The Significance of Inclusive Education

Hi everyone. Take a look at this photo. You can see a group of diverse school students, all sitting together at a school assembly. Do you think it is important for all students to have the opportunity to go to their local school with their peers, including students who have a disability? Do you think it's important that they have the opportunity to go to school all together? I'm going to share with you my experience of being a teacher and a researcher that will show you why it is so important that we all commit to this idea of inclusive education. Today we're going to think about how schools can change people's lives. In 1983, I became a teacher at a special school. It was a new special school. There were about 25 children at the school between the ages of 5 and 17 years of age, and it was in a small rural town. Some of the children had a disability, some of the children had a learning difficulty or a behaviour difficulty, but most of the children all came from poor family backgrounds. In 1983, when the school opened, the students were selected to go to the school by the local school principals, the guidance officers and the counsellors. And they were removed from their local school, their local regular school, and placed in the special school, away from their friends and siblings. In a small country town, students who went to the special school were labelled and ostracised. They were called retards. All of a sudden they were seen as mentally and physically inadequate. Can you imagine what sort of impact this had on their young lives? Research tells us that special education establishes life trajectories that may limit life opportunities, may separate children from their siblings, neighbourhoods and communities. and may impact on the nature and the quality of the education that they engage in. In 1985, I became a teacher at a special school that was attached to an institution for people with disabilities in North Queensland. The school had children between the ages of about three years of age, right through to young adults. And most of the students had significant and severe disabilities. Many of the students were wards of the state. So when they were born, their parents were encouraged to give them up and forget about them and place them in the institution. And the children became the responsibility of the government. It was the government's responsibility to look after their welfare. Some of the children at the school that I taught at saw their parents occasionally, but most of the students... never saw their families. Can you imagine the impact that this had on their lives? In the morning, the children finished their breakfast in the institution and then they were placed in wheelchairs in the institution and waited for us teachers to go and collect them and bring them down to the school. The school was in the same grounds as the institution. Some mornings when we arrived, there was a bed sitting in the garden in the sun and that meant that one of the people in the institution had passed away overnight and sometimes that person was one of our students. The children and young people slept in dormitories in cots that looked a little bit like the ones in this photograph. Most of the students... or most of the people in the institution had self-stimulatory behaviour. They rocked and banged their heads and made lots of self-stimulatory noises, repetitive noises. And that was due to anxiety and being sad and lonely and being bored. Or sometimes they just copied each other in the institution. So in an institution, self-stimulatory behaviour was normal. I remember a cage, much like the timber cage in this photograph, and the cage was at the entrance to the institution and children were locked in the cage with not very much stimulation. This was really cruel and dehumanising. The children all had cognitive, physical and social and emotional difficulties and their development was clearly impacted by living a life in the institution. This was only 35 years ago. Can you imagine? Can you even imagine that that happened only 35 years ago? This is a photograph of me as a teacher with one of my other teaching colleagues and with one of the teacher aides and the photograph is taken in one of the special classrooms in the special school that was attached to the institution. We worked really hard to make sure our classroom environments were really fun and stimulating and we taught academic skills and social skills and living skills. We had lots of dress-up days at school and this is what's happening in that photograph. We took the students on lots of excursions to get them away from the school and to give them an experience away from the institution. Sometimes we took the children to our houses for lunch so that they could experience what a real home was like. In 1989... I moved to London and I became a teacher at a special school there. I had the early childhood class and these children lived at home with their parents in high-rise apartment buildings in London. And the children travelled to school, to the special school, every day on a special school bus. So they hardly ever saw children who didn't have a disability. So the children in my classroom had lots of inappropriate behaviours and they all copied each other because they didn't have other role models to follow. They all had delayed language and they had social difficulties and behaviour difficulties. Can you imagine what their life and their learning and development would have been like if they'd had an opportunity to go to an inclusive school? Their lives would have been very different. Children with special Children with disabilities usually go to special education schools because it was thought that that was the best place for them. But there's no research evidence to support that belief. In 1990 I returned to Australia and inclusion of children with disabilities had really begun in primary and secondary schools. The photograph that you can see here is a photograph of some special education classrooms in a secondary school environment. But the classrooms are situated right in the back corner of the school grounds. So the students with disabilities are still separated from their peers and they spend most of the day learning and socialising with people who have disability rather than, you know, with peers who don't have a disability. Can you see that there's a big... fence around the special classrooms. What sort of message do you think that sends to the school community? What sort of message? Does it mean that people are frightened of them? They need to be locked up? So once you get through the big high fence, the students with disabilities have to go through a locked gate. and then through self-locking doors to get into their classroom. So what sort of message does that send about people with disabilities? Does it send a message, as I said just before, that they need to be controlled and locked up? Do you know that they are the same ideas and beliefs that people had about people with disability as in the 1800s? More recently, we've seen lots of positive changes in education. We've seen greater equity and thinking about what we need to do in terms of education for girls and to support children who come from different racial and cultural backgrounds. My question is, why are we still segregating children with disabilities in education? This photograph is taken of a student who had a disability in a secondary school. He used to go to classes at the special education unit. So SEU in the photograph stands for special education unit. And when he took this photograph, he gave the photograph the caption, said, if the doors were left open, it would attract more people to come into the special education unit. But the doors are closed, which makes people feel afraid of the different people inside. Around the world, ministries of education have been working really hard to develop a more inclusive approach to education that really has a focus on supporting education for all students. including students who have a disability. In 2019, I was asked to give research evidence about the benefits of inclusive education at the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. There is clear and consistent evidence from around the world that tells us that inclusive educational environments provide short-term and long-term benefits, not only just for people who have disability or students who have disability, but also for students who don't have a disability. Take a look at this image. You can see that there are two pathways, an inclusive school pathway and a special school pathway. If we take the example of a little boy... who has a disability, and he has the opportunity to go to an inclusive school. He has a really great chance of being successful in his learning and developing friends. He is more likely to engage in real and supported work, live at home in the community and have relationships with his friends and social networks. He has a greater chance of having choices and having a good life and a bigger life. If we take another example of a little boy who has a disability and he goes to a special school, he receives a special education program away from his peers and away from his siblings. He is more likely to end up in sheltered employment or not be working, be living in a group home and may become increasingly isolated and have limited choices. So he is more likely to have a smaller life. So my question is, which path should we choose? If I think back to the young woman who was sitting on the fence in the small rural town, who was just about to begin her teaching career, I didn't realise how passionate she would become about moving away from a special education approach for children with disabilities. If you have a look at these photographs, you can see that there's young people in the photographs who have disabilities. And they've been through inclusive schools. And they're just hanging out with their friends, doing regular things, you know, in their social world like everybody else. If you had the opportunity to join a more inclusive social group, just think how it could help you to become a more caring and kind person. So this big idea of inclusive education is going to take some time. But my question to you is what can you do now? Think about your own social groups. Who's in, who's out and why? Is there a possibility that you can invite someone with a disability to join your social world? I want us also to think about the language that we use to describe people with disability. We need to move away from using old-fashioned language like students with special needs. We need to move to using language like just students with disability and drop the whole special. That's a really outdated piece of language that we just need to get rid of. It takes us away from being inclusive. So I hope today... I've convinced you about why we all need to commit to inclusive education and the benefits of inclusive education for all people. And I really hope together that we really can make a difference for a more socially just and inclusive society. Thank you for listening.

Hi everyone. Take a look at this photo. You can see a group of diverse school students, all sitting together at a school assembly.

Do you think it is important for all students to have the opportunity to go to their local school with their peers, including students who have a disability? Do you think it's important that they have the opportunity to go to school all together? I'm going to share with you my experience of being a teacher and a researcher that will show you why it is so important that we all commit to this idea of inclusive education.

Today we're going to think about how schools can change people's lives. In 1983, I became a teacher at a special school. It was a new special school. There were about 25 children at the school between the ages of 5 and 17 years of age, and it was in a small rural town. Some of the children had a disability, some of the children had a learning difficulty or a behaviour difficulty, but most of the children all came from poor family backgrounds.

In 1983, when the school opened, the students were selected to go to the school by the local school principals, the guidance officers and the counsellors. And they were removed from their local school, their local regular school, and placed in the special school, away from their friends and siblings. In a small country town, students who went to the special school were labelled and ostracised.

They were called retards. All of a sudden they were seen as mentally and physically inadequate. Can you imagine what sort of impact this had on their young lives?

Research tells us that special education establishes life trajectories that may limit life opportunities, may separate children from their siblings, neighbourhoods and communities. and may impact on the nature and the quality of the education that they engage in. In 1985, I became a teacher at a special school that was attached to an institution for people with disabilities in North Queensland. The school had children between the ages of about three years of age, right through to young adults.

And most of the students had significant and severe disabilities. Many of the students were wards of the state. So when they were born, their parents were encouraged to give them up and forget about them and place them in the institution. And the children became the responsibility of the government.

It was the government's responsibility to look after their welfare. Some of the children at the school that I taught at saw their parents occasionally, but most of the students... never saw their families.

Can you imagine the impact that this had on their lives? In the morning, the children finished their breakfast in the institution and then they were placed in wheelchairs in the institution and waited for us teachers to go and collect them and bring them down to the school. The school was in the same grounds as the institution. Some mornings when we arrived, there was a bed sitting in the garden in the sun and that meant that one of the people in the institution had passed away overnight and sometimes that person was one of our students.

The children and young people slept in dormitories in cots that looked a little bit like the ones in this photograph. Most of the students... or most of the people in the institution had self-stimulatory behaviour. They rocked and banged their heads and made lots of self-stimulatory noises, repetitive noises. And that was due to anxiety and being sad and lonely and being bored.

Or sometimes they just copied each other in the institution. So in an institution, self-stimulatory behaviour was normal. I remember a cage, much like the timber cage in this photograph, and the cage was at the entrance to the institution and children were locked in the cage with not very much stimulation. This was really cruel and dehumanising. The children all had cognitive, physical and social and emotional difficulties and their development was clearly impacted by living a life in the institution.

