During the first week of Inclusive Education, it became apparent just how challenging the road to inclusion has been (Inclusion BC; BCTF 2020; Moore, 2016; Five Moore Minutes 2018-19).  There have been many potholes along the way and work still needs to be done to pave and smooth this complex road.  What became even more apparent, however, is that building this road has been for the greater good of ALL—not just for students with diverse needs and abilities:

All students benefit from inclusive education. Research has dispelled the notion that typical students “lose out” when students with disabilities and additional support needs are included in the regular classroom. Rather, research shows that all students do better both academically and socially when inclusive policies and teaching practices are followed (Inclusion BC).

Schools that were once exclusive, segregated, and integrated, are becoming more and more inclusive (Moore, 2016, Figure 1.2, p. 3).  We are in what Shelly Moore calls the “Inclusive Revolution”, where “inclusion describes the principle that all students are entitled to equitable access to learning, achievement, and the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of their education” (Five Moore Minutes, Episode 1).  But, as those working in schools and classrooms will attest, there is a significant gap between principle and practice, and we have a long way to go before inclusive principles actually align with inclusive practice.  Shelley Moore argues that:

Inclusion is not about integrating students by housing them into (or out of) forced containers of classrooms and schools. Inclusive Education is about providing opportunities with supports for all students to have access to, and contribute to, an education rich in content and experience with their peers. Period (2016, p. 17).

Inclusive education, therefore, is only successful if it is planned, meaningful, purposeful, and supported—which, woefully, is not always the case.

Looking back on my own childhood, I was fortunate to have been educated (for the most part) in inclusive classrooms, alongside peers of varying and diverse ability.  I had the opportunity to learn from these peers and reaped the benefits of learning alongside them, including (but not limited to): a greater understanding and acceptance of difference; a broader perspective of knowledge, skills, and abilities; and exposure to a wealth of different ideas and approaches to life, love, and learning.  I am certain that my peers of diverse ability learned and benefited from being included and that they did better academically and socially in these inclusive settings than they would have in exclusive, segregated, or integrated ones.  A particular peer comes to mind when thinking about the benefits of inclusion.  This peer loved school and was a big part of the classroom and school community, thriving on friendship and being involved in academic and non-academic life.  To this day, this person thrives on community, friendship, and inclusion, and is often seen riding his bike to different jobs, venues, and events.  To think of a time when he was not welcome in a “regular” classroom is disheartening.  What would life have looked like for him if he had not been included amongst his peers?  I imagine a life not nearly as rich or full.  My peer is proof that “students with disabilities and additional support needs who have been educated in inclusive settings have significantly better life outcomes than students without this opportunity”, including “better social connections, increased community involvement, and greater earning potential” (Inclusion BC).

Fast forward to today and I see the same opportunities and benefits for my own children and their peers, as well as for the children I have had the privilege of teaching.  However, I also see the profound challenges plaguing our educational system: legislation that supports inclusion but does not actually provide the necessary support that will make meaningful and purposeful inclusion a reality (leaving many students with disabilities and additional support needs excluded rather than included); teachers that are supportive of inclusion but have no idea how to implement it because they lack the professional development that makes inclusion possible and/or they lack the resources and supports to make inclusion happen.  Teachers are not born equipped to aim for the “outside pins” (Moore, 2016, pp. 48-52)—they need explicit teaching to successfully throw on a curve and “hit” all the pins (i.e., students), especially those hardest to reach! Teachers need to be expressly taught how to be effective “sweeper vans”—ones that make necessary interventions and provide critical supports, but still keep students accountable.

