Essay Jennifer Seach 18795136

Inclusive Education Essay

Inclusive education in its most rudimentary sense, embodies the ideal of equitable education for all
students within Australia, accounting for student needs, abilities, backgrounds and aspirations (van
Kraayenoord, 2007). However, a more intimate understanding of the fundamental intentions of
inclusive education, reveals an essential focus on the inclusion of students with disabilities and
additional learning needs, in regular schools and classrooms throughout Australia (Loreman,
Deppeler & Harvey, 2011a). Inclusive education represents the fact that all students should have
access to, and be able to participate fully in, a quality education which adheres to the belief that all
students are capable of success and will therefore succeed as learners (van Kraayenoord, 2007;
Loreman et al., 2011a). This intention of inclusive education, is outlined within contemporary
literature and current legislation, which serves to both mandate and facilitate the full participation
of students with disabilities and additional learning needs, in mainstream schools and classrooms.

While inclusive education represents an international priority founded on concerns for human rights,
inclusive education in Australia is embodied by two distinct legislative documents, which outline the
requirement for students with disabilities and additional learning needs to be included within
mainstream schools, without discrimination (Loreman et al., 2011b). The Disability Discrimination
Act 1992 (Department of Education and Training (DET), 2015), defines disability as any impairment
which impacts an individuals’ mental functions, relating to behaviour, emotions or mental processes,
or any impairment which is physical in nature such as limb “malfunction, malformation or
disfigurement” (DET, 2015, p.2). Furthermore, this legislative document outlines discrimination as
incorporating any treatment of an individual with a disability, that is different “than a person
without the disability in the same or similar circumstances” (DET, 2015, p.2). Therefore, the purpose
of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DET, 2015) is to protect individuals with disabilities from
discrimination in areas of employment, services and access, and education, ensuring that students
with disabilities have the right to educational opportunities equal to those available to students
without disabilities.

The Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Ruddock & Bishop, 2012) is a legislative document
designed to support the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DET, 2015), by
mandating the legal obligations and measures required, to eliminate discrimination against students
with disabilities, across all aspects education including enrolment and participation. The Disability
Standards for Education 2005 (Ruddock & Bishop, 2012) functions to facilitate the translation of
inclusive education policy into practice, to support the equal participation of students with
disabilities and additional learning needs alongside their peers. The national commitment to the

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elimination of discrimination towards students with disabilities in education, as illustrated within

these policy documents, provides the foundations for the successful implementation of inclusive
education in Australia.

Inclusive education, as outlined by the Disability Standards for Education 2005 and the Disability
Discrimination Act 1992, embodies the essential move away from the discriminatory legacy of
segregated classrooms and specialised schools dedicated to the exclusive education of students with
disabilities, and transcends former practices of integration, through which students with disabilities
were required to adapt to the existing educational structures in order to participate alongside their
peers (Loreman et al., 2011a, 2011c; van Kraayenoord, 2007). Instead inclusive education
encompasses the full participation and engagement of all students, including students with
disabilities and additional learning needs, in regular schools and mainstream classrooms, alongside
their same-aged peers, ensuring that all “students are valued and respected and … their social,
emotional and intellectual needs are met” (van Kraayenoord, 2007, p.391; Loreman et al., 2011a;
Loreman, 2007). This policy of inclusion encapsulates the requirement for professional and personal
skills and strategies, on behalf of educators, which align with and act upon the intentions of inclusive
education in Australia.

According to the NSW Department of Education and Communities (2012) within every classroom in
Australia, there are students with disabilities and additional learning needs, representing roughly
twelve percent of the entire student population across Australia. Among these students with
disabilities and additional learning needs, statistically the increasing number of students diagnosed
with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), makes it among the diagnosed conditions that teachers are
increasingly likely to encounter within their classrooms (NSW Department of Education and
Communities, 2012; Leach & Duffy, 2009). Autism Spectrum Disorder is a diagnosis made on the
basis of behavioural observations, which may relate to “deficits in social communication and social
interaction” (Positive Partnerships, 2013, p.4), difficulties “developing, maintaining and
understanding [interpersonal] relationships” (p.4), and “restricted repetitive patterns of behaviour”
(p.4). According to Boutot (2007), within the classroom, these characteristics of ASD often present as
difficulties with social cues, conversation and behaviour. Therefore, as a teacher, an informed,
professional understanding of a diverse range of disabilities, such as ASD, is essential to promote the
acceptance and social inclusion of students with disabilities, including those with ASD, as valued,
contributing members of the school and classroom community (Boutot, 2007; Leach & Duffy, 2009).

