Lecture One: Segregation to Inclusion

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Lecture One Segregation to Inclusion
Slide presentation is simplified to maximise
student access via a range of technologies.

• Lecturer Michelle Aniftos
• G427, aniftos_at_usq.edu.au
• Course Examiner TEA3206/TEA4202

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References for this lecture include

• Foreman, P. (Ed.) (2001). Integration and
  inclusion in action. Marrickville, N.S.W.
  Harcourt Australia.
• Giorcelli, L. (June, 2002). Learning from the
  Past. Keynote Address, AASE State Conference,
  Mackay,
• Slee, R. (1996). Inclusive schooling in
  Australia? Not yet! Cambridge Journal of
  Education, Vol.26, No.1, p.p. 19-32
• Swan, G. J. (1996). Segregation to Inclusion A
  Thesis. StLucia, Qld UQ Graduate School.

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Introduction

• This introductory lecture aims to provide a brief
  history of education in relation to difference.
  It attempts to highlight the
• shift from segregation to inclusion in
  educational provision
• underpinning philosophies of inclusive practice
• nature of learners at-risk of oppression or
  exclusion in our education systems
• the implications for educators and education.

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SEGREGATION TO INCLUSION

• Education is regarded as pivotal in enabling
  students to become active citizens in society.
• However, society has not always welcomed the
  active participation of some of its citizens.
• Prior to the 18th Century, treatment for those
  who were different regularly included
• ignorance, pity, exploitation, ridicule,
  whippings, torture, exorcism and death.
• While less common today, sadly such treatments of
  difference still exist.

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Origins of Special Education

• While todays educators are legally obliged to
  provide a quality education to all students, such
  obligation has not always existed.
• At one time, there was apparently no legal or
  moral obligation to educate young people who were
  regarded as unworthy due to socio-economic
  status culture race female gender health or
  disability.
• The focus of our study is in the area of
  disability.

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Early History 1700-1900

• Middle ages in France, monks trained deaf
  children to communicate in order that they could
  access their family inheritance
• 1860-1890s Institutes for Deaf, Dumb Blind
  (Vic,NSW,SA,Qld,Tas,WA)
• Development hindered due to Social Darwinism -
  promoted survival of the fittest. Upgrading
  educational opportunities seen as interference.
• Late 19th C early 20th C sterilisation
  segregation practised to limit reproduction and
  pollution of stock
• Binet IQ testing (1905) reinforced the notion
  that intelligence was fixed education couldnt
  help

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Era of Neglect 1900-1920s

• Out of sight, out of mind
• Minimal provisions
• Institutionalise/incarcerate
• Lack of educational expectation
• Origin of special education came with a visit
  to Aust. 1910 by Alexander Graham Bell who was a
  teacher of the deaf. He came to advise the govt
  on tel.cos and also expressed desire for Dept of
  Special Ed within the national education
  associations.

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Era of Segregation 1920-50s

• Recognition of difference learning with kind
• (Agreement that 1-2 of children were abnormal -
  could attend classes for mentally atypical)
• Specialist facilities for most disabilities
• Special schools and classes flourished
• 1919-1964 Willowburn School for Epileptics (in
  Baillie Henderson)
• Qld school population increased by 39
• Spastic Welfare League est. schools e.g. Bowen
  House (Bris) Hameworth (Tba) Claremont (Ips)
  Hillside (Rock)
• Segregation from mainstream
• Classes for the Backward Opportunity Schools

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Era of Integration 1950s

• Special Schools demonstrated that students with
  disabilities could benefit from education (Swan,
  1996, p.2)
• Est. Research Guidance Branch then Special
  Ed.Services (separate from main Education House)
• 1952-1973 Cert. Course in Diagnostic Testing and
  Remedial Teaching est. Fred Schonell at UQ
• Introduction of curriculum expectations in
  special schools e.g. manual arts/ home etc.
• 1972 - Inspector of Schools (Sp.Ed)
  accountability
• - mainstream students screened for potential
  enrolment in Opportunity Schools

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Emergence of Civil Rights

• 1962 abolishment of scholarship exam in Qld -
  allowing all children to go to secondary school
• Advocacy flourished parents, churches etc.
  rejecting institutionalisation - research
  indicated minimal difference in segregated vs.
  integrated program outcomes
• 1970s est. SEUs to support students in SHSs
  and SSs. By 1986, 22 centres established
• By 1983, Endeavour had 25 schools and in 1986
  handed responsibility for education over to state
• ALL due to civil pressure not Central decision
  making- social diversity, needs of students,
  civil rights

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Civil Action to Legislation

• UK 1970 Education Act (Handicapped Children)
• made education for ALL children compulsory
• Scandinavia 1970 Normalisation principle
• physical social integration of disabled into
  mainstream society
• US 1975 Public Law 94-142 (I.D.E.A. since 1990)
• enabling education for children with
  disabilities
• AUS 1992 Disability Discrimination Act
• - impairment must not be the basis of
  discrimination
• UNESCO 1994 Salamanca Statement
• agenda to move education toward inclusion of
  all

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Closer to homeInfluences on education in Qld