Teachers are the head of the spear and need to be trained to reach ALL students—not just the “green ones” (Five Moore Minutes, Episode 3).  Teachers are the first line of attack as well as the first line of defense, and their ability to provide high quality Tier-1 supports is crucial.  Sadly, not every teacher is being educated to do so.  Fortunately, I am!  As a teacher in training, I am getting more and more prepared to go forth and do this hard but necessary work!  From a Tier-1 level, I plan to honor what I have learned this week (and in the weeks leading up to it) and vow to be cognizant of my language and not disable people with labels (Seale, 2019).  As the motto goes: “when you know better, you do better”, so I will do my best to adhere to these take-aways—each courtesy of the infamous Shelley Moore (2016):

  • “We are no longer living in the Industrial Revolution; this is the 21st century–where we need to value the strengths rather than the deficits in learning. Rather than finding out why students aren’t wavy, our job is now to find out what their pattern is. What do they bring? What can they contribute because of their diverse and unique expertise? For decades, we have been trying to take this ‘pattern’ out of our students, taking the special out of special education, the autistic out of autism, the language out of culture, and, especially, the Indigenous out of First Nations, MĂ©tis, and Inuit children. This is not teaching to diversity. This is not inclusive. Teaching to diversity and inclusion is where we value the characteristics that are diverse, and not try to homogenize them” (p. 5).
  • “Alternate spaces are so important in bringing students back up who have fallen. But if the only reason students are finally receiving supports is because they fell in the first place, then we as an education system have to do better. We have to get these supports to kids before they fall” (p. 26).
  • “
supports need to be put in place universally, for all kids, regardless of category” (p. 27).
  • “The goal does not have to be 100% of the time, but it does mean that 100% of the time we are striving to be more inclusive. It is a journey, not a destination” (p. 29).
  • “
unless I presume competence in all people, I am the one who is disabled” (p. 34).
  • “Let’s stop fighting for class composition ratios, and instead advocate for supporting our compositions in all of their perfect diversity” (p. 47).
  • “We often forget that what helps one helps everyone, and it is exactly this idea that makes what we teach strategically more effective and efficient
” (p. 52).
  • “To be inclusive is to collect stories and be the detective seeking to understand the full story.  The more stories we have, the more we understand” (p. 75).
  • “
support is critical, and if we want inclusion to work, this is one of the biggest changes we can make in our classrooms and schools.  Supports designed for a few, but available for all” (p. 84). 

We are in this collectively and I cannot wait to make my classroom an inclusive place to learn!  

Together in education,

Ms. H

References

BCTF. (2020). Research: The landscape of inclusion: How teachers in British Columbia navigate inclusive education policy and practice. https://www.bctf.ca/whats-happening/news-details/2020/01/02/the-landscape-of-inclusion-how-teachers-in-british-columbia-navigate-inclusive-education-policy-and-practice

Five Moore Minutes with Shelley Moore. (2018, October 1). Episode 1: The Evolution of Inclusion. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQgXBhPh5Zo

Five Moore Minutes with Shelley Moore. (2018, November 5). Episode 2: Don’t Should on Me! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeRNhz0nGts

Five Moore Minutes with Shelley Moore. (2018, December 3). Episode 3: The End of Average. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krec84KwbHE&t=2s

Five Moore Minutes with Shelley Moore. (2019, January 7). Episode 4: Inclusion 2.0: Teaching to Diversity. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO3_UYaz1HE

Five Moore Minutes with Shelley Moore. (2019, February 4). Episode 5: The Infrastructure of Inclusion. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8iAQTneyXI

Five Moore Minutes with Shelley Moore. (2019, March 5). Episode 6: Decriminalizing Supports. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyqFcmUxHAw

Five Moore Minutes with Shelley Moore. (2019, April 1). Episode 7: Backwards Design. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLKHaNo98Ts&t=1s

Inclusion BC. (2022). Chapter 1: History, Definitions and Benefits of Inclusion. In Handbook on Inclusive Education. https://inclusionbc.org/our-resources/inclusive-education-handbook-chapter-1/#3

Moore, Shelley. (2016). One Without the Other: Stories of Unity Through Diversity and Inclusion. Portage and Main Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Seale, Alyson. TEDx Talks. (2019, May 22). Purposeful Steps Away From Ableism. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhFVnlLnKjM