Teaching Holistic Teaching - Inclusive Education

In this episode of Teaching Holistic Teachers, the focus is on inclusive education. The host provides a historical background on Ontario's approach to inclusive education and discusses different viewpoints on its implementation. The episode also includes real-world examples from a general classroom teacher and a special education teacher, who highlight the benefits and challenges of inclusive education. The episode ends with insights from a special education teacher on unanswered questions and the importance of inclusive education. Three main viewpoints are discussed: inclusionists, who advocate for diverse special education placements; full inclusionists, who believe in no divide between general and specialized classrooms; and segregationists, who argue that inclusive classrooms may hinder academic and social success. The host emphasizes the need for inclusive education and shares insights from teachers on its benefits, such as improved social skills, self-esteem, and academic outcome Hi and welcome to today's episode of Teaching Holistic Teachers. For today's episode, we are going to discuss inclusive education. So what we're going to do is I'm going to start off, as per usual, with a little bit of a history background for what this concept is. We're going to discuss some different viewpoints and perspectives people in our education community have. Then we are going to discuss the benefits and the challenges of inclusive education. And I'm honored to be able to provide some real-world examples from a general classroom teacher and a special education teacher that were willing to sit down and have a discussion with me about some of these benefits and challenges. Then I want to end off with some information from Paula Schultz, who is a special education teacher, and she's going to answer some of our still-unanswered questions based on the gaps in our research that we have currently. All right, so starting off with some historical background, we can say that Ontario prides itself in inclusive education, which is a philosophy and an approach that aims to ensure all students, regardless of their abilities or differences, receive meaningful and equitable educational opportunities. So it's really about creating a learning environment where every student feels valued, supported, and included in all aspects of school life. So in 2005, there was a document and policy, or at least education for all, and its purpose was to help teachers in Ontario to ensure all students are able to learn and be successful. The document follows seven principles, one being that all students can succeed, universal and differentiated learning instructions is the best approach, they use evidence-based research, classroom teachers are key for literacy and numeracy success, every child has unique learning patterns, teachers need to be supportive as well, and lastly, fairness does not equal sameness. The goal here was to create an inclusive classroom based on these seven principles, rather than have segregation occur. Unfortunately, the education for all did not really provide specificity or targeted approaches, so in around 2008, Essential for Some and Good for All was published. So the ESGA, or Essential for Some, Good for All, focused on pedagogy such as scaffolding, assistive technology, flexible grouping, creative thinking, explicit instruction, and so on. The document, too, was based on universal design and differentiated instruction to follow the idea that different routes are okay as long as they obtain similar outcomes for all students. Now, although these documents were created in 2005 and 2008, they are still extremely important today. In fact, globally, we can say there is a consensus that we need to focus more on inclusive education, however, the progress of creating these environments tends to suffer from the lack of clarity and agreement in terms of form, extent, and for whom inclusive education takes place. So, in general, we can say there are still some core principles, which would be that all students are welcomed into a general classroom and are supported to learn and participate in a classroom alongside their peers. However, there are roughly three general stances people may take regarding the implementation of inclusive education, which is what I'm going to quickly discuss right now before we get into the pros and cons of inclusive education. Alright, so there are about three varying viewpoints, and of course, we could always say within each of these three, there are going to be subcategories for where people may land in terms of how they think inclusive education should and should not be done. But the first group that I would talk about is inclusionists, okay? Seems like a little funky to say it that way, but this group of people believe that it's the responsibility of both regular classroom teachers and special educators to assist children with disabilities in acquiring essential skills, knowledge, and self-control necessary for them to then graduate from elementary school, hopefully from high school, and possibly even pursue higher education or move into employment of some sort. These inclusionists emphasize the importance of a diverse range of special education, let's call them placements. So this could be beginning at at-home facilitation of education to the specialized classroom and resource room to a mix of specialized classroom and general classroom experience to fully just general classroom experience. However, the variety is based on the needs and the development of the student itself. The ultimate goal, though, is in fact for students to be included or integrated as fully as possible into a mainstream classroom. And this would be done with the ability of teachers, the student, and parents to be able to collaborate on the general education curriculum to then have a clear understanding of the academic standards required for that student's success. However, what sets this group of people away from the others is they do in fact recognize that factors such as class size, academic abilities among students with and without a disability, and the limitation of some best practices. So full-time placements in regular classes may not always meet the academic and social needs of certain children with disabilities. So those students may in fact benefit from a more specialized educational setting while still having chances to be in the general classroom. Now the second group of people is what we call a full inclusionist point of view. So this group of people believe there should be absolutely no divide between a general and a specialized classroom. Rather, they think all students should be in