Socially Inclusive Schools and Education in Scotland - Research Paper Example

Principles and Contexts Assignment 2 - Socially Inclusive Schools and Education in Scotland - Total Number of Words: 3,483 Table of Contents I. Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 3 II. The Meaning of Socially Inclusive School ………………………….. 4 a. Equal Opportunity as well as Fair and Consistent Treatment to Students …………………………..………….. 5 b. Role of Multi-agency Working Together with Socially Inclusive Schools ………………………….………………… 7 III. The Role of Assessment in the Socially Inclusive School …………... 8 a. School Policy Making ………………………………………... 9 b. The Summative, Normative and Formative Assessment Method ………………………..……………….. 10 c. Effectiveness of Target-Setting …………….………………. 11 IV. Strategies Used by Several Schools to Counter Exclusion ………….. 12 a. Impact of School Management Practices ………………… 12 b. Importance of Developing and Implementing a Positive School Ethos …………………………………………………… 14 V. Discussion ………………………………………………………………… 14 VI. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………….. 16 References ……………………………………………………………………….. 17 - 23 Introduction The educational support needs of each child vary depending on their learning capabilities. Some students are fast learners whereas students who were born with mental or physical health problems may have difficulty in learning. (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2007) In order to remove all the barriers to learning, the Scottish government has exerted so much effort on increasing the social complexity of each school. Under the current Scottish Executive Education Department, the Education Act 2004 promotes an equal opportunity for education regardless of the mental and physical condition of a child. The said Act includes rendering additional short- and long-term support needs related to social, socio-economic status, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, disability or family and care circumstances which may hinder a child’s learning development. (Scottish Executive Education Department, 2004; Killean, 2003) Considering that each educational institutions has their own way of incorporating the social issues into the educational context, the process in which the local schools are dealing with the social complexity issues has remained a subject of debate (De Lima, 2003; Donaldson, 2002) since issues related to race or ethnicity, gender and disability are not addressed with the use of a single educational policy (Allan, 2003). Today, the promotion of socially inclusive school one of the major challenges of educational institutions especially in the areas that deal with emotional concerns. (Rouse, 2007: 10) For this study, the researcher will first analyze and define the meaning behind the term ‘socially inclusive school’ followed by discussing the importance of equal opportunity as well as fair and consistent treatment among the students. Eventually, the researcher will discuss the role of multi-agency working together with schools in order to become genuinely inclusive given that catchment areas may or may not offer a social and economic mix. For the second part, the researcher will evaluate the role of assessment in the socially inclusive school prior to examining the truth behind the saying that a socially inclusive school is designed to exclude some pupils by assessing the school policies behind the summative, normative and formative assessment methods and the effectiveness of target-setting. For the last part, the researcher will consider some of the strategies used by several schools to counter exclusion particularly on the school management practices as well as the development and implementation of a positive school ethos. Prior to the conclusion, the researcher will discuss about the socially inclusive schools in Scotland. The Meaning of Socially Inclusive School In general, the word inclusion is defined as “the act of including” (Webster, 1994) or “…values which supports the children’s right without considering the shortcomings of their learning abilities to actively participate in a normal educational settings within the community” (The Division of Early Childhoon of the Council for Exceptional Children, 1993; Oberti v. Borough of Clementon School District, 1993). In other words, an socially inclusive school promotes an effective educational environment for the children by allowing them to belong to a group of friends and the school community. (Allen & Schwartz, 2001: 4) The main objective of inclusive education’ is to promote learning equality, social justice, and an active participation of the students in school activities by removing all forms of learning barriers caused by race, gender and ethnic discrimination and oppression which could negatively affect the well-being of the learners. (Barton, 2008) According to Scottish Executive (2003: 6), social justice is referring to “a wide-range of Executive policies that are designed to address issues related to poverty and social deprivation due to discrimination and inequality.” As a result of promoting a socially inclusive school, each student regardless of their race, gender and learning abilities will learn to accept other students as part of the school community. (Stainback & Stainback, 1990: 3) Equal Opportunity as well as Fair and Consistent Treatment to Students Discussed by Scwartz (2000), the framework of three inter-related domain known as knowledge & skills, membership, and relationship shows that the implementation of a socially inclusive school could enable each children with or without mental, physical or emotional disability to develop their cognitive, emotional, and social development. Basically, the promotion of equal learning opportunity to all children by implementing a fair and consistent treatment to all students within the educational institutions is important to the social, emotional and psychological