Inclusion moving beyond learning

Abstract

One of the greatest challenges facing schools is the provision of appropriate learning opportunities for all pupils. Thus, schools need to recognize that students enter schools with differing backgrounds, cultures, religions, needs and potentials. Schools need to recognize that students learn at different rates and in different ways. Schools need to have a vision where differences are respected, attended to, and celebrated as opportunities for learning. This can be achieved in a school where everyone is actively engaged in teaching and learning, a school where a community of learners work together to attain their goals. This study will focus on two case-studies of two different schools, a state secondary school and a church primary school, which also forms part of a college catering for students aged between five to eighteen years of age. Both schools proclaim that they practice inclusion in their schools. The aim of this work is to analyze the provision and process of inclusion and the role of the Heads, INCO, different class teachers and facilitators in this respect. It will also attempt lo probe current practices of inclusion in these schools. This study will also examine if their role and practices are reflecting the principles set in the NMC. Thus, this research intends to investigate whether an Inclusive culture is finding roots within the two schools.