers were asked about their most
preferred methods of preparation for teaching diverse learners, they suggested that
direct teaching experiences with students with special needs was favored (Avramidis &
Norwich, 2002; Jobling & Moni, 2004). One study of early childhood preservice teachers
found that inclusive settings for field experiences could link inclusive coursework
and fieldwork (Voss & Bufkin, 2011). Moreover, Rose and Garner (2010) stressed the
importance of practical, school-based experiences as an addition to the theoretical
base of university inclusion courses. In fact, one of the leading researchers in this
area argued that field experience opportunities and direct contact with students
with special needs may be the only meaningful solution (Loreman, 2010) to improve
inclusion training.

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However, some caution and careful consideration should be put forth given that field
experiences do not always offer the optimum environment for practicing inclusive skills.
For example, Jobling and Monis (2004) study revealed that some participants felt they
had limited contact with the special-needs students during their practicum because
they always had an aide with them (p. 13). Also, Atay (2007) postulated that not every
practicum setting is a model of good practice and that factors and experiences vary
greatly. Yet another study suggested that placement schools should have a sufficient
number of students with exceptional needs in their schools, as criterion for selection,
in order to ensure more interactions and hands-on experience for preservice teachers
(Lombardi & Hunka, 2001). However, it was also recognized that it is often the case that
the number of schools offering field experience placements is insufficient, leaving
universities with little choice. Our own experiences as teacher educators confirm that
when field experiences do not include specific guidelines for working with students
with exceptional needs, preservice teachers often have limited exposure toand
practice withthese students.

A solution to this issue may be to develop a more systematic and consistent


approach to field experiences through well-structured, meaningful expectations. Such
an approach may ensure that preservice teachers are realizing the full potential of
the field experience as a training opportunity for inclusion. One such approach is the
Individual Direct Experience Approach.

Individual Direct Experience Approach


The Individual Direct Experience Approach (IDEA) was developed by the first author,
through her work with preservice teachers, as a systematic, meaningful approach to
teacher preparation for inclusion (see Figure 1). IDEA is designed to be implemented
during a preservice teachers field experience, ideally an extended field experience
of six to 12 weeks. It consists of having preservice teachers work individually and
directly with one student with exceptional needs, as a living case study, throughout
the duration of their field experience. Essentially, IDEA allows preservice teachers to
experience direct interactions with a student with exceptional needs and to apply the
knowledge and skills learned from these interactions to make appropriate adaptations
or modifications to whole class lessons. This scaffolded process allows preservice
teachers to understand the how and why of differentiating instruction and make
accommodations for exceptional learners. The primary objectives of IDEA are to
develop practical inclusive teaching skills and to allay preservice teachers anxieties
regarding working with students with exceptional needs. The specific expectations of

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Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms:
Introducing the Individual Direct Experience Approach

IDEA are presented below, and an illustrative example will demonstrate the application
of IDEA to a field experience.

Fig. 1: Individual direct experience approach for teacher


preparation for inclusion

Expectations of IDEA
IDEA requires preservice teachers to choose one student with exceptional needs
from their classroom placement as a living case study during their field experience.
The criteria for selecting students are that they have unique educational needs and
require differentiated instruction or other forms of adaptations or modifications. It is
certain that in every classroom at least one student can be identified, in consultation
with the mentor teacher, as an appropriate living case for IDEA. After the living case
is established, the preservice teacher is expected to fully and deeply understand the
individual education plan (IEP) and/or the learning profile of this student, including
prior educational experiences and assessment. Preservice teachers are also required
to research the students exceptionality and communicate with the students teacher,
teacher assistant, parents, and other members of the school support team in order to
have a global understanding of the student. Following this background research, the
key expectation is for the preservice teacher to engage in individual, direct experiences
with the student for the duration of his or her field experience. A recommended
frequency of the interactions would be two to three times per week for 15- to 30-minute
sessions. Examples of interactions include guided literacy, individual conferencing, and

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Jodi Peebles and Sal Mendaglio

direct instruction. Preservice teachers will keep a descriptive log and journal describing
the direct experience interactions. Journal entries should include reflections about
what works, what does not, and how the student learns best. There should also be
opportunities for collaboration with the mentor teacher, university facilitator, and
with other colleagues and preservice teachers. With IDEA, preservice teachers will
be expected to plan and teach whole-class lessons up to a maximum of 80% of the
instructional day in order to provide time for the individual interactions.