development of a child. Allowing a normal child to mix with children who are physically or mentally disabled, the students could learn to socially accept the incapacitated children and enable them to understand that disability is a part of the human life. (Action for the Rights of Children, 2001; Schwartz et al., 1995) However, there is a limit with regards to the acceptance of disabled children in an inclusive school. (Renty & Roeyers, 2005) Basically, only those children who are less severely handicapped with a lesser behavioural problems are the ones who could be accepted or be benefited from an integrated educational settings. (McLeskey et al., 1999; Fuchs & Fuchs, 1995; Carlberg & Kavale, 1980) Even though minority of the teachers believe that students who are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) should be integrated in a normal school (McGregor & Campbell, 2001), it is less likely that children with ASD to be accepted in an inclusive school since these children needs an alternative educational approach as compared to those children without ASD. (Panerai et al., 2002) Autistic children in general requires a lot of visual learning support and lesser distractions as compared to the ‘able children’. (Peeters, 2000) Students who are enrolled in a socially inclusive school are also expected to learn to: (1) reduce their ignorance on the human differences as they learn to become more comfortable being with disabled children; (2) develop a better perception of ‘self-concept’; (3) become warm and treasure friendship; (4) develop their social cognitive growth; and (5) improve their personal principles. (Staub & Peck, 1995) As the students learn to communicate and build friendship with disabled children, teachers and parents have reported some positive outcomes in terms of enabling the child to become more helpful to others as they learn to build a more diverse social networks and be more patience in dealing with other people who are born with or without any forms of mental, physical and emotional disabilities. (Staub et al., 1994: 318 - 319) On the other hand, disabled children will be able to enjoy an equal learning opportunity together with all the other children in an inclusive school. Educators believe that encouraging the girls to actively participate in male-stereotyped subjects like math engineering courses, and sciences, young girls could increase their confidence and motivation to improve their learning performance in all the school subjects. (Croxford, 2000; Sutherland, 1999; Croxford, 1997; Kelly, 1987) For instance, girls are more likely to participate in Biology rather than in Maths or Physics. (Croxford, 1997; Kelly, 1987) In order to avoid a gender-biased mentality in education, socially inclusive schools normally provides an equal opportunity to all students regardless of their gender, social class status and ethnicity by removing the gender and social class inequality in the Course Curriculum Framework offered in each local school. (Tinklin et al., 2003; Croxford, 1996; Gamoran, 1996) Role of Multi-agency Working Together with Socially Inclusive Schools Multi-agency that works together with the stakeholders in each school plays an important role in establishing a single framework that can be used in strengthening the framework behind the socially inclusive school. In the process, multi-agency works together by sharing their expertise in education programmes. (Rouse, 2007: 11) In general, teachers in each inclusive schools are the most important people who could determine the best approach in the development of an inclusive school framework since they are directly involved with the students in each class. However, the attitude of some teachers with regards to the implementation of inclusion are not the same. Some teachers may either show a positive or a negative attitude with regards to the idea of applying the concept of inclusion in the local schools. (Rouse, 2007: 11) Therefore, not all teachers are actively supporting the schools’ preparation for inclusion. In some cases, the school employers are the ones not sufficiently supporting the teachers in the promotion of inclusive education. (MacBride, 2007: 8) Each school has its own way of showing support in the promotion of socially inclusive school. In line with this matter, some pupils in different schools in Scotland are actively campaigning for anti-racism as compared to other non-participating schools. (SRTRC, 2007: 12 - 13) The Role of Assessment in the Socially Inclusive School The main role of assessment is to: (1) determine the learning gap in order to establish a support for future learning; (2) assess that the child’s learning needs are satisfied; (3) measure the progress and development in each student; and (4) assess a healthy cognitive, social and emotional development. Basically, assessing the success of socially inclusive school is important since the assessment results could enable the school educators to develop a strategy that will directly address the main source of problem. For instance, PISA (2006) was conducted in order to measure the gender-based differences in the students’ attitude, competencies and knowledge on science. (Schleicher, 2007) The report shows that female students significantly outscored male in reading in all countries whereas male students outscored the females when it comes to mathematics. Therefore, there is a need to engage the male students more on reading as the school teachers encourage the female students to participate more on math subjects. It is also possible to use either a written-based or unwritten assessment method such as the application of an ongoing observation or a regular monitoring on students within the learning environment whereas some schools based their learning assessment by monitoring on the students’ punctuality and attendance, quality of work, participation in class, behavior, and academic