Session Information
04 SES 09 B, Teacher's Views on Effective Provision
Paper Session
Contribution
The paper discusses aspects of my research into inclusive practices and experiences; it’s theoretical framework and methodology.
The main task of this research is to study the relationship between teachers’ interpretation of inclusion, their practice in the classroom and students experience, achievement and participation in classrooms that aim at becoming inclusive. The purpose is to understand better what inclusion involves, how it can appear in practice and consequently how it can be successfully developed in the communities of schools. The discourse about inclusion has moved from whether or not it is morally right and viable to how and what it means to be included and what features of inclusion are meaningful to students. (Allan, J. and Slee, R. 2008)
The research question is; How do teachers’ that claim to favour inclusion within the schools’ learning communities, interpret inclusion and how is this reflected in their practice in the classroom and in students’ experiences of being included and in their learning outcomes?
We need to understand better how students understand their situation within their learning communities, before we can begin to describe the rules of the game or their actions in more general terms. (Bjarnason, D. 2003) Through my selected theories I will try to understand how the actors (students, teachers and other staff), recognize, produce and reproduce social actions, and howand/or if they come they come to share an inter-subjective understanding of inclusion and what it is to be included. (Schwandt, T.A. 2007) I will also try to understand what student´s achievement means both regarding learning and participation. The theoretical framework is located within the fields of socio-cultural theory, social constructionism, and the poststructuralistic approaches. Vygotsky´s social constructivism ( his field in pedagogy, educational theory and the socio- cultural context of learning) is also useful to look at students’ learning outcommes and participation as the theory emphasises the socially situated nature of learning by linking the social world to individual development (Stringer, P. 2009)
Methodology:
This is a qualitative research that focuses on understanding teachers´ interpretations of inclusion, their practice in the classroom and students’ experience from the perspective of the research participants. It is a case study in that it seeks to understand the individuals and their actions in their environment and determine why individuals behave as they do and not merely recording their behaviour. I emphasise in giving the participants a voice in the research and a shared understanding. To do so I plan to work closely (interview, observe and discuss) with a strategic sample of 3 teachers/ 3 teacher groups, professionals who support the idea of inclusive education, and explore their explicit theory in practice. I will work with the teachers over the period of one school year. The work consists of 3 in-depth interviews with each teacher, at the beginning of the school year, in the middle and at the end of the year.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Allan, J. (1996) Foucault and Special Educational Needs: A box of tools for analysising children´s experiences of mainstreaming. Disability and Society, 11(2), 219-233 Allan, J. og Slee, R. (2008) Doing Inclusive Education Research. Í Gabel, S. Og Danforth, S. (ritstja.), Disability and the politics of education; An international reader. New York: Peter Lang. Ary, D., Jacobs, L.C., Razavieh, A. and Sorensen, C. (2006) Introduction to Research in Education. 7th ed. Wadsworth: Thomson Berger,P.L and Luckmann,T. (1967) The Social Construction of Reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. London, Penguin Pub. Bjarnason, D. (?) Private troubles or public issues? The social construction of “the disabled baby” in the context of social policy and social and technological changes Bjarnason, D. (2003) Paper – Social Constructionism – Theoretical Perspectives from Symbolic Interactionism to Postmodernism Daniels, H. (2008) Vygotsky and Research. London: Routledge Egelund and Tetler (edt.) (2010). Effecter av special undervisningen. Copenhagen: DPU Universitets forlag. Foucault, M (2005). Alsæi, vald og þekking. Reykjavík: Bókmenntafræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands Guðmundsson, G. (2008) Félagsfræði menntunar. Reykjavík: Skrudda Hick, P. (2007) Reframing psychology for inclusive learning within social justice agendas. In Psychology for Inclusive Education New directions in theory and practice, ed. P. Hick, R. Kershner and P.T. Farrell, 24 – 37. London: Routledge Hitchcock, G. and Hughes, D. (1995) Research and the teacher: A Qualitative introduction to school-based research (2.útg.). London: Routledge/Falmer. Kershner, R. (2009) Learning in inclusive classrooms. In Psychology for Inclusive Education New directions in theory and practice, ed. P. Hick, R. Kershner and P.T. Farrell, 52 – 65. London: Routledge Mercer, N. (1995) The Guided Construction of Knowledge. Talk amongst teachers and learners. Multilingual Matters LTD. Clevedon Palincsar, A.S. (2005) Social constructivist perspectives on teaching and learning, in H. Daniels (ed.) An Introduction to Vygotsky, 2ed. (pp. 285- 314). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge
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