Inclusivity in the Classroom
Ravinandan did such a great job discussing differentiated instruction, it inspired me to review some research related to inclusive education.
A major barrier to inclusive education for all is the willingness,
professional knowledge and external support for the classroom teacher in
accommodating students with exceptionalities into the regular classroom. As
noted by the research Angela Valeo and Gary Bunch (1998) of York University,
six seasoned elementary teachers were quoted as saying that “the modification
of the curriculum was not their role.” (Hutchinson, 2009, 22). Nearly 15 years
later, we can only hope that this lack of willingness for the inclusion of exceptional
students no longer persists. In addition, a lack of professional knowledge and
external support for regular classroom teachers in the full inclusion of all
students may be impeded by the lack of special education qualifications. As we
all know, it is not a requirement for regular classroom education teachers to
have experience in special education requirements. As a result, the proper
provisions such as universal design and differentiated instruction are not
always performed by the teacher and the educational needs of exceptional
students are not always met.
With so many of our students struggling in the area of a core course such as math, should special education certification be a requirement of this particular department?
Hutchinson, N. (2009). Inclusion of Exceptional Learners in Canadian Schools: A Practical Handbook for Teachers. Pearson: Toronto.
I agree with on the lack of support and professional knowledge for teachers. I recently graduated from teachers college and in almost all of my placements, teachers had no support to help them with students with special needs. In one of my classes, two students were not going to the next grade because the school could not provided them with an EA. As well, I saw that it was difficult for the teacher to handle so many students with diverse needs and still ensure the rest of the class was attended to. In my experience many of the students with special needs were overlooked at the expense of the rest of the class unless there was a volunteer to help.
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