grades. (Woods, Ashley, & Woods, 2005: 69) School Policy Making There is a great difference between the egalitarian policies and equal opportunity policies. (Hill & Cole, 1999) Egalitarian policies are normally used to challenge the inequalities in education whereas the equal opportunity policies are based on meritocratic concept which enables the ‘able students’ to have the opportunity to become successful in a stratified society. The problem with these two policies is that it fails to solve the social barriers to learning related to gender issues, social class, ethnicity and poverty. For an inclusive school policy to be effective, the development of the school policy should encourage all the stakeholders such as the school staff, students, parents and other members of the community to actively participate. (Corson, 1998: 17) In the process of decision-making, all stakeholders must collaborate and agree with common goals as well as the type of strategies and initiatives that will be implemented in school. The Summative, Normative and Formative Assessment Method Many types of assessment methods can be used in assessing the progress of socially inclusive school. These are: the summative, normative and formative assessment methods. Among the three methods, some school does not consider the role of summative and normative assessment as important as formative method since the application of the first two assessment methods are not able to meet the child’s educational needs. (Woods, Ashley, & Woods, 2005: 64, 78, 86) Feedback related to the students’ performance is an effective way of improving the quality of education offered to each student. A summative assessment provides the teachers with a final assessment on the students’ knowledge and learning skills whereas the formative assessment enables the teachers to have an ongoing assessment that could affect the lessons being taught in class. (Husman, Brem, Duggan, & Anne, n.d.) Similar to summative assessment method, the traditional normative assessment which compares a student’s test performance to his or her classmates is not appropriate in the case of inclusive schools since the results would be biased due to the learning differences of the ‘able students’ and disabled students. (Browning, 1997) Since inclusive school combines the high and low academic achievers in class, the adoptation of the formative assessment can be used in determining whether the teacher is going on with the lessons too fast. The problem with formative assessment applied in a socially inclusive school is the fact that teachers would tend to go slow with the lesson plan for the sake of the low-academic achievers. In the process of going slow with the class discussion, the learning development of the students who are classified as ‘fast learners’ will suffer. Effectiveness of Target-Setting Target-setting is commonly associated with inclusive schools particularly in encouraging the students who are low achievers to exert more effort in learning in order to meet the national targets. (Ainscow, Booth, & Dyson, 2001) As much as 82% of the primary school teachers have tried using the concept of target-setting in educational practices. (Bremmer & Cartwright, 2004) In general, the application of target-settings is applied frequently by the primary school teachers since this teaching method if more effective in primary schools as compared to the secondary schools since primary school students exert more effort in establishing a common values as compared to the secondary students. (Clarke & Christie, 1995) The application of target-setting chart could effectively assist the teachers in monitoring the students’ target on having at least 85% grade or higher in their quizzes and other major exams. (Reneissance Learning, 2003) Target-setting assessment method is qualitative by nature. As part of the quantitative assessment process, secondary students are required to participate in the GCSE examination. (Hammersley-Fletcher & Mangan, 2004) The problem with target-setting approach is the fact that it could lead to a less relaible learning outcome since the high and low achieving students are gathered together within a classroom setting. (Reay & Wiliam, 1997) As a result, some students and secondary school teachers may encounter dysfunctional behaviour or become demotivation in school activities because of the test results. The fact that fast and slow learners are gathered within a class makes it difficult for the school teachers to develop an effective target for the entire class. (Hammersley-Fletcher & Mangan, 2004) Strategies Used by Several Schools to Counter Exclusion Schools in Scotland are using different strategies in order to counter-act exclusion in their educational curriculum as well as in the teaching methods used by each of the school teachers. Among these strategies include: the school management practices and the development of a positive school ethos. Impact of School Management Practices Among the major factor that could create a significant impact over the success of inclusion programme is related to economic and cultural aspects of each student. (Muijs et al., 2007) With regards to the economic issues that could promote educational exclusion, the school management must develop a stronger ties with the Scottish government and the private sector in order to generate sufficient funds to financially support the tuition requirements of children who belongs to poor families. Basically, the Scottish government has the power to issue a certain amount of taxes whereas some of the big private companies may be more than willing to donate some funds for the education of the poor. Failure of school management to exert an effort to work with the government and the private sectors would make it difficult to avoid educational exclusion among the poor. The school management must also develop strong educational values and norms that will promote the concept