Understanding Children’s Classroom Experiences Of Diversity And Belonging In English Primary Schools: Building Inclusive Pedagogy Through Dialogue

Author(s):

Ruth Kershner(presenting / submitting)Kristine Black-Hawkins Linda Cooper

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 02 B, Landscapes of Inclusive Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-02

15:15-16:45

Room:

B014 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Lani Florian

Contribution

In its study of Participation in Inclusive Education EADSNE (2011) identified that for many schools across Europe: ‘respecting diversity and differences […] while ensuring participation and providing a high quality education for all children and youth remains a challenge’. A key concern for teachers is how to respond to national economic and political pressures on schools in ways that support the principles of inclusion and achievement for all children (Black-Hawkins, Florian & Rouse 2007). There can be significant discrepancies between professional aspirations and practices, not least for schools that emphasise their role in nurturing children and teachers as valued members of the school community. Early career teachers (ECTs) in their first post often express strong commitment to the values of inclusion but are anxious about meeting the needs of diverse groups of learners in their classrooms (Florian & Linklater 2010; Forlin, 2010). In learning to take on their professional responsibilities, ECTs need to understand the management of the whole school as well as the complexities of their own class teaching. The children, as learners, are similarly faced with making sense of their membership of their class as well as other home and school contexts to which they belong.

This paper draws on the ‘BUILDing Inclusive Pedagogy’ project, which investigates the views of ECTs, senior leaders and pupils on diversity and belonging in primary classrooms in England, in order to support ECTs in the development of inclusive pedagogy. The project comprises a collaborative network of teachers working in partnership with university-based researchers. The current research questions relate to 1-3 of the following four research objectives:

1. To understand the views of ECTs, school leaders and pupils about children’s classroom experiences of diversity and belonging.

2. To examine the construction of different perspectives through dialogue within and between ECTs, school leaders and pupils in the same school.

3. To support ECTs’ inclusive pedagogical thinking in ways that actively attend to children’s classroom learning experiences, in relation to school policy and practice decisions and dilemmas.

4. To produce materials, in collaboration with the ECTs, for wider use in initial teacher education.

Research in inclusive classroom practices has been criticised for being one-dimensional: studies often focus on one set of perspectives and actions (e.g. in the form of surveys of teachers’ views or observations of children’s behaviour) rather than on the complex interactions intrinsic to classroom teaching and learning (Artiles et al. 2006). Therefore this study pays careful attention to the beliefs and attitudes of both children and teachers, supported by a theoretical understanding of the social relationships and practices underpinning classroom learning (Black-Hawkins 2014; Florian & Black-Hawkins 2011; Florian & Kershner 2009; Kershner 2009). It builds on previous studies carried out by the researchers in several overlapping areas: inclusive pedagogy, primary teacher research networks, epistemological beliefs, and dialogic interview methods.

The research compares the perspectives of ECTs, senior leaders and children in each school within and across the BUILD network, focusing on the dialogues taking place between all involved. The aim is to come to a contextualised and pedagogically meaningful understanding of the relationships between children’s experiences of diversity, belonging and learning. From the teachers’ perspectives, a key interest lies in understanding the relationships between school structures and classroom affordances for enhancing children’s inclusive learning experiences. Pivot points for discussion and development relate to the importance of dialogue, collaborative activities, exercising choice, exploration, learning to learn, social relations, representations of knowledge, and use of resources. These common dimensions of learning not only facilitate productive dialogue within each school but also aim to cross school, regional and national boundaries.

Method

The central focus of the study is on the shared thinking of a locally linked collaborative group of eight ECTs, working in partnership with university researchers. The intention is to examine how ECTs build knowledge about inclusive pedagogy through self-directed investigations and dialogues about their practice. The research design links each ECT with a senior leader in their school and with the children in their classroom. Initial recruitment focused on the ECTs themselves expressing interest in the project, but the research essentially calls on the additional participation of senior leaders in each school. Involvement and commitment to the project therefore lies at school level as well within the workings of individual classes. The intention of this multi-level research design is to build understanding of key interactions and relationships between ECTs, senior leaders and children, thus enhancing the potential value and transferability of the study’s findings beyond each school and the network itself (McLaughlin, Black-Hawkins & McIntyre 2007). Data are generated through university-based workshops and school visits by the university research team, as well as through the teachers’ own investigations. The workshops include discussion of preparatory activities carried out by the teachers, such as a classroom observation or a record of a ‘learning walk’ with children. All these activities are suggested by the university research team, with options for teachers to follow up their own professional concerns and interests. School visits by the university research team involve discussion with the teachers and senior leaders, as well as group discussions with children (Cooper in press) regarding their views on ‘belonging’, ‘sameness’ and ‘difference’. Connections between children’s and teachers’ dialogues are being developed in the course of the project, mainly through the teacher workshops and subsequent actions by teachers back in their own schools. The data comprise video and audio recordings of discussions and interviews, photographs, workshop activity results, and teachers’ presentations of their own investigation findings. The current paper relates primarily to the first three research objectives (see above), in terms of understanding the views of ECTs, school leaders and children about classroom experiences of diversity and belonging. In these ways we examine the construction of knowledge through dialogue (Hargreaves & Kershner, 2012), and evaluate the development of ECTs’ inclusive pedagogical thinking and practice in response to children’s classroom learning experiences and the decisions and dilemmas arising at whole-school level.

