Debunking some myths about inclusion
(Dr Gwynedd Lloyd is Senior Lecturer in Education Support at the University of Edinburgh)

Recently many teachers have argued that schools are facing violent and aggressive behaviour because of policies of educational or social inclusion. Such arguments are neither helpful nor substantiated by the facts. There are as many pupils in special provision in Scotland today as there were ten years ago. Some children with special educational needs, such as those with physical or sensory disabilities, are more likely to be in mainstream classes but many pupils, perhaps increasing numbers, are being educated out of mainstream because of their social, emotional or behavioural difficulties.

In an increasingly complex and challenging world schools, like other public services, do face greater levels of challenging behaviour. Some schools, particularly those in areas of great economic and social disadvantage, are supporting pupils facing great difficulties in their lives. The evidence from our research in Scotland suggests that many children with problems in their families or in their neighbourhoods are being very successfully supported by schools.

Some of the teachers that we see being tremendously effective with the most difficult children are, however, struggling themselves to find support. Teachers need support in the same way as children do. They also need to know that the work they are doing is a valued part of the education process. Too often this work is seen as marginal to the ‘real’ work of the curriculum. Often it is not permanent, dependent on short term funding, or on the enthusiasm or commitment of a particular member of staff. The level and quality of support varies substantially between schools.

Policies of social and educational inclusion are intended to address some of these issues. We should be supporting such policies, recognising that both pupils and teachers will benefit from their successful delivery. We should be arguing for their implementation as a key and valued aspect of education.

.....................................

Inclusion – what do you think?

These are some of the questions and issues around about inclusion, raised at the Annual Conference.

	Is this really an issue? Recognising people for what they are rather than what they ‘attain’ academically, is what is important.
	Given adequate resources inclusion can be very effective educationally, but too often it is not adequately resourced or well managed.
	When the number of pupils with additional support needs is too great for the school’s resources, inclusion is no longer feasible and improved academic attainments no longer achievable.
	How do you get ALL staff to ‘buy into’ new inclusive systems and make changes to achieve consistency?
	Conferences reach out to the ‘really interested’ but how do we reach the others? How can we best provide training for promoting inclusion i.e., training for primary, secondary, special schools, but particularly for promoting a multi-agency approach.
	Are we in danger of making inclusion a ‘Special Educational Needs issue’ instead of regarding it as an ‘Education for All issue’. All pupils benefit from good inclusive practices such as: positive pupil-teacher relationships, mutual respect, appropriate curicula and diverse teaching methods.

.....................................

Outline papers

The Ethos Network has gathered a number of short ‘Outline’ papers on innovative practice contributed by conference workshop organisers, over the years. Those from recent events are being posted onto this website during the summer. They include nine Outline papers relating to the theme ‘Can inclusive schools be effective in raising attainment?’ on such topics as:

	‘Working Positively with Schools and Families using Solution Focused brief therapy’
	‘S4 enhanced curriculum’
	‘A journey towards better behaviour better learning’

Outline papers produced for the June Roadshow ‘Including minorities – including everybody’ include one on the ‘Scottish Traveller Education Programme’.

Positive ethos, inclusion and attainment in Albania
Alison Closs reports on an inclusive Albanian school that she visited in February

Albania is the poorest country in Europe. It has just legislated that children with special needs should be included in their local schools as far as possible, many having never attended any school before. There are only seven special schools in the country catering for less than 800 children of Albania’s estimated 10,000-20,000 children with special needs.

Prrenyas Elementary School is in the mountains near Macedonia. It has 800 pupils in 30 classes, works in two shifts and is part of a social and educational inclusion project involving a local voluntary organisation, Medpak, UNICEF, Save the Children and the local Education Authority. The school already had many pupils with lesser special needs but carried out a search to identify children with special needs who were ‘missing’. Nine ‘new’ children were identified, seven came into school, and one with complex disabilities and another in very fragile health are now educated at home by a volunteer teacher from the school.

A resource base accommodates five children with moderate/severe learning difficulties but these children share some learning and all social and recreational opportunities with the other pupils. Individual Educational Programmes are in use and the support teacher also helps other pupils and their teachers in class. Training was provided by the voluntary organisation representative, Mrs Zela Koka, a highly experienced teacher and the mother of the first child with special needs to attend school in this area ten years ago. Prrenyas School already had an overall positive ethos but staff found that their additional efforts with children with special needs and their families seemed to have a positive effect on all their home-school relationships, ‘It’s something to do with trying harder at everything - the parents are impressed. They even come in larger numbers to school meetings now’, said Mr Pandi Popovski, the School’s Director. The Education Authority is proud of the school because it is also top of the Maths attainment tests in the southern region of Albania. Mrs Lindita Roci, the regional inspector of elementary schools, commented, ‘I think this shows that working hard with less able children does not disadvantage other pupils and may even make the school more effective’. Mr Popovski now mentors other schools starting out on the road to greater inclusion. (See the photo of the innovative trio, Mrs Koka, Mr Popovski and Mrs Roci).

.....................................

Intercultural Mediation in Italy

Under the new ‘Additional Support for Learning’ Bill, Education Authorities and Parents in dispute may seek mediation. Here we learn of another form of mediation in practice.

Melita Richter-Malabotta (see photo), an academic sociologist of former Yugoslav (Croatian) origins, is married to an Italian and has lived with her family in the city of Trieste, on the Italian side of the Slovenian-Italian boundary, for many years. She was a participant in SSEN’s 2001 International Seminar in Edinburgh.

Melita is involved in research into gender issues and identity, especially in countries in transition, and believes that schools have a vital role to play in building inclusive multicultural societies through the development of a positive school ethos.

Melita works from time to time as an intercultural mediator within Trieste schools. Most mediators are themselves originally ‘incomers’ with a deep knowledge and understanding of both their own and Italian languages and cultures. Melita explains that the role of intercultural mediators should be to facilitate mutual understanding about differences between the ‘foreign’ student and the school, the school and the family, and the student and the family. She writes, ‘The role of the mediator is not confined to managing conflict where it has already arisen . . . nor is his/her role reduced to assisting the foreign student, offering… support because of their ‘weakness’ or ‘vulnerability’. Mediators demonstrate multiculturalism, challenge dominant ethnocentrism in national school systems and rise above them to address coexistence, differences, solidarity, the culture of peace and non-violence, and human rights . . .’.

Although there is national, and regional funding for such services, how much of the funding goes to intercultural mediation, and how it is organised varies from one local area to another. Political perspectives (Italy’s right wing nationalist government has many anti-immigration followers), lack of understanding and of vision inhibit development of cultural mediation.