Improving Schools, Developing Inclusion PDF Download

Author: Mel Ainscow
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134193459
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
While many books explore the possibilities for developing inclusive practices in schools, and ‘inclusion’ is widely regarded as a desirable goal, much of the literature on the subject has been narrowly concerned with the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs. This book however, takes the view that marginalisation, exclusion and underachievement take many forms and affect many different kinds of child. As such, a definition of inclusion should also touch upon issues of equity, participation, community, entitlement, compassion, respect for diversity and sustainability. Here the highly regarded authors focus on: barriers to participation and learning experienced by pupils the practices that can overcome these barriers the extent to which such practices facilitate improved learning outcomes how such practices can be encouraged and sustained within schools and LEAs. The book is part of the Improving Learning series, published in partnership with the Teaching and Learning Research Project.

Author: Mel Ainscow
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136733604
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
Despite consistent improvements in the school systems of over recent years, there are still too many children who miss out. It is not only children from disadvantaged backgrounds attending hard-pressed urban schools that the system is failing - even in the most successful schools there are often groups of learners whose experience of schooling is less than equitable. As a result of their close involvement with a group of schools serving a predominantly working-class community over five years, the authors of this book offer an analysis of how marginalisation within schools can arise, and provide suggestions for responding to this crucial policy agenda. They propose a teacher-led inquiry strategy that has proved to be effective in moving forward thinking and practice within individual schools. However, their research has shown that using the same strategy for system change is problematic within a policy context that emphasises competition and choice. Learning from this experience, the authors analyse the factors that inhibit the collaborative approach needed to reduce inequities that exist between the schools, in order to formulate proposals that can move the system as a whole towards more equitable provision. In Developing Equitable Education Systems, the authors focus on the way teachers’ sense of ‘fairness’ can become a powerful starting point, helping individual schools to inquire into and develop their own practice and provision. They provide practical suggestions for practitioners about ways of working that can create a greater sense of equity within particular school contexts, and highlight the barriers to a wider strategy for reducing system inequities that reside in local and national policies and traditions. At a time when government policies in many countries move to extend the diversity of educational provision - for example, through the introduction of charter schools in the USA, free schools in Sweden and academies in England - the authors also include a set of recommendations that offer a timely warning against the fragmentation of school systems in the misguided belief that competition benefits all children. They suggest that a more sensible approach would be to avoid situations whereby the improvement of one school leads to a decline in the resources available to, and subsequently the performance of, others.

Author: F. Michael Connelly
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1412909902
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 625

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Book Description
The SAGE Handbook of Curriculum and Instruction emerges from a concept of curriculum and instruction as a diverse landscape defined and bounded by schools, school boards and their communities, policy, teacher education, and academic research. Each contributing author was asked to comprehensively review the research literature in their assigned topic. These topics, however, are defined by practical places on the landscape e.g. schools and governmental policies for schools. Key Features: o Presents a different vision or re-conceptualization of the field o Provides a comprehensive and inclusive set of authors, ideas, and topics o Takes a global rather than North American parochial approach o Recognizes that curriculum and instruction is broader in scope than is suggested by university research and theory o Reflects post-1992 changes in curriculum policy, practice and scholarship o Represents a rethinking of how school subject matter areas are treated. Teacher education is included in the Handbook with the intent of addressing the role and place of teacher education in bridging state and national curriculum policies and curriculum as enacted in classrooms.

Author: Mel Ainscow
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317816773
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
This important new book draws lessons from a large-scale initiative to bring about the improvement of an urban education system. Written from an insider perspective by an internationally recognized researcher, it presents a new way of thinking about system change. This builds on the idea that there are untapped resources within schools and the communities they serve that can be mobilized in order to transform schools from places that do well for some children so that they can do well for many more. Towards Self-improving School Systems presents a strategic framework that can help to foster new, more fruitful working relationships: between national and local government; within and between schools; and between schools and their local communities. What is distinctive in the approach is that this is mainly led from within schools, with senior staff having a central role as system leaders. The book will be relevant to a wide range of readers throughout the world who are concerned with the strengthening of their national educational systems, including teachers, school leaders, policy makers and researchers. The argument it presents is particularly important for the growing number of countries where increased emphasis on school autonomy, competition and choice is leading to fragmentation within education provision. Foreword by Andy Hargreaves, Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education, Boston College, USA

Author: Mel Ainscow
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317420470
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
In the World Library of Educationalists series, international experts compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands and see how their work contributes to the development of the field. Spanning Mel Ainscow’s accomplished 30 year international career in education, the texts in this book trace his efforts to find ways of fostering more equitable forms of education. This has involved a series of struggles as he has experimented with different approaches - in a variety of contexts - to find new possibilities for responding to learner diversity. Over the years this has related to a variety of headline themes, starting from special education, through to integration, on to inclusive education, and then, more recently, educational equity. The readings have been chosen to illustrate the changes that have occurred in Ainscow’s thinking and practices and a short introduction is provided for each chapter that is intended to help readers to understand the significance of what is presented and how this relates to other chapters in the book. The writings in this text reinforce the idea that the promotion of equity in schools is essentially a social process that has to occur within particular contexts.