the same classroom regardless of the level or severity of their disabilities. Now this perspective is built on the idea that a fully inclusive classroom is essential for developing friendships, attitude changes, and social skill development. Additionally, they believe that having this switching between special and general classrooms is more likely to create a stigma as well as overlook our spread students. Finally, the last group of people would be considered segregationists. Sounds like a bit of a handful there. So these individuals believe that having an inclusive classroom, that the academic and social success of the students without a disability will experience setbacks. Other people in this category might believe that it's just simply not possible to provide students with the level of support that they require from a specialist point of view in a general classroom. So really they don't think it would be worth placing students in a general classroom if it's not going to help them or their peers succeed more. Now I really want to reiterate here that it is by no means my place to tell you which point of view is best. However, for the research that I've done, a lot of it does focus more towards an inclusionist perspective, and I think that is partly because there has been a decrease in the funds for special education, which means inevitably teachers of the general classroom are unfortunately going to have to get used to having students in their classroom with these special educational needs. Now something that I didn't consider that Paula Schultz brought up to me was that the changes being made to the high school system with the introduction of de-streaming has called for changes to be made in the elementary education practices as well and how we support students with special needs. So this alone has prompted more and more inclusive classrooms because we're making that shift in the later grades, which means that inevitably we're going to have to make that shift in elementary settings as well. I would say this is the perfect transition into us discussing why inclusive education is important. What are the benefits that we see? And now, as always, as I kind of mentioned earlier, I really try to involve the voices of current teachers for insight in every topic of our podcast. So for today's episode in particular, I contacted a general classroom teacher, Nicole Glavin, who actually used to be one of my teachers back when I was in high school. And I asked them to speak to the benefits and challenges that they themselves have encountered while working with students with and without exceptionalities in the same classroom. And I am lucky enough to know a special education teacher, Paula Schultz, who has even recently been asked to facilitate a program and create a program for her school board that betters the education and collaboration between general and special classroom teachers. And even though she's so busy building these foundations and trying to get the ball rolling there, she did take the time to answer some of the questions that I have that Nicole proposed and as well as weigh in on some of the benefits and challenges that she herself has seen in and outside of the general classroom for our SPED students. So Nicole Glavin has said that the Paulben's outcomes of creating an inclusive classroom are numerous. She said that she has seen students with special needs have the opportunity to learn alongside their peers, which seems to at least have improved their social skills, improved their self-esteem, as well as their academic outcomes. Additionally, she says that all students seem to benefit from the exposure of these diverse perspectives, learning styles, because they promote empathy, they promote understanding, and of course they promote collaboration among classmates. Now to weigh in here, it definitely does depend on the age range. Now in high school, it could go two ways. There are students that could really have that empathy towards others and they could have no problem helping their peers along, whereas in maybe the younger grades, students may not quite understand that there is this diverse learning need spectrum that we can see as adults. So it is definitely to say that this is, again, a personal experience that Nicole has found. One that really impacted me was that she did say that in her particular class, she was teaching food and nutrition. So again, this is about a grade 9-10 class. And she said that it can be really tricky to do classes like that that are so hands-on with students of varying needs of supervision and support. However, she said that she could not believe the growth that she saw with the opportunity of SPED students to develop skills to care for themselves in the future. So in a class like food and nutrition, these students, alongside their regular classroom cohort, were able to learn skills such as how to prepare food for themselves, how to do the dishes, and in fact, how to even work as a team. Now, she also has said that having SPED students in the classroom is beneficial for herself. And I love that she talks about her improvement as a teacher because of the inclusive classroom. She said that having this diverse range of students challenges her to constantly provide options of differentiated instruction for all students. All students can benefit from differentiated instruction. And through working with SPED students, she has learned how to incorporate things such as routine small group activities, multi-sensory approaches, different technologies, and of course, how to allow for student choice to always be available. Now, in terms of research, I also found in a couple different meta-analyses studies that there is commonly a higher degree of motivation and confidence among students in the SPED program because these students are not rejected from the general classroom and just placed in a separate school or in a separate classroom in a larger school. Instead, they also find that students without special needs develop fewer prejudices while also increasing their friendships with students with special education needs. Now, I of course wanted Paula to also talk about this because she's kind of been on both sides of the classroom here. She's been in special education classrooms as well as general classrooms. Now, she also said that having these inclusive classrooms provide opportunities for role modeling for same-age peers. So, this can promote opportunities for building relationships and friendships as we've discussed in our findings. I think Paula is really on to something here because it is not only in a school setting that we are going to have people meeting and interacting with others with different needs, with different abilities, right? It's not only in school that there are people with a disability. So, having an inclusive classroom allows for everyone to develop a better understanding of what it's like to interact with another person with exceptionalities, with differences than your own, whether it be a physical difference or a behavioral or an intellectual difference. So, as teachers, we're able to role model for the students how to interact with others that may not look or act the same way as they do. That also leads us into where Paula discussed that it provides opportunities for building social skills, learning, and practices, again, not only for students with a disability, but also for students without one. It also allows for reciprocal learning from both a neurotypical student and a student with exceptionalities. These students are able to learn from one another, just as we will have that happen in the real world. And this leads to fostering of acceptance and respect for differences, for uniqueness, for strengths, and, of course, even for weaknesses. In fact, this actually brings me to a new model for inclusive education that I found in my research. It's called the Critical Realist Model. So, it is designed to marry both the medical views concerned with biological and physical mechanisms, as well as social views. So, concerning the socio-economical and cultural knowledge regarding practices of inclusive education. So, a lot of the times we have people who strictly focus on the medical side of it. So, what people are physically or intellectually capable or not capable of doing, whereas the social view does not believe that there is an inability at all. Rather, there is simply a learning difficulty or a physical difficulty, but there should be no hard and set barriers. So, because of this, the Critical Realist Model has proposed a merriment of the two. They suggest that there is a need for real structures to allow teachers to equitably support students with special needs, because a disability is, of course, emergent of a physical human body component, whether it be something that we can see from the outside, or if it is something cognitive or intellectual that is more hidden on the inside. And it cannot simply be reduced to a yes or no ability. What I really like about this model is that it reinstates the message that we cannot reject either the medical or the social model. We cannot see a disability as something that makes an individual abnormal. But we do have to acknowledge that there are, in fact, medical structures that create these barriers, and because of that, we need to find a way around that barrier through an equitable but not equal learning environment for all students. Rather, this model argues that segregated schools actually deprive students of the psychological and social development required to be a member of society. And it highlights that there needs to be a holistic view of education acknowledging physical, social, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional domains that are all required and are all needed and all need to be accommodated in order for a successful learning environment to happen. Now, with this holistic viewpoint in mind and the benefits that have been discussed through research, through Nicole Glavin, and through Paula Schultz, we're going to take a little bit of time to focus on some of the main challenges general classroom teachers might experience. And this way, we can see whether or not they fit within the critical realist model, or if they just simply fall under that segregationist viewpoint. One of the first challenges that Nicole addressed, and my research has also backed this up, is that there can commonly be a lack of coordination in schools between special education teachers and the general classroom teacher. Now, Nicole describes that in her experience, she routinely felt like a burden to her fellow special education teachers, because these SPED teachers are busy creating IEPs for so many different students. They're also teaching their small group lessons, and they're providing advice and personal development opportunities for other teachers. So she often felt bad for asking – or to ask for help. And similarly, on the other hand, I found in my research that SPED teachers themselves often felt isolated when planning and implementing practices. And this kind of speaks to that critical realist model, because they said that we need these structured approaches to help students in the general classroom. But that is currently one of the challenges that we're facing, because there's this lack of coordination and lack of communication between our special education teachers and our general classroom teachers. Now, similarly, another prominent difficulty that Nicole has experienced – and this was especially true for her food and nutrition class – was that there is currently a crisis and a lack of student support persons and educational assistants in the general classroom. So without this support from an EA or an SST, the class does have to, in fact, move slower because the general teacher is required to ensure that SPED students are following along with the rest of the class. And Nicole noted that the lack of EA or SSTs also makes it difficult to fully integrate SPED students into the classroom because it then becomes the mainstream student's responsibility to ensure that the students with exceptionality are following the instructions or activities. And that can be difficult for our mainstream students to have that responsibility, especially when it involves something such as cooking, when you're dealing with sharp objects, hot objects. It becomes a very stress-induced environment for some of those mainstream students. And now, again, research shows that Nicole is not alone in this feeling, as other teachers have expressed concerns about SPED students being left to their own devices. Because with a single general classroom teacher, they are unable to provide the students with the help that they need. Now, the last challenge that Nicole mentioned was that having so many students in a classroom with diverse needs can be a lot of work to keep up with as a teacher who already has to manage 25 to 30 students. Now, she said when she was teaching a grade 8 class, she had to adapt that grade-level test to accommodate students reading and writing at a grade level of 2, 3, and 4. So every time she had to make a test, an assignment, or even an in-class activity, she had to prepare the same content, but for four different grade levels, while also managing behavioral needs of students with special education needs. Now, Nicole quickly segued over to another concern that she