Inclusion of students with special needs:<i>Benefits and obstacles perceived by teachers in new South Wales and South Australia</i>

Westwood, Peter; Graham, Lorraine

doi:10.1080/19404150309546718

Cited by 50 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Many teachers accept the inevitability of having students with 'special needs' in their class, but have called for more support in terms of resources and personnel such as teacher aides (Cook, 2004;Subban & Sharma, 2006;Westwood & Graham, 2003).…”

Section: 'Trouble' With Teacher Aidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A hierarchical model has emerged with teachers expressing concern and resentment that they are now more fully responsible for meeting the pedagogical needs of all of the students within their classes, including students with disabilities and complex learning and behavioural needs, and modifying and differentiating curriculum without readily available specialist support, except for the services of Advisory Visiting Teachers (AVTs) when requested (Forlin, 2006;Subban & Sharma, 2006;Westwood & Graham, 2003 …”

Section: The 'Trouble' With Restructuring Of Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inclusive education reform in Queensland: implications for policy and practice

Bourke

2010

International Journal of Inclusive Education

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Key words: Inclusive education; Education policy; Support personnel; Professional developmentIn Queensland, Australia, the school system is being reformed to be more 'inclusive'.However the enthusiasm for 'inclusive education' in Queensland seems to be waning amongst practitioners, and the 'confusion, frustration, guilt and exhaustion' that has emerged with teachers and support practitioners in the UK, is emerging amongst support practitioners and teachers in Queensland. This article argues that this is happening because inclusive education reforms that intend to provide an equitable education for all students regardless of cultural, physical, social/emotional and behavioural differences, are being introduced, but these policies, procedures and stuructures continue to label, isolate and segregate students within schools in the way in which segregated special education facilities did in the past. As well, new policies and structures are being introduced without practitioners having the time and support to critically examine the underlying assumptions about disability, difference and inclusion that underpin their practices.These reforms need to be reviewed in terms of their effectiveness in achieving their 'inclusive' goals, i.e. in terms of the impacts that these reforms are having on the students themselves, and on the educational practitioners who support the students. IntroductionRecently Slee (2006) explored the history of inclusive education reform using the imagery of 'crossroads.' Reflecting on the paradigmatic crossroads identified over 10 years ago by Clark, Dyson & Milward (1995, p. v), Slee noted that inclusive education reform has taken a particular path that has led to a re-badging of 'special education' as 'inclusive education' in policy and educational discourses, rather than a completely different path that interrogates how educational classification systems govern a "descending order of human value" (Slee, 2006, p. 112). Baker (2002, p. 663) agrees that, rather than addressing underlying issues about difference, disability and exclusion, a "transmogrification" has occurred through which " a new eugenics" has emerged, and this continues to contribute to labeling and segregation of students.Students with disabilities and learning difficulties continue to be identified in terms of medical or psychological deficits, as either not within the 'normal' range or standards of academic achievement or social-emotional control, or slow to achieve such standards. Once identified, such students are in need of intervention programs within schools in order to achieve the prescribed standards. But as Baker (2002) argues, these standards are an arbitrary construct of those who decide what constitutes 'normal.' For students so identified and categorised by some who adopt an inclusion discourse, an equitable education seems to equate to identification and categorisation of deficits, and educational adjustments and resourcing to address these deficits, so that students can meet standards of academic achi...

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Section: 'Trouble' With Teacher Aidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The 'Trouble' With Restructuring Of Rolesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inclusive education reform in Queensland: implications for policy and practice

Bourke

2010

International Journal of Inclusive Education

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“…This is encouraging as it has been established that students with challenging behaviours such as those diagnosed with emotional and behavioural difficulties present teachers with great challenges and stress (Abrahms, 2005;Maag & Katsiyannis, 2006;Westwood & Graham, 2003). What was not clear was whether the knowledge imparted was focused more on describing the characteristics of disorders than on proven intervention strategies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Classroom behaviour management preparation in undergraduate primary teacher education in Australia : A web-based investigation.

O’Neill

Stephenson

2011

AJTE

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“…This shift provided mainstream teachers with the opportunity to better understand the educational needs of students with disabilities in a more familiar and conventional context and also to facilitate the integration of students with less severe intellectual disabilities into their classrooms (Westwood & Graham, 2003). But this also meant that special education teachers had to adapt their functional curricula to align with more academic curricula (Nietupski et al, 1997).…”

Section: Curriculummentioning

confidence: 98%

The Education of Australian School Students With the Most Severe Intellectual Disabilities: Where Have We Been and Where Could We Go? A Discussion Primer

Lyons

Cassebohm

2012

Australas. j. spec. educ.

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The education of Australian students with the most severe intellectual disabilities continues to present substantial challenges to policymakers, practitioners and families. These are complex and involve philosophy and ethics generally, and curriculum assessment and pedagogy specifically. In light of the various phases of development for an Australian Curriculum, the authors advocate for broad-based debate about the nature of education for these students. To prime discussion, this paper looks at the past, present and possible futures with respect to the education of Australian students with the most severe intellectual disabilities.

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Inclusion of students with special needs:Benefits and obstacles perceived by teachers in new South Wales and South Australia

Cited by 50 publications

References 22 publications

Inclusive education reform in Queensland: implications for policy and practice

Inclusive education reform in Queensland: implications for policy and practice

Classroom behaviour management preparation in undergraduate primary teacher education in Australia : A web-based investigation.

The Education of Australian School Students With the Most Severe Intellectual Disabilities: Where Have We Been and Where Could We Go? A Discussion Primer

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