of equal justice to all and anti-racism as an effective way of counter-acting the issue on cultural exclusion. (Muijs et al., 2007; SRTRC, 2007) In the process of promoting cultural inclusion within a socially inclusive school, the school management should ensure that all teachers will be trained and educated on the importance and impact of cultural plurality to the success of our economy. As part of the training, teachers will be taught how to execute the removal of gendering roles in classroom and school practices as well as the possible discrimination related to social status, ethnicity and disability of the students. Considering the necessary changes in the school management practices as well as the cultural values within the school environment (Dean et al., 2007), there is a need for each local school in Scotland to develop critical pedagogies which focuses on the selection of appropriate teaching and learning methods as well as the development of the curriculum content that will address the major concerns of the minority students. (Bradshaw et al., 2004; Thomson, 2002) The result of a strong management practice that promotes social inclusion promises not only a better and proper future economic growth and increase in the quality of life of the children but also improving the functions of the society as a whole. (Muijs et al., 2007) Importance of Developing and Implementing a Positive School Ethos In Scotland, the development of school ethos network is widely used in the promotion of the entire school strategies that could create a positive behaviour among the students in terms of encouraging them to actively participate in the community life as well as the decision-making processes in school activities related to the proper way of implementing social inclusion within the school environment. (Murray, 2002; Murray & Closs, 2000) Developing a positive school ethos as well as supportive educational culture among the students, teachers and the parents are important factors that could affect the success of implementing and promoting a socially inclusive school. (Rouse, 2007: 11) A positive behaviour among the stakeholders within the school community is one of the best way that will contribute to the success of the inclusion plan. The creation of positive social ethos will enable the students not only to have a positive feelings about themselves but also encourages the students to become active in the promotion of social inclusion in school and have a positive outlook in their academic performance and social development. (Bradshaw et al., 2004) Discussion With regards to the growing gap between the rich and the poor (Lakin, 2003), poverty is one of the socio-economic factors that could hinder the distribution of an equal opportunity for education. Despite the fact that the Scottish government has been promoting equality on education, there is simply no guarantee that social inclusion is the answer in extending the educational benefits to children belonging to poor families. (Killean, 2003) The Scottish government has tried to eradicate poverty by extending health and educational programme for the less fortunate ones. (Plachaud & Sutherland, 2000) However, the government’s effort is never enough since the level of poverty in Scotland has remained constant throughout the first term of the Scottish Executive’s in the government. (Scottish Executive, 2002) According to Percy-Smith (2000: 2), one of the reasons behind the failure of social inclusion in minimizing the gap between the rich and the poor is due to its failure to address the economic problems related to ‘labour market exclusion’. In line with equal education in terms of gender issues, the Scottish Office (1998, 1999) reports reveal that some girls are able to score higher than most boys who were given the same type of exam. On the contrary, the study of Tinklin et al. (2001) shows that female students are still less disadvantagious as compared to the male students in terms of getting a better grades on male-stereotyped subjects like math. By removing the gender-biased mentality on maths and sciences, educational institutions could improve the mathematical and scientific competencies of the Scottish students. (Schleicher, 2007) As a result, each student will have the opportunity to actively participate in today’s science and technologically influenced society. The concept behind the application of social inclusion in the Scottish educational system is good. However, there will always be a limitation to this type of educational programme since children with special educational needs such as those with ASD will have a difficult time coping with the normal educational system needed by the ‘able students’. Through proper school management practices and the development of a positive school ethos, other barriers to learning related to socio-economic status, gender, race and ethnicity is easier to remove. Conclusion Educating the children with regards to the importance of socialization is necessary in enabling them to become competitive in today’s dynamic global economy. The promotion of socially inclusive school could improve not only the cognitive learning of the students but also widens their perception with regards to the realities in life. The main objectives behind the need to promote the socially inclusive schools throughout Scotland are very promising. However, the educational policy as well as the differences in the attitudes of multi-agency and stakeholders behind the development of inclusive schools could hinder the progress and success of the said educational project. To make the implementation of social inclusion in schools effective, all the stakeholders behind the school community should actively participate in the development of an effective strategy that could counter-act educational exclusion. 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University of the West England. Read More