Inclusive Pedagogy: A Contribution From Two Unrelated Empirical Studies

Author(s):

George Head(presenting / submitting)Angela Jaap Margaret Sutherland

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 04 A, Inclusive Pedagogy (Part 2)

Paper Session continues from 04 SES 03 A

Time:

2015-09-09

09:00-10:30

Room:

205.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Torill Moen

Contribution

The development of pedagogies that lead to a more inclusive experience of education for children and young people has been a major focus for the inclusive education movement. In addition, some countries, for example Scotland, Finland and Sweden, have reconceptualised special education away from a focus on individual deficit, in- or dis- ability, towards one of support and provision. The result is that much recent research and theoretical activity has sought to explore innovative approaches to the learning of all children and young people. This paper aims to contribute to our understanding of effective pedagogy and provision through drawing on the findings from two empirical research projects, neither of which had a prime focus on pedagogy but both of which produced data relevant to this developing context.

The first study was a retrospective exercise based on moving image education in one Scottish primary school. In this study, pupils in the sixth and seventh years of their primary education were asked to engage with an archive of materials they had produced as part of a moving image education project in their first and second years in school.

The project focused on children understanding and applying Skills for Learning, Life and Work to enhance their perceptions of what, how and why they needed to learn. The project was designed to allow young learners to explore and compare themselves as learners currently and five years previously in order to identity the skills they had, how they had developed (or otherwise) and to consider how they might use them in future. A paper reporting on this project was presented at ECER 2012

Findings significant for the current paper included data related to emerging learner and teacher identities and relationships that were different from and challenged those normally at play in the school. These were attributed largely to the changed context of the retrospective in which the pupils were more knowledgeable about the initial moving image education project and more familiar with the experiences and materials produced.

The second study, completed in December 2014, consisted of seminars and interviews to explore how skills, abilities and talents were identified and developed in a range of contexts including sport, business, performing arts, visual arts and community/urban education. Significant findings for this paper again included matters of context and and identity but also the importance of mindset. These emerged as essential and overlapping factors in the successful development of athletes, sportsmen and women, artists, performers and participants in all of the contexts considered.

This paper takes the findings of context, mindset and identity arising from both studies and explores their significance for the development of inclusive education and pedagogy.

Method

For the study of the development of skills, abilities and talents, the research team adopted a qualitative approach to this project, based on an adaptation of grounded theory. The research team designed a method of constant comparison, testing and refining emerging ideas based on seminars and interviews that would allow participants involved in talent development either as part of their everyday role or who had been considered as highly able or talented individuals in their field to explore their own ideas related to their own and others' development. As such, the starting point was not a research question but the setting up of a process that would allow questions, issues, practices and theories to emerge. Data was gathered through two seminars involving participants (n=32, 13) recruited from the fields of sport, business, performing arts, visual arts and community/urban education and interviews (n=22) with key informants from these same contexts. Evaluation of the retrospective was conducted using a case-study approach. An evaluative case study enables the empirical exploration of a project in order to identify and interpret its salient features with the intention of generating insight into those aspects which may inform or influence practice. This approach is essentially a search for those qualities of a project that contribute to its success or otherwise and, therefore, a qualitative evaluation was deemed appropriate. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers and focus groups with pupils. The focus groups with the pupils (n=12) and the interviews members of staff (n=4) invited participants to reflect on three elements of the MIE week activities: • Engagement • Self-efficacy/attitude towards work • Future

Expected Outcomes

The findings common to both studies relate to the overlapping and inter-related themes of context, mindset and identity and this paper takes each of these and explores their implications for inclusive education and pedagogy. Context was found to be significant in the sense that it has to provide the opportunities and appropriate supports for participation and development. This was achieved in the retrospective when the pupils guided the project and determined the activities necessary to take it forward. This impacted on the role of teachers who became mediators, advising and suggesting rather than instructors as had previously been the case. In the context of sport, it is envisaged that the context includes all participants, their families teams and trainers and successful development is depended on each working together as appropriate. They have a maxim of 'retention rather than selection' which represents an egalitarian rather than elitist perception of sports people, and which in educational terms could translate into 'inclusion rather than segregation'. Mindset emerged from both studies, explicitly in the second and imlicitly in the retrospect. Mindset applies to both participants and their seniors (trainers, tutors, managers) and is seen as crucial to successful development. The pupils in the retrospective demonstrated a mindset related to a sense of self-efficacy and belief in their own ideas and their ability to pursue them. Similarly, participants in the development study indicated that without the right mindset development will be constrained, even if everything else in the context is appropriate. Identity, specifically learner identity in the case of the retrospective was seen to be both arising from and contributing to both context and mindset. This paper concludes that understanding of each of these factors and their mutuality are important for our understanding of inclusive education and pedagogy.

References

Boreham, N. (2004) 'A theory of collective competence: challenging the neo-liberal individualisation of performance at work. British Journal of Educational Studies 52 (1), 5-17. Florian, L. and Black-Hawkins, K. (2011) 'Exploring inclusive pedagogy'. British Educational Research Journal 37 (5), 813-828. Head, G. and Jaap, A. (2011) Creative Scotland’s Moving Image Education Retrospective In conjunction with Maisondieu Primary School, Brechin. Glasgow: Creative Scotland. Head, G., Neil, K., Jaap, A. and Sutherland, M. (2015) An exploration of talent development. Glasgow:Creative Scotland.

Author Information

George Head (presenting / submitting)

University of Glasgow

Glasgow

Angela Jaap

University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

Margaret Sutherland