This was only 35 years ago. Can you imagine? Can you even imagine that that happened only 35 years ago?

This is a photograph of me as a teacher with one of my other teaching colleagues and with one of the teacher aides and the photograph is taken in one of the special classrooms in the special school that was attached to the institution. We worked really hard to make sure our classroom environments were really fun and stimulating and we taught academic skills and social skills and living skills. We had lots of dress-up days at school and this is what's happening in that photograph. We took the students on lots of excursions to get them away from the school and to give them an experience away from the institution.

Sometimes we took the children to our houses for lunch so that they could experience what a real home was like. In 1989... I moved to London and I became a teacher at a special school there.

I had the early childhood class and these children lived at home with their parents in high-rise apartment buildings in London. And the children travelled to school, to the special school, every day on a special school bus. So they hardly ever saw children who didn't have a disability. So the children in my classroom had lots of inappropriate behaviours and they all copied each other because they didn't have other role models to follow.

They all had delayed language and they had social difficulties and behaviour difficulties. Can you imagine what their life and their learning and development would have been like if they'd had an opportunity to go to an inclusive school? Their lives would have been very different. Children with special Children with disabilities usually go to special education schools because it was thought that that was the best place for them. But there's no research evidence to support that belief.

In 1990 I returned to Australia and inclusion of children with disabilities had really begun in primary and secondary schools. The photograph that you can see here is a photograph of some special education classrooms in a secondary school environment. But the classrooms are situated right in the back corner of the school grounds.

So the students with disabilities are still separated from their peers and they spend most of the day learning and socialising with people who have disability rather than, you know, with peers who don't have a disability. Can you see that there's a big... fence around the special classrooms. What sort of message do you think that sends to the school community? What sort of message?

Does it mean that people are frightened of them? They need to be locked up? So once you get through the big high fence, the students with disabilities have to go through a locked gate. and then through self-locking doors to get into their classroom. So what sort of message does that send about people with disabilities?

Does it send a message, as I said just before, that they need to be controlled and locked up? Do you know that they are the same ideas and beliefs that people had about people with disability as in the 1800s? More recently, we've seen lots of positive changes in education.

We've seen greater equity and thinking about what we need to do in terms of education for girls and to support children who come from different racial and cultural backgrounds. My question is, why are we still segregating children with disabilities in education? This photograph is taken of a student who had a disability in a secondary school.

He used to go to classes at the special education unit. So SEU in the photograph stands for special education unit. And when he took this photograph, he gave the photograph the caption, said, if the doors were left open, it would attract more people to come into the special education unit.

But the doors are closed, which makes people feel afraid of the different people inside. Around the world, ministries of education have been working really hard to develop a more inclusive approach to education that really has a focus on supporting education for all students. including students who have a disability. In 2019, I was asked to give research evidence about the benefits of inclusive education at the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

There is clear and consistent evidence from around the world that tells us that inclusive educational environments provide short-term and long-term benefits, not only just for people who have disability or students who have disability, but also for students who don't have a disability. Take a look at this image. You can see that there are two pathways, an inclusive school pathway and a special school pathway.

If we take the example of a little boy... who has a disability, and he has the opportunity to go to an inclusive school. He has a really great chance of being successful in his learning and developing friends.

He is more likely to engage in real and supported work, live at home in the community and have relationships with his friends and social networks. He has a greater chance of having choices and having a good life and a bigger life. If we take another example of a little boy who has a disability and he goes to a special school, he receives a special education program away from his peers and away from his siblings.

He is more likely to end up in sheltered employment or not be working, be living in a group home and may become increasingly isolated and have limited choices. So he is more likely to have a smaller life. So my question is, which path should we choose? If I think back to the young woman who was sitting on the fence in the small rural town, who was just about to begin her teaching career, I didn't realise how passionate she would become about moving away from a special education approach for children with disabilities.

If you have a look at these photographs, you can see that there's young people in the photographs who have disabilities. And they've been through inclusive schools. And they're just hanging out with their friends, doing regular things, you know, in their social world like everybody else. If you had the opportunity to join a more inclusive social group, just think how it could help you to become a more caring and kind person.

So this big idea of inclusive education is going to take some time. But my question to you is what can you do now? Think about your own social groups.

Who's in, who's out and why? Is there a possibility that you can invite someone with a disability to join your social world? I want us also to think about the language that we use to describe people with disability.

We need to move away from using old-fashioned language like students with special needs. We need to move to using language like just students with disability and drop the whole special. That's a really outdated piece of language that we just need to get rid of. It takes us away from being inclusive.

So I hope today... I've convinced you about why we all need to commit to inclusive education and the benefits of inclusive education for all people. And I really hope together that we really can make a difference for a more socially just and inclusive society. Thank you for listening.

Transcript for:The Significance of Inclusive Education

Transcript for:
The Significance of Inclusive Education