Acitvity 1.2 What makes an inclusive school?
Activity 1.2 What makes an inclusive school?
1. Daniel and Lydia made many extremely valid points on the topic, which I am in agreement with. These key features can be adopted into any classroom around the world, allowing for the improvement of inclusion within the school environment.
2. Daniel referred to “soft things” which by listening to the video is a reference to teacher attitudes. My understanding of this is primarily the perception of teachers regarding disabilities, children with disabilities and the inclusion of such into the classroom environment. True inclusion can only happen within the environment if teachers are compassionate, empathic, supportive, positive, and accepting about disabilities and disabled children; and are willing to play their part in creating an inclusion classroom.
3. In Trinidad and Tobago, extensively inclusive schooling is the goal. Though we may not be fully there yet, courses such as this play a vital role in streamlining an efficient inclusive environment throughout schools nationwide, by training educators on the topic, thus creating positive attitudes and behaviours toward inclusive education.
4. The provision of resources allows for the child to have a sense of belonging and not just feel as though their needs are a second thought. These resources help boost their self-esteem, give them a sense of validation, community, safety, and comfort.
There are many critical points that can be taken away from the youtube video. In reality there really is a disconnect between theory and practice. In my school in particular, we have started very slowly to welcome students with disabilities (both physical and otherwise), however although we get a lot of discussions from administration on how we should cater to their needs we are not allocated resources, the physical environment was not modified, we are not given extra time in those classes. So I share the views of both Daniel and Lydia ( an inclusive classroom should take into consideration modification of physical environment, teacher attitude, training, allocation of resources etc)
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Hello Katherine,
I agree. There are steps being taken, but without resources readily available to both teachers and students, it is quite difficult to efficiently navigate an inclusive classroom.
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I am from Trinidad and Tobago and an ECCE teacher assistant, I agree that inclusive education plays an important role, however we need to be better trained in order to have an efficient inclusive system, and courses like this will provide this opportunity
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Hi, I am also from Trinidad and Tobago and also an ECCE teacher assistant and a mother of a very special little boy (special needs). I agree that courses like these will give us some insight to what we need to do and be to better facilitate the Inclusive classroom. In addition to this course what would also be beneficial is to have one on one experiences with these special ones along side the experts to harness the skills necessary to make learning more meaningful in the classroom for these children.
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