ED 564: Administration of Inclusive SchoolsSaturday, March 24, 2012

Pulling it all Together & Final Thoughts

Faculty of Education

Class Outline

Implementing Inclusive PracticesFinal ThoughtsPresentation – Susan T. & CarolePresentation – Ian & Melissa

Implementing Inclusive Practices

1)Develop and promote a shared vision for inclusion

2)Provide foundational professional learning

How crucial is the “rollout”?Intellectual Capital?

3)Place students first4)Build and sustain an inclusive teamIs the EA an integral part of program

planning process in NS schools?5)Promote professional learning

communities

6)Provide responsive professional learning7)Communicate and celebrate success8)Conduct formative program review,

visioning and re-visioning9)Position and leverage inclusive

programs

Final Thoughts

During the first class, I asked what inclusion meant to each of you. In the weeks that have elapsed since our initial meeting, has your view of inclusion changed or remained constant?

Inclusion as we know it is still a relatively new phenomenon; in fact, we might categorize inclusion as still in its infancy

And remember, inclusion is both a philosophy as well as a policy

“The philosophical basis for inclusion…is a belief that all students should be included within the regular classroom, and that any removal of a student to other educational settings must be justified on the basis of individual learning needs”

In looking at policies surrounding inclusion, it’s important to keep in mind that it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction

Thus, there is no all-encompassing snapshot of inclusion, but rather, only individual portraits

Still, most jurisdictions have, at a minimum, de facto inclusion

In thinking about the administration of inclusive schools, there are a variety of leadership models that one might embrace, such as managerial, humanistic, and transformational perspectives

Inclusive leadership is another model and it aims to achieve inclusion in all aspects of schooling and beyond the school to the local and global community, and it does so through a process that is itself inclusive

Each leadership style has strengths and weaknesses

Perhaps what is needed is for leaders to embrace a pluralistic perspective which capitalizes on the positive aspects of the competing perspectives

Ultimately, the “homogeneous” classroom is now an anachronism; furthermore, the “one-size-fits-all” approach to education appears inadequate in the current context

Thus, an inclusive school is a laudable goal, especially if we consider that the alternative to inclusion is exclusion

Yet, there is no truly prescriptive recipe for creating an inclusive school

However, in order to create this inclusive school, change will inevitably become a large part of the equation

According to Bucko (1994), the four conditions that help facilitate change are:

1)participant involvement2)senior administration support3)no escalation in teacher workload4)change agent’s active involvement

What, if anything, are the barriers to creating an inclusive school?

Is a truly inclusive school a myth, a possibility, or an inevitability?