Expected Outcomes

This project runs between September 2013-October 2014, so final conclusions are not yet available. However, the interim findings, with regards to our first three research objectives, are that ECTs can productively engage in developing their inclusive pedagogy through focusing on understanding children’s classroom experiences, with particular reference to self-chosen priorities (such as the development of collaborative groupwork, choice, or social relations). Furthermore, engaging in dialogue with other ECTs through the networked activities, can enhance their collective understanding of inclusive pedagogy. There is also an emerging indication of the ways in which teachers’ actions may be supported by school-wide principles (e.g. the classroom development of language and social relations through the application of principles that connect with the school’s identity as a ‘nurturing’ community). In addition to the academic publications from this project, key outcomes will include the production of materials for wider use in the network’s schools and in initial teacher education (research objective four). More broadly, our aim is to help to address a fundamental question raised by EADSNE (2012) in their three year project involving 25 countries from across Europe. That is, ‘What kind of teachers are needed for an inclusive society in a 21st century school?’. This study identified four core values and areas of competence for current and future teachers: ‘Valuing Learner Diversity’, ‘Supporting All Learners’, ‘Working with others’ and ‘Personal Professional Development’. Each of these resonates strongly with our findings so far, and specifically with regards to the benefits of children, teachers, school senior leaders and researchers engaging in dialogue together, so as to learn from and with each other.

References

Artiles, A. J., Kozleski, E. B., Dorn, S. & Christensen, S. (2006). Learning in inclusive education research: Re-mediating theory and methods with a transformative agenda. Review of Research in Education, 30(1), 65-108. Black-Hawkins, K., Florian, L. & Rouse, M. (2007) Achievement and Inclusion in Schools. London, Routledge. Black-Hawkins, K. 2014. Researching Inclusive Classroom Practices: The Framework for Participation, in L. Florian (Ed.) The SAGE Handbook of Special Needs, London: Sage. Cooper, L. (in press) Using interviews to help children talk about their school experience. In Kanyal, M. (Ed). Children’s rights 0-8: promoting participation in education and care. Essex: Pearson. EADSNE 2011 Participation in Inclusive Education: A Framework for Developing Indicators, Odense, Denmark: European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education. EADSNE 2012. Teacher Education For Inclusion: Profile Of Inclusive Teachers, Odense, Denmark: European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education. Florian, L. and Linklater, H. 2010. Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Education: Using Inclusive Pedagogy to Enhance Teaching and Learning for All. Cambridge Journal of Education, 40, 4, 369-386 Forlin, C. 2010. Reframing teacher education for inclusion, In C. Forlin (Ed) Teacher Education for Inclusion: Changing Paradigms and Innovative Approaches, London: Routledge, pp.3-10. Florian, L. & Black-Hawkins, K. 2011. Exploring Inclusive Pedagogy. British Educational Research Journal, 37(5), 813-828. Florian, L. and Kershner, R. (2009) 'Inclusive pedagogy' in H. Daniels, H. Lauder and J. Porter (eds) Knowledge, Values and Educational Policy: a critical perspective. Abingdon: Routledge pp. 173-183. Hargreaves, L. and Kershner, R. (2012) Eliciting Children’s Beliefs About Knowledge And Knowing: The Power Of Dialogic Methods. Paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, University of Cádiz. 18-21 September 2012. Kershner, R. 2009. 'Learning in inclusive classrooms' In P. Hick, R. Kershner and P. Farrell (Eds) Psychology for Inclusive Education: New directions in theory and practice. Abingdon: Routledge pp. 52-65. McLaughlin, C., Black-Hawkins, K. and McIntyre, D. (2007) Networking Practitioner Research. London, Routledge.

Author Information

Ruth Kershner (presenting / submitting)

University of Cambridge

Faculty of Education

Cambridge

Kristine Black-Hawkins

University of Cambridge

Faculty of Education

Cambridge

Linda Cooper

University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

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