Inclusive educational environments, in which students with disabilities and diverse learning needs
thrive and flourish, incorporate a variety of adjustments and accommodations to the teaching and

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learning processes, and the overall classroom environment, to facilitate the participation of all
students (University of Canberra, 2014; Ruddock & Bishop, 2012). This requirement for adjustments
and accommodations, is explicitly outlined within the Disability Standards for Education 2005 (2012),
which defines an adjustment as any action that is taken by an educator, that is intended to facilitate
the participation of a student with a disability, to be equal or comparable to a student without a
disability. Therefore, adjustments are deliberate accommodations made by the teacher, within the
classroom, which are individualised, flexible and agreed upon in consultation with the student with
additional learning needs, which seek to address the learning needs of the student, to support
participation and prevent discrimination (University of Canberra, 2014). However, the terminology
used within the Disability Standards for Education Act 2005 (2012), stipulates the implementation of
“reasonable adjustments” (p.14), which implies any adjustments designed to support students with
disabilities, must be made with balanced considerations for the impact of these accommodations on
others (Loreman et al., 2011b; University of Canberra, 2014). The consequence of this legislative
focus on adjustments which are considered ‘reasonable’, is the reiteration of deficit notions of
inclusion, which express the unfounded but persistent concern that inclusive learning environments
have the potential to negatively impact the academic performance of students without disabilities
(Loreman et al., 2011b). Ultimately however, as exemplified by Loreman et al., (2011e) in all
classrooms throughout Australia, are made up of students with diverse backgrounds, interests,
abilities and aspirations, and consequently diverse learning needs. Therefore, any and all
adjustments and accommodations made to the teaching and learning processes, with the intention
of improving student engagement, participation and achievement, will enhance the learning of all
students including, but not limited to, students with disabilities and diverse learning needs (Loreman
et al., 2011e).

In accordance with the adjustments and accommodations legislatively mandated to assist the
educational participation of students with disabilities and additional learning needs, differentiation
represents a fundamental strategy for inclusive education. Differentiation is the process by which
teachers acknowledge the individual skills, knowledge and interests of students and utilise this
understanding to meet the learning needs of all students, within their daily teaching practice (Mills,
Monk, Keddie, Renshaw, Christie, Geelan & Gowlett, 2014; van Kraayenoord, 2007). Furthermore,
differentiation involves adaptations to curriculum and classroom pedagogy, which cater for and
respond to students’ learning needs, and provide all students with access to the content that is
taught, whilst ensuring that learning experiences are meaningful and relevant to students’ own lives
(Mills et al., 2014; van Kraayenoord, 2007). As a result, all students, including students with
disabilities and additional learning needs, are included in all aspects of teaching and learning, with

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educators actively eliminating barriers to student engagement and participation, ensuring students
are supported, guided and challenged as needed, in accordance with students’ individual learning
needs (Mills et al., 2014).

In practice, differentiation can take innumerable forms and these vary in accordance with learners’
needs, however differentiation strategies can be categorised into three distinct groups, which are
representation, engagement and expression (Loreman, 2007). Each of these identified approaches
can be described in relation to differentiation designed to accommodate a student with diagnosed
ASD within an inclusive learning environment. The representation of curriculum content in multiple
different forms such as textual, visual and aural, can provide a student with Autism Spectrum
Disorder with various pathways to access and acquire necessary information that is being taught
(Loreman et al., 2011e). Furthermore, the explicit identification of essential concepts and ideas, and
the creation of graphic organisers are useful strategies to assist students understanding and create
connections between ideas (Leach & Duffy, 2009). Differentiation centred around student
engagement is intended to incorporate teacher knowledge of student interests into the processes of
teacher and learning, to motivate and challenge learners (Loreman et al., 2011e).

Lastly, differentiation strategies, intended to provide students with disabilities and diverse learning
needs, with alternative approaches to express learning and demonstrate achievement, often involve
non-traditional modes of assessment through which students can demonstrate academic
achievement according to their learning preferences (Loreman et al, 2011e; Mills et al., 2014; Leach
& Duffy, 2009; Leach & Duffy, 2009). For students with ASD, differentiation of assessment can
support and scaffold students’ expressions of understanding in low pressure situations which
simultaneously focus on student ability rather than disability, and reinforce high expectations for all
students (Boutot, 2007; Leach & Duffy, 2009; Mills et al., 2014; NSW Department of Education and
Community, 2012). Such differentiated assessment could incorporate examples such as illustrations
as an alternative to traditional essay writing, and informal multimodal presentations, in exchange for
formally presented speeches. Therefore, differentiation strategies are essential to success of
inclusive education, to prevent the isolation and segregation of students within the classroom, as
students with disabilities and diverse learning needs are supported to participate, learn and achieve
equally alongside their peers (van Kraayenoord, 2007; Leach & Duffy, 2009).

