Inclusion (education)

Inclusion in education refers to including all students to equal access to equal opportunities of education and learning, and is distinct from educational equality or educational equity. It arose in the context of special education with an individualized education program or 504 plan, and is built on the notion that it is more effective for students with special needs to have the said mixed experience for them to be more successful in social interactions leading to further success in life. The philosophy behind the implementation of the inclusion model does not prioritize, but still provides for the utilization of special classrooms and special schools for the education of students with disabilities. Inclusive education models are brought into force by educational administrators with the intention of moving away from seclusion models of special education to the fullest extent practical, the idea being that it is to the social benefit of general education students and special education students alike, with the more able students serving as peer models and those less able serving as motivation for general education students to learn empathy.
Implementation of these practices varies. Schools most frequently use the inclusion model for select students with mild to moderate special needs. Fully inclusive schools, which are rare, do not separate "general education" and "special education" programs; instead, the school is restructured so that all students learn together.
Inclusive education differs from the 'integration' or 'mainstreaming' model of education, which tended to be a concern.
A premium is placed upon full participation by students with disabilities and upon respect for their social, civil, and educational rights. Feeling included is not limited to physical and cognitive disabilities, but also includes the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, language, culture, gender, age and of other forms of human differences. Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett wrote, "student performance and behaviour in educational tasks can be profoundly affected by the way we feel, we are seen and judged by others. When we expect to be viewed as inferior, our abilities seem to diminish". This is why the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 recognizes the need for adequate physical infrastructures and the need for safe, inclusive learning environments.

Integration and mainstreaming

Inclusion has different historical roots/background which may be integration of students with severe disabilities in the US or an inclusion model from Canada and the US which is very popular with inclusion teachers who believe in participatory learning, cooperative learning, and inclusive classrooms.
Inclusive education differs from the early university professor's work in integration and mainstreaming which were taught throughout the world including in international seminars in Italy. Mainstreaming tended to be concerned about "readiness" of all parties for the new coming together of students with significant needs. Thus, integration and mainstreaming principally was concerned about disability and 'special educational needs' and involved teachers, students, principals, administrators, School Boards, and parents changing and becoming 'ready for' students who needed accommodation or new methods of curriculum and instruction by the mainstream.
By contrast, inclusion is about the child's right to participate and the school's duty to accept the child returning to the US Supreme Court's Brown vs. the Board of Education decision and the new Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Inclusion rejects the use of special schools or classrooms, which remain popular among large multi-service providers, to separate students with disabilities from students without disabilities. A premium is placed upon full participation by students with disabilities, in contrast to earlier concept of partial participation in the mainstream, and upon respect for their social, civil, and educational rights. Inclusion gives students with disabilities skills they can use in and out of the classroom.

Principles and necessary resources

Although once hailed as a way to increase achievement while decreasing costs, full inclusion does not save money. It is not designed to reduce students' needs, and its first priority may not even be to improve academic outcomes; in most cases, it merely moves the special education professionals out of "their own special education" classrooms and into a corner of the general classroom or as otherwise designed by the "teacher-in-charge" and "administrator-in-charge". To avoid harm to the academic education of students with disabilities, a full panoply of services and resources is required, including:

Adequate supports and services for the student
Well-designed individualized education programs
Professional development for all teachers involved, general and special educators alike
Time for teachers to plan, meet, create, and evaluate the students together
Reduced class size based on the severity of the student needs
Professional skill development in the areas of cooperative learning, peer tutoring, adaptive curriculum
Collaboration between parents or guardians, teachers or para educators, specialists, administration, and outside agencies.
Sufficient funding so that schools will be able to develop programs for students based on student need instead of the availability of funding.

Indeed, the students with special needs do receive funds from the federal government, by law originally the Educational for All Handicapped Children Act of 1974 to the present day, Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, which requires its use in the most integrated setting.

Common practices in inclusive classrooms

Students in an inclusive classroom are generally placed with their chronological age-mates, regardless of whether the students are working above or below the typical academic level for their age. Also, to encourage a sense of belonging, emphasis is placed on the value of friendships. Teachers often nurture a relationship between a student with special needs and a same-age student without a special educational need. Another common practice is the assignment of a buddy to accompany a student with special needs at all times. This is used to show students that a diverse group of people make up a community, that no one type of student is better than another, and to remove any barriers to a friendship that may occur if a student is viewed as "helpless." Such practices reduce the chance for elitism among students in later grades and encourage cooperation among groups.
Teachers use a number of techniques to help build classroom communities:

Using games designed to build community
Involving students in solving problems
Sharing songs and books that teach community
Openly dealing with individual differences by discussion
Assigning classroom jobs that build community
Teaching students to look for ways to help each other
Utilizing physical therapy equipment such as standing frames, so students who typically use wheelchairs can stand when the other students are standing and more actively participate in activities
Encouraging students to take the role of teacher and deliver instruction
Focusing on the strength of a student with special needs
Create classroom checklists
Take breaks when necessary
Create an area for children to calm down
Organize student desk in groups
Create a self and welcoming environment
Set ground rules and stick with them
Help establish short-term goals
Design a multi-faceted curriculum
Communicate regularly with parents and/or caregivers
Seek support from other special education teachers

Inclusionary practices are commonly utilized by using the following team-teaching models:

One teach, one support:

In this model, the content teacher will deliver the lesson and the special education teacher will assist student's individual needs and enforce classroom management as needed.

One teach, one observe:

In this model, the teacher with the most experience in the content will deliver the lesson and the other teacher will float or observe. This model is commonly used for data retrieval during IEP observations or Functional Behavior Analysis.

Station teaching :

In this model, the room is divided into stations in which the students will visit with their small groups. Generally, the content teacher will deliver the lesson in his/her group, and the special education teacher will complete a review or an adapted version of the lesson with the students.

Parallel teaching:

In this model, one half of the class is taught by the content teacher and one half is taught by the special education teacher. Both groups are being taught the same lesson, just in a smaller group.

Alternative teaching:

In this method, the content teacher will teach the lesson to the class, while the special education teacher will teach a small group of students an alternative lesson.

Team teaching :

Both teachers share the planning, teaching, and supporting equally. This is the traditional method, and often the most successful co-teaching model.
Some recent research suggests inclusion can be successful if certain things are done to help teachers become more educated on how to implement inclusion. Len Barton is a professor of Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education at the University of London and gave a lecture on how inclusion can be beneficial if certain criteria are followed. In a lecture he gave, he himself states that inclusion is not the one and only answer to helping education but it is a stepping stone. The conclusion of his studies states many criteria teachers need in order to make inclusion work. The first criterion is making the topic of inclusion the main part of educational programs for teachers in order to emphasize the importance of inclusion in boosting all students learning and participation. Barton says another factor is including disability and equality awareness training to teachers and staff done by trained professionals in order to increase teachers understanding behind inclusion.