Des Écoles en mouvement: Inclusion d'élèves en situation de handicap ou éprouvant des difficultés à l'école

La pratique inclusive au Québec : d’une région à l’autre

Inclusive education and Diversity 303 children put aside. now he is with children he will grow up with. He has full support [from a learning support assistant] in school, but he has normal provision and goes to ordinary lessons. He has his own Individual education Plan, and [help from] a speech therapist and a physiotherapist, and has access to specialist equipment and aids provided by the occupational therapist. He has been on a residential trip [with all the other children] and goes to school clubs. He is an active member of the school and the wider society. that’s what I wanted for him. (interview with mother, 19/9/07) For this mother, inclusion is not only about issues of disability and access. What is inclusive about this school? children here have a lot of choices, and they can make decisions themselves—for example,about who should be a member of the school council. there is an emphasis on respecting, valuing, and listening. the school instills in children values such as accepting and understanding. Inclusion means inclusion for everybody. this young woman describes her children’s school as inclusive in terms of a whole range of qualities and opportunities. she understands the relationship between collaborating, sharing, and listening and the rights of all children to learn together and participate as full and equal members of the community and of society. conclusion this small case study has provided some important insights into the interface between national policy, population changes through migration, and local communities and one inner-city primary school. We have described a number of dimensions of the life of the school, drawing out the particularly positive examples of ways in which the school is successfully and creatively developing inclusive policies and practices informed by values of equity and respect. In undertaking this study, we have been vividly reminded of the privilege and responsibility of seeking to understand and provide an informed sensitive account of the context and aspects of the lived 304 Des écoles en mouvement experiences of the participants. the factors involved are complex and multilayered, providing a rich source of issues, incidents, interactions, and challenges, many of which we have not been able to engage with in this brief overview. Also, having the opportunity to witness first-hand the great benefits of a purpose-built, well-resourced building supporting the pursuit of inclusive practices, we have been reminded of the serious inequalities of such provisions within the school system generally. this remains a significant barrier to the realization of inclusive conditions and relations within the educational system in england. During our time within the school, it became increasingly evident through our observations, interactions, interviews, and conversations how much hard work is involved in the struggle for more inclusive thinking, relations, and practices. the degree and quality of the time, physical, emotional, and intellectual labour entailed in the continual commitment and creative and imaginative efforts of the staff remain a lasting memory of our experience. We do not underestimate the challenges and efforts involved in the development of a more open, friendly, supportive culture for both staff and pupils within the school. nor would we want to underplay the challenges which lie ahead in that there is unfinished business, contradictions, and barriers to be engaged with in the pursuit of further change. steelbank school’s achievements are in many ways remarkable— and to some extent this is recognized in the official report of the government inspectorate—but the ‘public face’ of the school’s achievements is reduced to sAt results which are published nationally in league tables and used to provide misleading comparisons with other schools. Where are the national ‘tables of achievement’ for the values and practices, relationships with the community, and quality of teaching and learning to be found? We feel the work of steelbank and similar schools should be recognized and widely shared; how this work can be disseminated so that other schools can learn from their experience remains a challenge. the possibilities open to steelbank in terms of its future development are ‘limitless’ in terms of its commitment to particular long-term goals and its close and dynamic relationship with its local communities but ‘constrained’ in terms of the context in which it operates. the demands of the national Inclusive education and Diversity 305 curriculum, standardized tests, and the publication of ‘league tables’ and inspection reports cannot be ignored by schools, and...