had, which is the othering mentality. She said that in her classes that were rotary-style, so both her grade 8 and as well as her high school classes, because they're rotary-style, students aren't stuck in the same cohort as they would have been in elementary school. So there's a chance that if a student is in a transition program, let's say they only go to their food and nutrition class in the general setting, that is the only time that they're around their general education classmates. So there's that othering occurrence that happens because the students in the general ed side of it have already created their friend groups or their classmate groups that they know they work well with. So it comes down to a point where the sped students tend to be left off to the side and not included within the classroom as a whole. Now, Paula said in response to these challenges that the best thing to do is to interrupt that narrative completely. She said that regardless of students being in a permanent classroom or in a rotary-style classroom, we always have the opportunity at the beginning of a semester or even at the halfway mark to pause the class and rebuild that sense of community within that classroom in particular. That we can use different strategies to fully include the students from a transition program into the classroom. So whether that be creating a structure of groups on your own that have students with strong leadership skills and then placing them with one or two of the students from a transition program, depending on how many there are in the classroom. And by doing this, you can rely partly on those students that are stronger in terms of leadership or in social skills to help along your students that are transitioning. And then from there, students, regardless of the age, are very impressionable. And if they see their peers working alongside the transitional students, then eventually all the students are going to join in as well. Another piece of advice that Paula gave me is that teachers like to focus on what a student cannot do rather than what they can do. So it's, again, important to interrupt those narratives within ourselves to put more of a focus on what the students can do. Paula also mentioned that she likes to work with teachers to find the entry point for students struggling and determining how to provide support to move from those entry points. She says that sometimes making the smallest adjustment to how we teach or how the classroom is set up can make the biggest difference for those students. So whether it be including flexible or strategic seating, providing student voice, or providing student choice, these small strategies can actually make a very big difference for students in a transitional program. Now, Paula did agree that further development and guidance from special education teachers, support staff, and policymakers are needed in several areas to enhance inclusive classroom practices. She said that it's an ongoing professional development and training opportunities for educators are needed to deepen their understanding of inclusive pedagogy, differentiated strategies, effective collaboration with special education professionals. Additionally, she thinks there is a need for clear guidance and support in navigating legal requirements and providing appropriate accommodations or supports for students with diverse learning needs. Now, she says these areas are extremely important to contact your school's special education teacher. So she says that if you are worried about a special education teacher not having time, when it comes to legal requirements and appropriate accommodations, you should always be checking in with them to ensure you are meeting those requirements. Moreover, she believes that continued advocacy for adequate funding and resources to support inclusive education initiatives is crucial to ensure that all students have the opportunity to thrive in a classroom. Now, this a lot of the time has to do as well with the appropriate resources or technology. That is another challenge that I have read about in my research over the past couple weeks, saying that there are just sometimes not enough resources or technology provided within a school to properly support students with certain needs. This segues perfectly into one of the questions that both myself and Nicole had for Paula. Now, I mentioned to her that some people believe that it's not always possible to accommodate all students with special needs, again, based on resources, additional support staff, and the lack thereof, classroom sizes, or the severity of a disability. Now, again, these components could be brought forward by both inclusionists who believe that there needs to be a mix between general and specialized classrooms, or these could be reasons as to why segregationists believe that there should be no such thing as inclusive education. Now, I asked Paula, where does she stand on this idea? Does she believe that sometimes it is just simply not possible to accommodate all students with special needs? And now she said that one of her favorite quotes that she has lived by since the very first day of teaching is by Ignacio Estrada, which says, if a child cannot learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach them the way they learn. She says that this speaks to that all students have the ability to learn. So, of course, she stands more towards the inclusionist side of things, and she says that teachers need to find ways to provide entry points for all lessons. What I loved about this conversation with Paula was that she reiterated the fact that she feels comfortable speaking about this because she has spent both time in a general classroom as the sole primary teacher and has also spent time in a specific specialized classroom. She said, as a teacher that has worked in many facets of special education, she believes that throughout a day, there are many times that small group instruction does, in fact, benefit students, not just those with special education needs. She said the key, though, is how this reinforced learning happens. She said some schools have student support centers and SSPs where students with identifications come out for specific subjects in a day, such as language or math. But she says that this can cause a feeling of embarrassment and exclusion for those students because of them being withdrawn. She said that depending on the number of students, the grades of the students that are being withdrawn, learning gaps aren't actually being closed due to the diverse learning needs in the smaller setting. So she said not only are the students dealing with the stigma and embarrassment of being taken out of the classes