• 1971 Equal pay for women teachers
• 1971 Teacher training increased to 3yrs
  introduction of special education units of study
• 1973 Married women tchers allowed permanency
• 1973 Whitlam govt first to provide national
  education funds for handicapped incl. teacher
  training and curriculum research
• 1975 Berkeley Report abolished the term
  ineducable re students with intellectual
  impairments gave the first distinct budget to
  special education

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continued

• 1976 Advisory Council for Special Education to
  research, report and advise the Govt on Special
  Education matters
• Legislative reforms give rise to IEPs LRI
• - Least Restrictive Environment, applied two-ways
  i.e. considered restrictions on learner and
  restriction on others
• 1980 Regular Education Initiative (REI)
• - permitting students with disabilities to
  receive an appropriate education in regular
  classrooms
• 1989 Closure of Division of Special Ed
• subsumed with pre/pri/sec in Studies
  Directorate

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Estimated Costs of Qld Education
Source Swan, 1996, p.302
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PHILOSOPHY of INCLUSION

• Some tangible shifts from segregated to inclusive
  provisions in education can be described.
• However, until educators and consumers of
  education understand the philosophy of inclusion,
  there is still much to be done.

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Counter-Hegemony

• Inclusivity is not an end-point. It is a
  continual process of identifying and removing
  barriers to educational achievement for ALL
  learners.
• Segregation provided an oppositional curriculum -
  special education as completely different to the
  norm
• Integrated curriculum is hegemonic -
• i.e. dominant cultural ideas and values prevail

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Inclusion

• Inclusive curriculum calls for programs to be
  adapted to enable all learners to
• access meaningful learning experiences
• to benefit from schooling and
• to contribute as a valued participant.
• is based on the notion that schools should,
  without question, provide for the needs of all
  children in their communities, whatever the level
  of their ability or disability (Foreman, 1996,
  p.12)

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Dimensions of Inclusion

• Current research in UK and Australian schools
  (Index for Inclusion. Booth, Ainscow et al) is
  investigating the extent to which schools are
  inclusive and considers indicators in three
  dimensions
• Culture community values
• Policies celebrating diversity
• Practices teaching resources

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Outcomes of Inclusive Ed.

• Research on inclusive education demonstrates
• Improved skill acquisition in social competence,
  communication and other curriculum areas for
  students with disabilities and
• Benefits for students without disabilities
  including social development and enriched
  learning experiences
• Performance of typically-developing students is
  not compromised by the presence of students with
  disabilities. (Foreman, 2001)

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Key Messages

• Participation not pathology while we need to
  understand the learner, focus should be on the
  implications for teaching and learning not
  disability
• Program not place what the child is learning is
  the critical factor not where
• Fairness not sameness educational provision
  based on needs not equality
• Lifelong outcomes require measures of social
  capital not only academic worth.

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NATURE OF LEARNERS AT-RISK

• Prevalence
• Approximately 10 of our population have a
  disability but the statistic depends upon-
• Definition
• Labeling
• Funding
• Support
• can be permanent or transient or temporary

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Statistics in Australia

• 1993 - 470 000 people lt 25 y.o. with a
  disability
• - 62 000 students with disability in school
• 1997 - 15 000 students with disability in Qld
• (ABS 1993)
• 1997 McRae Report, NSW indicates
• 220 increase in students integrated since
  1991 but funding increased by lt0.01
• 1998 approx. 8 of children lt 19 had disability

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1/3 of the typical school

• Disabilities 2-3
• Learning Difficulties 12-15
• Behaviour Disorders 5-6
• Emotional Fragility 3-4
• Medical Fragility 1-2

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IMPLICATIONS .

• While the literature may refer to inclusive
  schooling in Australia over the last 10 years,
  inclusive education measures have only been
  add-on not fundamental to the provision of
  services.
• Curriculum is central to educational provision
  and teachers are central to curriculum provision.

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Challenge Facing Teachers

• Under pressure to change/adapt
• Increasing divergence between teacher and learner
  characteristics
• Educational research calls for integrated,
  whole-student philosophy i.e. meaningful
  connections between intellectual, social and
  emotional experiences to enhance learning
• Increased accountability calls for collaborative
  and reflective practice towards standards

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Responses to the Challenges

• Some teachers ignore diversity
• Make no effort to adjust instruction
• View difference as deficit
• Resent calls to differentiate curriculum
• Justify their actions as understandable

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Future of Schooling

• Until inclusive culture permeates all dimensions
  of school curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and
  management, schools will continue to exclude
  learners who we claim to include.

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Something different

• There is a future for inclusive schools, but
  they arent the schools we presently know and
  subscribe to (Slee, 1996).
• The current reform of education in Qld aims to
  promote the inclusivity of individuals at-risk of
  oppression and exclusion.
• The New Basics Framework is a trial towards
  alignment of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

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How prepared are you?

• Do you accept the right of all students to access
  and participate in meaningful learning
  experiences?

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• Are you prepared to know fully the individual
  learners in your class - to identify their
  specific learning styles, abilities and
  priorities?

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• Will you continually explore ways to enable and
  enrich the lives of all of your students -
  helping them to recognise the unique
  contributions that every person can make to our
  lives?

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• And as this course can not possibly teach you all
  you need to know
• Are you prepared for collaborative and reflective
  practice enabling you to become a learner for
  life?