Prior research has demonstrated that direct experience with exceptional-needs


students during training increases preservice teachers preparedness for teaching
in inclusive classrooms (Burton & Pace, 2009; Forlin et al., 2009; Jung, 2007, Voss &
Bufkin, 2011). Peebles and Mendaglios (2014) study demonstrated that, during a field
experience, as preservice teachers spent more time with direct, individual instruction
with students with exceptional needs, and less time with observation and whole-
class instruction, their self-efficacy for inclusive teaching was more likely to increase.
IDEA differs from other approaches that use experience as a form of preparing
teachers to work with exceptional students. For example, some programs have made
attempts with simulated student case studies as a component of inclusion courses;
however, it is acknowledged that the artificiality of the situation is itself a limitation
(Pearson, 2007). Other programs have included practical experiences in the form of
instructional tutoring (Burton & Pace, 2009), after-school programs (Lancaster & Bain,
2010), community involvement (Chambers & Forlin, 2010), and visits to classrooms to
work with groups of gifted students (Chamberlin & Chamberlin, 2010). However, these
programs did not provide the opportunity to subsequently teach these students within
the broader context of a whole-class setting, which is the crux of effective inclusive
teaching. A fictionalized illustrative example, based on the authors experiences with
preservice teachers, will demonstrate how IDEA can be applied.

IDEA in Action
Kim (all names are pseudonyms) is about to begin her nine-week final field experience
in a grade three classroom. Many emotions run high, including her excitement to meet
her students and her mentor teacher, Mr. Smith. Kim is also very nervous. She does not
have a lot of experience working with children, and she has no prior experience with
students with exceptional needs. She has talked with many of her classmates and their
concerns are similar: Will I be able to manage and meet the needs of a diverse range
of abilities and exceptionalities? I really want to include all students in my classroom
activities, but can I really do it?

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As part of Kims field experience, she is expected to choose a living case study in
order to work directly with a student with exceptional needs. In her first week, with
the help of Mr. Smith and the permission of the students parents, Kim chooses Dillon.
Dillon is an eight-year-old autistic boy and requires a full-time teachers assistant, Mary.
Mr. Smith feels that if Kim can understand Dillons learning needs and behaviors, she
will have a much easier time including him in her lessons. Mary is thrilled with this new
approach. She shared with Kim that last year Dillon was often excluded from whole-
class lessons because the mentor teacher felt he was too much work for the student
teacherand that Mary could easily look after him during lessons.

During the first week of her field experience, Kim reads Dillons comprehensive
IEP, researches autism, talks to Mary and Mr. Smith, and meets Dillons parents. After
meeting his parents and hearing their story, Kim clearly understands the importance of
meaningfully including Dillon in the classroom with his peers. She learns that Dillons
parents main goals for him are to learn appropriate social skills, make friends, and learn
to communicate with his iPad. She also observes Mary working with Dillon and begins
to understand how to communicate with him and how to anticipate situations that
cause frustration. She also learns that Dillon has a great number of strengths; he has a
sense of humor, loves cars and trucks, and has a strong visual memory.

During this first week, Kim also observes her mentor teacher teaching the whole
class and begins to plan for the classes that she will be taking over. The expectation
is that she will take over approximately 80% of the classroom teaching by the halfway
point in her field experience. While Mr. Smith is teaching the other 20% of instructional
time, Kim has opportunities for her direct interactions with Dillon.

Over the remainder of her field experience, Kim spends approximately two 30-minute
sessions with Dillon each week. The interactions take place within the classroom where
Kim works directly with Dillon on a specific skill or with his communication program
on his iPad. At one cohort meeting with her university facilitator, Kim expresses how
valuable she feels the direct experience has been. I am so comfortable interacting
with Dillon. Ive learned how to communicate with him on his iPad, and I can see that
routine and structure are very important. Kim continues to share what she has learned
about Dillons communication skills, social skills, and his sensory therapy. I feel that I
can effectively plan modifications to my lessons in order to meaningfully include Dillon
in the activities.

Near the end of her field experience, Kim is observed by her university facilitator
while teaching a science lesson on rocks and minerals. The lesson includes interactive

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Jodi Peebles and Sal Mendaglio

learning centers where the students were asked to classify rocks. Dillon is included
with a small group of students. This group is given a cue card that Kim has prepared
with yes/no questions that Dillon can answer on his iPad. At one point during the
lesson, Kim intuitively moves Dillon to another group in order to remain longer at a
particular center that she knows he is enjoying. Kim later explained that she knew the
quick changing of centers would likely frustrate him as she has a very good grasp of
what triggers some of his behaviors.

On Kims final day, she discusses with Mr. Smith the benefits of the living case
study expectation of her field experience. She expresses how the individual, direct
experience eased her anxiety about working with students with exceptional needs.
She also feels that she could translate what she has learned about inclusive teaching
practices to other students with exceptional needs within her own future classroom.
Mr. Smith agrees that the systematic approach was an effective way to connect the
theory of inclusive practice to the realities of the classroom.

Conclusion
There is a consensus that best practice for preparing teachers for inclusion is a
pressing issue for teacher educators. Field experience is an essential ingredient for
teacher preparation, including the preparation of teachers for the inclusive classroom.
While experience with students with exceptional needs has been accepted as
benefitting preservice teachers, it is not always intentionally incorporated into field
experiences. IDEA is an approach to systematically introduce preservice teachers to
teaching in the inclusive classroom. Not only does IDEA provide preservice teachers
with the opportunity for interacting with students with exceptional needs, but it also
requires that knowledge gleaned from these interactions will be implemented in whole-
class instruction. As such, IDEA represents a closer approximation of the demands of the
inclusion classroom than isolated direct experiences. In addition to providing guidance
as to how inclusion is practiced, anxiety about working with students with exceptional
needs may be lessened.

Future research in this area could address some of the potential limitations or
unanswered questions related to IDEA. For instance, it would be valuable to research
how the impact of IDEA applies to other inclusive settings, as student demographics
vary greatly from classroom to classroom. Also, to provide validation to the approach,
longitudinal studies could determine if the impact of IDEA is sustainable as preservice

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Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms:
Introducing the Individual Direct Experience Approach

teachers enter the profession and progress through their careers. Qualitative studies
could provide insight into the experience of IDEA and the nature of the impact on
preservice teachers preparation for inclusive teaching. Given the existing research in
this area, IDEA is a promising starting point for structuring intentional direct experiences
into inclusion training for future teachers.

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Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms:
Introducing the Individual Direct Experience Approach

Jodi Peebles, EdD, is an instructor of educational psychology


with the University of Alberta. Dr. Peebles has also taught
graduate-level inclusive education courses for the University of
British Columbia Okanagan. She has a variety of experience in
the field of inclusive education as a special education teacher
and inclusive education facilitator. Her research interests include
teacher preparation for inclusion, adaptations for exceptional
students in the classroom, and teacher self-efficacy.

Sal Mendaglio, PhD, is a professor in the Faculty of


Education, University of Calgary. Dr. Mendaglio also has
extensive experience in teacher preparation including teaching
and administration. Among his interests are teaching and
counseling children with exceptional needs, with particular
focus on students who are gifted.

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