Whilst the reforms of the last three decades have undoubtedly had a positive impact within the English education system, they have also led to worrying side effects. In particular, the emphasis on using market forces as an improvement strategy has created winners and losers, as reflected in the growing numbers of children and young people who are excluded from schools or placed in separate provision.
In a new book I reflect on 25 years of research in this country and internationally to propose a radical new way of addressing this challenge[i]. This requires a move away from explanations of educational failure that concentrate on the characteristics of individual children and their families, towards an analysis of contextual barriers to participation and learning experienced by pupils within schools. In this way, those learners who do not respond to existing arrangements come to be regarded as ‘hidden voices’ who, under certain conditions, can encourage the improvement of schools.
This thinking calls for coordinated and sustained efforts within schools, recognising that changing outcomes for vulnerable pupils is unlikely to be achieved unless there are changes in the attitudes, beliefs and actions of adults. The starting point must therefore be with practitioners: enlarging their capacity to imagine what might be achieved, and increasing their sense of accountability for bringing this about. This may also involve tackling negative assumptions, most often relating to expectations about certain groups of pupils, their capabilities and behaviours.
Most significantly, our research has shown how certain types of evidence can be used to encourage those within a school to question their practices and, indeed, the assumptions behind these ways of working. In these contexts, the following approaches have proved to be particularly promising:
- Mutual observation of classroom practices, followed by structured discussion of what happened;
- Group discussion of a video recording of one colleague teaching;
- Evidence from interviews with pupils; and
- Staff development exercises based on case study material or interview data.
This led us to document how such approaches can encourage discussions within schools that are both supportive and yet challenging. In particular, we saw how they can sometimes ‘make the familiar unfamiliar’ in order to stimulate self-questioning, creativity and action. Supportive leadership is crucial in creating the climate within which this can happen.
These ideas are guided by a belief that inclusion should not be seen a separate national policy. Rather, it should be viewed as a principle that inform all policies, particularly those that deal with the curriculum, assessment, school evaluation, teacher education and budgets.
Another worrying development in England is the expansion of labels that situate problems of educational progress within children, not least through the adoption of the term ‘special educational needs and disability’. This has led to the widespread use of the shorthand label ‘SEND’, which is explained on the Government’s website as follows:
‘Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can affect a child or young person’s ability to learn. They can affect their: behaviour or ability to socialise, for example they struggle to make friends; reading and writing, for example because they have dyslexia; ability to understand things; concentration levels, for example because they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and physical ability.’[ii]
Alongside the pressures on schools created by market forces, this unquestioned emphasis on pupil deficits has led to a massive expansion in the number of learners being labelled in order to attract additional resources to support their education. It is also placing additional pressures on local authority budgets that are already stretched. And, of course, it is creating further barriers to the promotion of inclusive schools.
So, echoing the strong international lead provided through Sustainable Development Goal 4, the next Government must prioritise inclusion in schools. My hope is that, in a small way, the experiences and suggestions I present in my book will encourage such a move, which, I argue, should be guided by the UNESCO principle, ‘Every learner matters and matters equally’ [iii].
Mel Ainscow CBE is Emeritus Professor, University of Manchester and Professor of Education, University of Glasgow. A long-term consultant to UNESCO, he is internationally recognized as an authority on the promotion of inclusion and equity in education
[i] https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003438014/d proeveloping-inclusive-schools-mel-ainscow
[ii] https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs