Transcript Diversity, Equality & Inclusion: A Rights Based Framework

Diversity, Equality & Inclusion:
A Rights Based Framework for
Schooling – The Road Ahead.
Dr. Gordon L. Porter, Director
Inclusive Education Canada
&
Chairman of the
New Brunswick
Human Rights Commission
Diversity, Equality & Inclusion:
A Rights Based Framework for
Schooling – The Road Ahead.
• A discussion of the connection between
inclusion, accommodation and human rights.
• Key school and classroom practices connected
to successful inclusion.
•Research results on the “effects” of inclusion
on students well being.
What is inclusive education?
Why is this a critical and
controversial issue?
Developed countries need to
provide a model
What is wrong with traditional
special education?
Moving Inclusion Forward
… CHANGE …
In Canada – Current Advocacy
Campaign …
“No Excuses”
No-Excuses Campaign
Raise the bar …
The goal …
 Better schools
 Schools for all
 Schools that are inclusive
 Schools that focus support on
students
 Schools that enable and empower
teachers & other school staff
UN
The United Nations
Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities
Article 24
• Signatory nations to assure opportunities
for “appropriate” and "inclusive”
education for students with disabilities.
• One more factor in complex mix:
• Law,
• Policy
• Practice
… that makes the provision of
education to students with diverse
learning needs a controversial issue
No-Excuses …
• educational leaders & policy makers
LEAD;
• purge our educational system of
segregation and discrimination based
on a diagnosis or clinically based label.
• Exceptions to inclusion truly exceptional
• these “exceptions” need to be restricted
to “individuals” in the local school, not
to groups based on clinical labels.
• A new wave of principled school
reform.
What kind of reform?
• Actions that will contribute to
accommodating the diversity of our
student population,
• That will have inclusion as a guiding
principle,
• A focus on school improvement on a
broad basis for all our students.
What do we need to make
our schools inclusive?
Let me list a few of the critical
steps needed to implement this
approach …
1. We need to make a plan for
transition and change and
accept that this will take at
least 3-5 years to do
properly
2. Understanding that …
teachers need support to
accept and meet this
challenge,
- we need to work with them
and their associations to
develop supports they need.
11. Leadership
1. Vision &
Clear
Mandate
2.
Legislation,
Policy &
Guidelines
10. Advocacy
3. Resource
Allocation
& Use
9. Linking Policy
to Practice
Supports Needed
by Classroom
Teachers
4. Best Practices
for Classroom
instruction
8. Knowledge Base
for Practices
7. Public
Awareness &
Discourse
5.
Professional
Development
6. Partnership
Teamwork &
Evaluation
3. School staff must know how
to make their schools and
classrooms effective for diverse
student populations, and so we
need – Educational Innovation –
at both the school and
classroom levels.
Critical Innovations ...
1. School-based Support Team
2. The Support Teacher Model –
Support teachers, & Others helping
teachers
3. Focus on Instruction for diversity –
“Differentiated Instruction” or
“Multi-level Instruction”
4. Staff Development & Training
5. Problem Solving
6. Partnerships with Parents
7. Connecting inclusion to school
improvement
4. We need to start by creating
positive models of success
– classrooms, schools and
communities that do a good
job and can share their
success and strategies with
neighbors.
5. We need to identify a cadre of
leaders and innovators at all
levels and assist them in
building networks where
they can produce and share
knowledge unique to their
communities.
6. We need to identify and share
“best practices” from
research and knowledge
that is already available and
can be enriched and
enhanced by local
experience.
7. We need to understand that
innovations and changes
that will make a difference
will require resources. That
means money and
people.
What does experience tell us about the
process of creating inclusive schools?
• Inclusive education is a reality in
many places – it can be done.
• Political & Policy issues
• My personal observations
What about the cost?
• Money is not the issue in moving
from segregation to inclusion.
• Money spent on segregated special
education needs to be re-directed to
support teachers in inclusive regular
schools
• Investment in schools is critical
The Payoff …
The Benefits of
School
Inclusion
Social Capital
-Robert Putnam
Harvard University
“Bowling Alone”
What is social capital?
 The fabric of our connections
with each other.
 The collective value of our
“social networks” [who people
know] …

… and our will to do things
for each other [norms of
reciprocity].
Who needs Social Capital?
• We all do.
• People with disabilities need
it more than most.
• An essential way to get it is
through inclusive education.
Inclusive Education Knowledge Exchange Initiative:
An Analysis of the Statistics Canada Participation
and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS)
Are parents more likely to report that their
children with disabilities are in good general
health and that their children are performing
well in school in settings where children are
attending inclusive education programs?
Maryam Wagner
Dr. Vianne Timmons
University of Prince Edward Island
May 31, 2008
General Health
St u d e n t He a lt h b y In c lu s io n Sc a le
Ve ry we ll / we ll
100%
Ave ra g e
Po o rly / ve ry p o o rly
90%
80%
Re s p o n s e
70%
55.7%
65.4%
76.3%
60%
50%
40%
30%
32.2%
26.8%
20%
10%
19.9%
12.0%
0%
Lo w In clu s io n
7.8%
3.8%
Mid In clu s io n
Hig h In clu s io n
Academic Progress at School
Pro g re s s a t Sc h o o l b y In c lu s io n Sc a le
Ve ry we ll / we ll
100%
Ave rag e
Po o rly / ve ry po o rly
90%
31.7%
80%
40.3%
Stude nt Re s po ns e
52.0%
70%
60%
27.8%
50%
30.5%
40%
32.2%
30%
20%
40.5%
29.2%
10%
15.8%
0%
Lo w Inc lus io n
Mid Inc lus io n
Hig h Inc lus io n
Looking Forward to Going to School
'Lo o kin g Fo rwa rd to g o in g to Sc h o o l' b y In c lu s io n Sc a le
100%
90%
Oft e n / a lmo s t a lwa ys
S o me t ime s
80%
S t u d e n t Re s p o n s e
Almo s t n e ve r / ra re ly
70%
61.4%
68.7%
77.8%
60%
50%
40%
30%
17.1%
14.4%
20%
10%
10.4%
21.5%
16.9%
11.8%
0%
Lo w In clu s io n
Mid In clu s io n
Hig h In clu s io n
In te rac tio n with o th with
e r c h ild re n Other
b y In c lu s io n ScChildren
ale
Ve ry we ll/we ll
Interaction
(no ne o r hardly
any pro ble ms )
100%
90%
S t u d e n t Re s p o n s e
80%
Pre tty we ll
(o ccas io nal
pro ble ms )
47.4%
70%
62.2%
72.6%
60%
50%
40%
32.3%
30%
24.6%
20%
10%
21.4%
20.3%
13.2%
0%
Lo w In clu sio n
Mid In clu sio n
6.1%
Hig h In clu sio n
No t to o we ll/no t
we ll at all
(fre que nt
pro ble ms )
What about the future?
• Inclusion as one of the sustaining
pillars of public education in 21st
century
• To educate all our children, and do
it well, we need to ensure that
every school is both effective
and inclusive.
Human Rights
• Accommodating students with
disabilities – there is a duty to
accommodate
• The UN Convention – will we make
it real?
No Excuses!
Let’s – just do it!
Thank you.