Week 1: What are the features of an inclusive school?

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7. Developing as a learning organisation

Developing inclusive teaching practices and creating an inclusive school takes time. Teachers need support in bringing about change and access to professional development opportunities. Evidence suggest that this is more effective if it take place continuously, in the workplace and is linked to practice. But that requires systems and processes to be in place. You will explore these in Week 3.

Week 3 will also focus on how to monitor a school for inclusivity, so that areas for further development can be identified.  You will consider how school leaders and the school management committee will know if some of the systematic ways of working that were discussed in Week 2, are effective in creating an inclusive ethos. To create an inclusive school, the head teacher and school management committee need to be confident that new initiatives are working and if not, why not.

This quote is from some researchers working in Uganda (Okiror et al. 2017):

Teachers are the people entrusted with the onus of manpower development and should not only be trained at the college level, but also be continuously supported, retooled, supervised, monitored and motivated for effective performance in a changing work environment. (p425)

Activity 1.6 Professional development

You are advised to spend 40 mins on this activity

View transcript / Download PDF

  1. Listen to Daniel talking about teacher training. Daniel works at the Kenya Institution for Special Education (KISE), which provides training for teachers who wish to specialise in teaching learners with particular needs, alongside in-service training. As you listen, note down the points that Daniel makes.
  2. Think about in-service training that you have taken part in, or organised. Did it do what Daniel suggests? Write down the ways in which it could have been adapted to fit the model that Daniel describes. Are there any new roles, or ways of working that would need to be put in place in a school with which you are familiar?

On the Week 1 forum describe some professional development training that you have experienced that you felt was very effective and helpful, and made a difference to your practice. Say briefly why you found it helpful.
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