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Inclusion: theory and practice : Effective Schools for All in the UK and Macedonia
Maggie Balshaw, Unesco consultant
What do you think inclusive practice looks and feels like? How can we develop more inclusive ways of working? What are the inclusive methodologies that might be used? What are the barriers to these developments? Your answers to those questions may be somewhat different if you are part of the UK education system or in a former Yugoslav republic, but strangely they might be very similar, too.
Whatever the answers you may offer, you might like to know what has been found in comparing the developments in one LEA in the UK with the former Yugoslavian republic of Macedonia. The Unesco project 'Effective Schools for All' has been happening in both places. In Harrow for five years, and in Macedonia it started over two years ago. The project espouses the values and principles of the Salamanca Statement (1994), with its focus on many governments' commitments to developing inclusive practice worldwide.
Each of the projects is described in more detail in the documents entitled, From integration to inclusion: the Macedonian experience, (Jachova, Samardziska-Panova and Ivanovska); and Understanding the development of inclusive schools in Harrow (Balshaw and Lucas)., which were also presented at ISEC 2000, Manchester.
In the Macedonian paper the three authors detail their experiences of the project in their country. Likewise the first UK paper contains an evaluation of the development of more inclusive practice in Harrow. The third (Balshaw and Lucas, 2000), draws out some comparisons between the two and this paper is a precis of that.
The leaders of both the projects have been evaluating the outcomes. We have also identified those processes and strategies seemed to be key to the work in both Harrow and Macedonia. The project uses the Unesco teacher education resource pack (1991), with adults working in the schools. In that activity the process has been important. In both Harrow and Macedonia the creativity that the pack's use has engendered and facilitated has been a crucial element. Teacher/adult workshops have introduced and maintained the principles on which the Unesco project work is based.
These activities have been supported by the strategic use of materials the Unesco pack in school contexts. This in turn has led to the same principles of cooperation being fostered in the classroom, a key element in the development of more inclusive classroom practice. The cooperation modelled by adults has been mirrored in classroom arrangements that have developed in order to encourage more cooperative learning and peer support amongst the children.
Leadership of the project in school by coordinating teams of people, including senior staff, support staff and teachers has been a key factor. Coordinating staff development opportunities has been these teams' major task. This teamwork has further been enhanced by the use of learning partnerships (teacher/teacher, external support/teacher, pedagogist or defectologist/teacher, child/child) in developing new ideas and approaches and experimentation with these in the classroom.
Another strong strategy has been that of using local support networks in order that the coordinating teams can share their experiences and outcomes in terms of developing more inclusive practice with one another. These local support networks have also included LEA/ministry personnel (in Macedonia this has included key staff from the Pedagogical Institute of Macedonia, (PIM), supported by Unicef). Developing clear strategies for evaluation has also helped with clarity of understanding about the nature of inclusive practice, particularly in the classroom, but also throughout the schools' ethos and organisation.
There have been interesting differences too. Macedonia, unlike the UK, does not have Ofsted inspections, league tables and the 'standards agenda', although of course, as in most education systems there is a continuous commitment to improve practice and to develop the curriculum, in which PIM takes a leading role. The tensions that exist between the targets for school and pupil achievement and the push to include more children with disabilities are not so sharply felt as in the UK. However, many parents need reassurance, as they do in the UK, that more inclusive ways of working are likely to lead to more inclusive communities in the future.
Macedonia is much poorer in terms of material resources, but it has great strengths in using creatively the learning and skills of the resources it does have within its school communities - namely the human beings. Sometimes, it seems, we need to think more deeply about that in the UK, rather, as is often the case, people seem to assume the answer lies in more and more resources in order to be more inclusive in our practice. The key seems rather to lie in 'capacity building', encouraging adults to learn and learn together to develop their confidence, skills and practice.
Macedonia also has a legacy left from the time of being in the Eastern European context. This can translate into the ongoing influences of history, some of which is in contrast to the inclusive agenda. There are also still many 'hidden' children who receive no formal schooling and for whom the development of inclusive practice means including them in the community and encouraging their parents or carers to bring them into a school of any kind, whether this is special or mainstream. So, the inclusive agenda feels somewhat different there. In addition there are many refugee and Roma children who are out of school for part or all of the school day, whose parents are perceived as hard to reach. They too become a focus of the inclusive agenda. In fact, there has been more emphasis in Macedonia than in the UK in drawing parents into partnership through parents' workshops and parents' councils.
The role of school leaders/headteachers in Macedonia is also different, these people being political appointees rather than accountable to boards of governors and the LEA. They can sometimes be removed from their jobs in the aftermath of an election at local or national level, which means continuity and leadership support is sometimes difficult to maintain, although once committed they are important to the project. Continuity in the UK is more stable, and the active involvement, support and understanding of headteachers is seen as crucial to positive outcomes.
Despite these differences our evaluation (Balshaw and Lucas, 2000) has shown that there are some key questions that colleagues in the project schools have identified which address the fundamental issues of developing both an inclusive school ethos and practical strategies that lead to more inclusive classrooms.
We have learnt lessons from our international experiences that have led us to believe in the art of the possible. We have seen that through partnership working both Harrow and Macedonia schools are offering more inclusive experiences to their children as a result. We have observed child-to-child support in mixed ability classes and talked to the teachers and other professionals about how they have brought this to fruition in Macedonia, showing that it can be done. Moreover, everybody, adults and children, are the richer for their learning experiences. We have watched colleagues in the UK lead workshops for teachers and teaching assistants on classroom strategies and organisation. These include how best to use the talents and skills of all the adult team in order to enhance opportunities for all the children in the class to participate fully. Our observations tell us that in the UK too, despite tensions that exist in the overall system, where there is a will there is a way!
The inclusion of all the relevant people in the strategies used demonstrates that an inclusive methodology is one that seeks the views and perspectives, skills and unique knowledge, spirit of inquiry, support, understanding and commitment of them all. Children, parents, teachers, teaching assistants, professionals working in support of the school, governors, school directors and headteachers, LEA, ministry and PIM personnel are all needed to offer contributions in order to build the capacity of the school and its community as a truly more inclusive resource.
Balshaw, M. and Lucas, H. (2000) 'Effective Schools for All' in Macedonia and Harrow: an international comparison Unpublished paper presented at ISEC 2000, Manchester, July 2000
Balshaw, M. and Lucas, H. (2000) Understanding the development of inclusive schools in Harrow Unpublished paper presented at ISEC 2000, Manchester, July 2000
Jachova, Z., Samardziska-Panova, L. and Ivanovska, M. (2000) From integration to inclusion: the Macedonian experience. Unpublished paper presented at ISEC 2000, Manchester, July 2000
Unesco (1991) Special Needs in the Classroom A teacher education resource pack, Paris: Unesco
Unesco (1994) The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action Paris: Unesco; Madrid: Ministry of Education and Science
Inclusion: theory and practice : Effective Schools for All in the UK and Macedonia
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24/05/2001