The inclusion of students with disabilities, and additional learning needs, into mainstream classrooms
and schools, necessitates continuous collaboration between stakeholders as one of the seven pillars
identified by Loreman (2007) as fundamental to the success of inclusive education. In the case of
students with disabilities, stakeholders may include but are not limited to parents, principals, support

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staff, educators and most importantly, the student themselves (Loreman et al., 2011d). Collaboration
with the parents of a student with disabilities, can provide insights and knowledge of a student and
their unique learning needs, which would otherwise be unavailable to educators (Loreman, 2007). This
information may relate to student interests, abilities, backgrounds and aspirations, and can be
invaluable to decisions concerning the student’s education. Support staff are also essential
stakeholders in the collaborative process and are able to provide additional and specialised support
to educators in the planning and implementation of inclusive, differentiated lessons (Loreman, 2007).
Collaboration amongst educators can be a valuable source of knowledge and resources, providing
teachers with support to ensure that inclusive education practices are successful within their
classrooms and the broader school community (Loreman, 2007; Loreman et al., 2011a). Furthermore,
principals and school leaders ensure the learning environments within a school community effectively
and consistently adhere to, and enact, the legislative and policy requirements of inclusive education,
(Loreman, 2007; Boutot, 2007). Ultimately however, it is always the student who is the greatest
stakeholder in their own education, and any decisions relating to the students’ education should be
made in collaboration with the student on which they are focused (Loreman et al., 2011d; NSW
Department of Education and Community, 2012). Together these stakeholders share the responsibility
for the creation of learning environments which are conducive to students’ success, and contribute
the necessary perspectives, assistance and expectations to create inclusive learning environments
which address the needs of students with disabilities and additional learning needs, in mainstream
schools and classrooms (Loreman et al., 2011d).

In addition to the aforementioned skills and strategies utilised by educators in the development and
maintenance of inclusive education environments, it is arguably the attitudes and values of the
teacher which are the greatest determinants of the success or failure of inclusive education in any
given classroom. It is argued by Loreman (2007) that positive teacher attitudes are essential to the
success of inclusive education in supporting the needs of students with disabilities and additional
learning needs, with all aspects of classroom planning, teaching and learning ultimately shaped by
teacher attitudes towards inclusive education. It is the positive and inclusive values, attitudes and
ideologies of educators, founded on the belief that all students are capable of learning and therefore
academic success, which provide the Australian education system with the capacity to achieve its
fundamental purpose, which is to meet the learning needs of all students equally, including students
with disabilities and additional learning needs (Loreman et al., 2011a, 2011c; Loreman 2007).

Inclusive education embodies the most fundamental conviction of the teaching profession, and that
is, that all students, including students with disabilities and additional learning needs, are uniquely

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capable learners who have the right to a valuable education, that will provide the foundations for
the rest of their lives. Ultimately, it is only through a holistic approach to inclusive education,
incorporating differentiation strategies, collaboration with stakeholders and positive teacher
attitudes, informed by a comprehensive understanding of legislative requirements, that inclusive
education in Australia can fulfil its intention of equitable education for all students without
discrimination (Loreman et al., 2011a, 2011c; van Kraayenoord, 2007; Ruddock & Bishop, 2012;
Loreman, 2007).

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References

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autism spectrum disorders in inclusive classrooms. Intervention in School and Clinic, 42(3),

156-161. doi: 10.1177/10534512070420030401

Department of Education and Training. (2015). Disability discrimination act 1992: Fact sheet.

Retrieved from https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/dse-fact-sheet-1-

dda_0.pdf

Leach, D., & Duffy, M. L. (2009). Supporting students with autism spectrum disorders in inclusive

settings. Intervention in School and Clinic, 45(1), 31-37. doi: 10.1177/1053451209338395

Loreman, T. (2007). Seven pillars of support for inclusive education: Moving from “why?” to “how?”.

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Loreman, T., Deppeler, J., & Harvey, D. (2011e). Inclusive education: Supporting diversity in the

classroom (2nd ed.) (pp. 137-160). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Ullwin.

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Mills, M., Monk, S., Keddie, A., Renshaw, P., Christie, P., Geelan, D., & Gowlett, C. (2014).

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