Author: Simona D’Alessio
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9460913423
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
This book provides an innovative and thought-provoking analysis of the policy of integrazione scolastica from an inclusive perspective. Drawing on historical and empirical research methods the book arises out of an ethnographic study, which investigates the extent to which the policy of integrazione scolastica can be considered an inclusive policy. The author poses two fundamental questions: why are there episodes of micro-exclusion and discrimination against disabled pupils still taking place in regular schools after more than 30 years have passed since the enactment of such a progressive policy? Can the policy of integration lead to the development of inclusion in Italy? The research findings presented in the book indicate that exclusion and discrimination towards disabled pupils in education do not result from a lack of implementation of the policy at a school level, rather from the perpetuation of dominant discourses, which construct disability as an individual deficit. The book does not deny the progress made in the country following the application of this anti-discriminatory policy; rather it challenges the hegemonic abilist culture and the traditional perspectives of disability and schooling that undermine the development of inclusive education. After having investigated the theoretical premises of the policy of integration, the author argues that this progressive policy is still rooted in a special needs education paradigm and that what was once a liberating policy has been transformed into a hegemonic tool which still manages, controls and normalizes disability leaving school settings and teaching and learning routines unchanged. She finally argues for a human rights approach for the development of an inclusive school for the 21st century. The book is an essential reading for academics, policy makers, researchers and students involved in education as it links ideological pressures to practical analyses.

Author: Lani Florian
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1446296997
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 1040

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Book Description
The second edition of The SAGE Handbook of Special Education provides a comprehensive overview of special education, offering a wide range of views on key issues from all over the world. The contributors bring together up-to-date theory, research and innovations in practice, with an emphasis on future directions for the role of special education in a global context of inclusion. This brand new edition features: " New chapters on families, interagency collaboration and issues of lifelong learning " The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities " Policy reform proposals " Equity and social justice in education " The impact of new thinking on assessment " Issues and developments in classification " The preparation and qualifications that teachers need The Handbook's breadth, clarity and academic rigour will make it essential reading for researchers and postgraduate students, and also for practitioners, teachers, school managers and administrators.

Author: Christopher Chapman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000408108
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Focusing on what can be done to promote equity within education systems, what the barriers to progress are and how these barriers might be overcome, this book provides detailed examples of strategies that have proved to be effective in addressing this challenge. Built on the work of the authors over the last three decades, the book presents an approach to educational change that will be relevant to different countries. The authors argue that there is untapped potential for promoting progress towards greater equity within schools and the communities they serve. They also show how this potential can be mobilised by using forms of collaborative action research to stimulate the development of more inclusive ways of working. Central to this approach is the use of evidence collected by practitioners with the support of university researchers, drawing on the human resources that are there in every school. Grounded in research, evidence and experience in the field, this book is ideal reading for a wide audience of practitioners and policy makers globally, including senior staff in schools, as well as post-graduate students, researchers and academics who are focusing on educational improvement.

Author: Joanne Banks
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000825841
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
The Inclusion Dialogue: Debating Issues, Challenges and Tensions with Global Experts brings together a series of global expert views on inclusive education, revealing the evolving tensions in this research area and highlighting future directions. Based on fascinating and unique conversations with leading academic experts across the globe, Joanne Banks uses in-depth interviews to examine current debates in special and inclusive education and provides a clear overview of the key tensions which impact policy and practice across different national contexts. Her book also highlights how inclusive education policies do not always translate into inclusive practices in our schools. The dialogue presented in this accessible text provides readers with insights into our conceptual understanding of inclusion within the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Through these informal discussions, this book is ideal for academics and researchers working in the area of inclusive and special education, for educators wishing to create more inclusive environments for their students, and for policy-makers seeking to understand what inclusive education looks like on the ground.

Author: Valerie Farnsworth
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135069654
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Possibilities for the use of research in educational practice are often written off due to the history, politics and interests of the ostensibly separate worlds that researchers and practitioners occupy. However, a more optimistic account highlights the ways these communities share a common need for practice-based theories, which enable them to make sense of a wide range of issues in education, including pedagogy, learning, and educational equity. In applying theory to situated accounts of various educational practices and learning contexts, this book explores mistaken assumptions about the ways that research can ‘inform’ or otherwise impact practice. It problematises a ‘what works’ agenda but also points to potentially more productive research-practice relationships in education. Experienced contributors describe how they have used a variety of context-sensitive theoretical approaches in the socio-cultural and discursive traditions to both understand practice and address a wide range of practical issues in education. At its core Reframing Educational Research challenges two commonly held assumptions: that "best practice" is readily identifiable in a way that is then transferrable to new contexts for use by practitioners more widely, and that theory will not help with what to do on Monday morning in the classroom or in developing policies with direct and visible impact. Drawing on the experience of a number of highly respected expert contributors, including Mel Ainscow, Harry Daniels, Anna Sfard and Etienne Wenger-Trayner, the book discusses a range of issues that must be explicitly addressed if we are to make headway in developing a sustainable and productive relationship between research, policy and practice. The authors make it clear that the politics, policies, institutional practices, market systems and social dynamics currently at play in education have a tendency to derail the idealised pathway from research to reform. This book aims to move the discussion towards alternative, and potentially more fruitful, ways of linking research with practice. Reframing Educational Research is an invitation to all researchers to identify new opportunities for advancing theory and practice in education. It is a must-read for all practitioners and researchers in education.