Recommendations
Although inclusion is mandated through various legislative documents, we think that the implementation aspect is sometimes lacking. What we mean is that some schools look like inclusive environments on paper but this may be deceiving in regards to what is actually happening. Some schools are inclusive in that all students are in the same classroom, but often that is the only change that has been made. When it comes to instruction and activities, many teachers continue to teach to the ‘middle’ rather than varying their instructional strategies. Both of us agree that this is largely to a lack of education as to how to effectively include all students. For this reason, the most important recommendation that we can give is that teachers receive more thorough and adequate training in this area before becoming classroom leaders. This training should occur both during post secondary education and should also take the form of mandatory professional development that will be ongoing throughout a teachers’ career.
A second recommendation that we have exists around the attitudes and beliefs about inclusion. From both research and face to face interactions, it appears that many consider inclusion to mean something to the effect of “all students are in the same classroom with their peers at all times.” We do not believe that this is what inclusion is suggesting. Alberta Education states that an inclusive education system is one that, “ensures that each and every student belongs and receives a quality education no matter their ability, disability, language, cultural background, gender or age (Alberta Education, 2012).” We interpret this as meaning that every student has the right to an education that is maximally beneficial to them as an individual. This may mean that a student is only in the mainstream classroom for two classes out of the day and is in a specialized classroom for the remainder. We do not believe that it is beneficial for students with severe needs to be in traditional classes at all times. In fact, this may actually be detrimental for the student rather than beneficial. For these reasons, we would like to see inclusive decisions being made on a student to student basis rather than by referring to a stated definition in all cases.
A second recommendation that we have exists around the attitudes and beliefs about inclusion. From both research and face to face interactions, it appears that many consider inclusion to mean something to the effect of “all students are in the same classroom with their peers at all times.” We do not believe that this is what inclusion is suggesting. Alberta Education states that an inclusive education system is one that, “ensures that each and every student belongs and receives a quality education no matter their ability, disability, language, cultural background, gender or age (Alberta Education, 2012).” We interpret this as meaning that every student has the right to an education that is maximally beneficial to them as an individual. This may mean that a student is only in the mainstream classroom for two classes out of the day and is in a specialized classroom for the remainder. We do not believe that it is beneficial for students with severe needs to be in traditional classes at all times. In fact, this may actually be detrimental for the student rather than beneficial. For these reasons, we would like to see inclusive decisions being made on a student to student basis rather than by referring to a stated definition in all cases.