with their peers, but they are also not actually receiving the support needed to move forward and close those gaps. She believes that for most students, it's time for teachers to change the way they teach in order to meet varied learning needs. She said we need to teach from a more asset-based lens and skills approach rather than being bogged down in curriculum in order to meet students where they are and support their individual success. Now, she says, of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Students with diverse academic, physical, or cognitive disabilities, smaller classes for some core subjects might be needed to meet where they are. However, in those programs, integration needs to be considered and occur to address social and behavioral learning. So long story short, Paula believes that teachers need to change the way they teach to meet the diverse needs of our learners today. Now, once again, it's important to note that teachers do need to have opportunities to work with special education teachers to learn and understand the purpose and implementation of things such as IEPs, small group instruction strategies, and technology with specific programs. So in the meantime, I want to offer up some quick solutions that could help create an inclusive classroom. So some things that research has said does, in fact, work is, one, start by building relationships with students. It's so important to get to know students' interests and passions as well as potentially what their special hobbies are. In fact, you could have a student that maybe has a reading and writing level of a grade three but can build you a robot. I personally have experienced that on one of my placements alone in a grade seven class. And it's also important to provide opportunity for choice. Allow students the opportunity to tell you how they can show you what they've learned through their own means. So for example, my student who was not great at reading or writing and had accommodations for that, instead of writing with the rest of the class, he created a video game for me to show me what he learned about the forces of nature. So take the time, work with the student, work with their parents, and work with special education teachers to learn about how you can incorporate the student's interests, and especially their special interests, into demonstrating their knowledge for you. Now again, another thing is really try to learn about IEPs, Individual Education Plans. There are, there's a plethora of information online, as well as do not be afraid to contact your school special education teacher for help with that. Another thing is chunk assignments for students. Okay, even adults become overwhelmed when a giant project is given to them. So provide students with a multi-step problem or task, just as you would for an adult, but make it within the classroom. Also again, allow for flexibility of tasks, so allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge differently, allowing students extended time, or allowing students to work with one another, and as well, encourage the use of real-world application whenever possible, because it can promote engagement and provide a sort of hook for students to build on their understanding. It also really helps students connect their learning to the things that matter to them, so that they can then see the relevance in what they are doing. Now the last tip that I want to give you that some of my research has shown is allow students that time to think, okay? Don't rush students to join a group, don't rush students to answer a question. Give them time and allow them to generate their response, whether it's you call on them to say, hey, I'm going to ask you this question, I'm going to give you some time. In the meantime, can so-and-so give us what their example is? So then that way, not only are you giving them time to speak, but you're also allowing them to kind of roll off or piggyback off of what the next student is going to say, right? And in doing this, we're also helping them focus. Okay, so these are just a couple small evidence-based strategies that have been suggested to help create an inclusive classroom and to help students with special education needs feel like they are valued and are able to contribute to the general classroom. So in conclusion, inclusive education is a fundamental principle that promotes equity, not just equality, diversity, and academic and social success for all students. While there are some challenges to overcome, such as the lack of SSP or EA support, the othering effect in rotary-styled classrooms, and a lack of resources, there are far more benefits that outweigh these obstacles, and there are solutions that can come about for these challenges, such as we should be looking into co-teaching, having a classroom, a general classroom teacher and a spec-ed teacher working side-by-side within a classroom, developing IEPs together, developing lessons together, as well as developing the varying tests or activities based on the different grade level abilities. And by fostering this inclusive classroom, we are creating a learning environment where every student has the opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential. So as tricky as some of it may seem, research is, in fact, guiding us to the right way. As of right now, the inclusionist approach seems to be at the forefront of the research, as it's been the most evidence-based. And again, we're at a time where our high school programs are changing to be streamed, which means if you're an elementary teacher and you feel as though you might not be impacted by the transition programs or by the merriment of the special education classroom and the general classroom, that is likely not going to be the case. You will eventually be seeing this transition in elementary as well, especially due to the cut in funds for special education that we are going through right now. So please feel free to share this podcast with everyone else, especially other teachers. If you have any inside stories, if you have any research that I should have mentioned, or if you have any further questions, please feel free to ask them, and we can potentially even continue this topic another day as there's so much more we can talk about. I would like to once again give a big thank you to Nicole Glavin, who is an intermediate senior teacher for a general classroom, as well as Paula Schultz, who is a special education teacher. So that is all for today's episode. Thank you for tuning into Teaching Holistic Teaching, and please join us next time for more evidence-based discussions, as well as personal experiences within our educational field. See you next time!