Inclusive Education Planning

The Advertiser has an article questioning the use of meditation in South Australian schools, and stating that it may even be harmful. Yet mindfulness is endorsed by the Education Department.

'Teachers must exercise caution when using meditation to help students relax as it can have harmful effects, a researcher has warned.

The Education Department has endorsed the practice of mindfulness, which uses meditation and other relaxation measures as methods for students to manage stress and behavioural issues.

Flinders University academic Leigh Burrows said a recent international study had found mindfulness had “no impact on preventing mental health problems or promoting wellbeing”.

In a paper published last week, Dr Burrows, a former teacher and qualified counsellor, said the US study of 28,000 young people taught mindfulness techniques at school had raised serious questions.'

Mindfulness in schools has ‘no impact’, new study shows Teachers must exercise caution when using meditation to help students relax as it can have harmful effects, a researcher has warned.

Good news!

Former Paralympics champion Kurt Fearnley has been appointed chair of the agency in charge of the $30 billion National Disability Insurance Scheme.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten announced Mr Fearnley's appointment at Parliament House on Monday afternoon.

Kurt Fearnley appointed chair of the NDIA The champion wheelchair racer is one of Australia's highest profile disability advocates

A new state government minister will have the sole responsibility of ensuring the autism community is represented. The landmark appointment is a national first.

As part of her role, Ms Bourke will establish the Autism Education Advisory Group – made up of people with autism, parents with lived experience, experts, community stakeholders and unions – to ensure policies are supported by consultation.

She will oversee a $28.8m investment to appoint an autism lead teacher in public primary schools, look to increase the number of autism-qualified staff in preschools and work with service providers to offer early-intervention services in children’s centres.

Special Minister for Autism appointed in SA in a national first - The South Australia Briefing Emily Bourke speaks about what her role will mean

The most robust, universal definition of inclusion is found in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and a key part of this definition is that disabled children are educated alongside their non-disabled peers. However, Education Minister Blair Boyer has made up his own definition of inclusion by stating that segregating children with disabilities is inclusive, and this confuses parents and educators.

SA to spend $4.5m on special school unit A $4.5 million special education unit will be built at the Ceduna Area School, on South Australia's west...

Inclusive education draws on a sociological approach where educators attempt to remove the barriers to education that are external to the child such as negative attitudes to disability, environmental factors and pedagogical choices that are not good fit for the child.

Simultaneously, in an inclusive model educators draw on strength based approaches and draw on the assets that each child brings to their education. Educators focus on curriculum and pedagogical frameworks that allow the child's strengths to flourish.

The diagram below outlines the four key elements of education (curriculum, pedagogy, what the teacher brings and what the child brings) and how they intersect and interact in the delivery of education.

'The new Federal Minister for Education Jason Clare announced last Friday he would convene a Teacher Workforce Roundtable focussed on tackling the nationwide teacher shortage, to be held on August 12. The roundtable will include principals, teachers and education experts.

The critical shortage of teachers is a crisis of our own making.

We knew the teaching workforce was ageing a long time ago and we knew we would reach a point where we would have so many teachers retiring that we would need to increase the number entering to make up the gap.'

Here’s what a brave new minister for education could do right away to fix the horrific teacher shortage The new Federal Minister for Education Jason Clare announced last Friday he would convene a Teacher Workforce Roundtable focussed on tackling the nationwide teacher shortage, to be held on August 1…

Unfortunately this story is behind a pay wall, but basically it is about accessibility to buildings.

A young quadriplegic Adelaide woman has called for better accessibility in CBD venues after being told her wheelchair posed an “occupational hazard” on a popular club dance floor.

Cody Gray, 24, says friends were forced to carry her 200kg powered wheelchair down a step at iconic Hindley Street venue Jive, after a staff member said they were “too busy” to set up an access ramp.

The 24-year-old was out with a group of friends on June 25 and arrived at the venue around midnight, where she asked for a portable ramp to get inside.

“We went in through the side and then the bartender took the ramp away and left … the only place I could really go was between the bar and the back door,” Ms Gray said.

She said when she asked for the ramp to be set up again to get down on to the dance floor with her friends, the bartender refused.

“(The bartender) said she couldn’t be ‘setting it up and packing it away all night’, and said she was too busy to help us,” Ms Gray said.

Inclusion is far more than access. Inclusion involves systemic reform of philosophical values and beliefs. In this news article a young person was unable to enter the building, demonstrating that we have a long, long way to go to become an inclusive society.

‘Your wheelchair is a hazard’: Popular club in disability row A young quadriplegic Adelaide woman has called for better accessibility in CBD venues after being told her wheelchair posed an “occupational hazard” on a popular club dance floor.

The Malinauskas Government is implementing an Autism Friendly Charter in South Australia.

Some of the major changes are to appoint an autism lead teacher in every public primary school, have autism qualified staff in pre-schools, provide diagnosis and intervention services in Children's Centres, and to spend $50 million on specialist support in schools in the form of speech pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists and counsellors for public schools

Here is a visual by Carol Tomlinson (2017) that shows various ways to differentiate by learner readiness. Tomlinson says:

'Designing differentiated instruction is similar to using the equalizer controls on a piece of sound equipment. There, you achieve the optimal balance for each piece of music by moving sliding levers across several different continuums to boost or cut different sound values: volume, fade, pitch and so on. In planning for differentiated student work, adjusting the 'sliders' appropriately to account for various students' different points of development equalizes their chances of being appropriately challenged by the materials, activities and products or assessments in your classroom.'

Here's a video that explains and defines inclusive education.

What is inclusive education? This video is a brief introduction to the definition of 'inclusive education', as well as the definitions of 'integration', 'segregation' and 'exclusion'. A...

Planning is an important part of the educational process. For a student with delays or disabilities, developing an individual learning plan is vital to develop a roadmap so the student can achieve their aspirations for their future. A learning plan is student-centred, identifies appropriate learning goals and describes adaptations to the environment or to teaching methods.

The acronym SMARTAR is used to develop goals in individual learning plans. This acronym can be utilised in two ways. The first approach is where the gaps or deficits in the student’s skills are identified and addressed through explicit teaching. This teaching usually occurs within segregated settings and is based on a quantitative (using numbers/ percentages or statistics) approach. The second approach is based on the Youtube video “See Ya Later SMART Goals’ by Shelley Moore from ‘Five Moore Minutes’. This is an alternative, qualitative (words), strength-based approach where the students’ strengths are identified and built on, and the student learns the skills of self-advocacy and empowerment through the individual education plan process. We will explore the former acronym first.

Click on the link to read more.

Two Approaches to SMARTAR Goals - Inclusive Education Planning Planning is an important part of the educational process. For a student with delays or disabilities, developing an individual learning plan is vital to develop a roadmap so the student can achieve their aspirations for their future. A learning plan is student-centred, identifies appropriate learning...

'Imagine if we blamed doctors and nurses for the chaos in our hospitals. Instead, we understand the problems are systemic. The lack of staff is about poor workforce planning and untenable conditions and the system itself needs a massive injection of funds. We do not say the nurses are terrible, the doctors are worse and those who lead them have no idea what they are doing.'

Teachers the fall guys for a failing system Proposed changes to education policy - like performance pay for teachers - are unlikely to work if systemic problems and societal factors continue to be ignored.