“Inclusion is a way of thinking and acting that demonstrates universal acceptance and promotes a

sense of belonging of all learners.” (Alberta Education) It is this vision that should guide schools
and school authorities as they navigate the structures of education systems across the province.
Acknowledging and recognizing then in turn embracing the diversity of all learners in our
schools should be at the root of educational policy and reform, the basis of any programming or
restricting of curricula

It is hard to justify segregated education (Loreman, 2007) and therefore the discussion of
inclusion should start to shift from a focus on why and what to how.

Inclusion is a shared responsibility. RTI. CRM. Pyramid of Interventions. Foundations

Program. Involvement of all stakeholders. Parents, Teachers, Admin but most importantly the
student. IPP/APP involvement. Adaptation Checklist. Supportive policy and leadership
(Loreman 2007). Community involvement, parents as decision makers, as teachers and as
advocates.

Inclusion is safe, welcoming, caring, respectful learning environments where educators work to
reduce barrier within learning environments and maintain high expectations for all learners.
There should be no such thing as “Mainstream and regular” classrooms. All students are part of
all classrooms. Accessible curriculum and meaningful and relevant learning experiences.
Learning supports that help all learners be successful. Foundations. One of Loreman’s seven
principles (2007) is a flexible curriculum and pedagogy that includes multiple representations of
the content, option for expression, control and student engagement. Developing positive
attidues and using meaningful reflection (Loreman 2007). No such thing as traditional vs non
tranditional teaching, learning styles that are normal and those that are different.

Most effective way to make change is to educate your teachers (Sokal and Katz, 2015) Capacity
building to understand and honor learner strengths and needs to anticipate, value and support
diversity and learner differences. How do we provide more consistency within our school
building so that there is no advantage of Teacher A over Teacher B. Understanding the data we
are collecting, STAR, triangulation of attendance, marks. Understanding that best practice and
universal design is and should be the first level of intervention. Loreman (2007) points out that
schools and classroom policies and processes need to be grounded in research based practice and
in order to have that you need necessary training and resources
Sokal, L. & Katz, J. (2015). Oh, Canada: bridges and barriers to inclusion in Canadian schools. Support
for Learning. 30 (1), 42-54.

Loreman, T. (2007). Seven pillars of support for inclusive education: moving from
“why?” to “how?”. International Journal of Whole Schooling, 3(2), 22-28