Exploring inclusive pedagogy

TLDR

This study offers an alternative to research on students with additional needs by focusing on the specialist knowledge and skills teachers require to teach them. The study examines teachers’ craft knowledge of inclusion, exploring what they do, why, and how. The authors conducted classroom observations and interviews with 11 teachers in two Scottish primary schools to explore how teachers interpret inclusion based on literature on inclusive pedagogy. The analysis identified practical examples of inclusive pedagogy that extend general provision to all students, rather than differentiating for some, and illustrated these with specific examples.

Abstract

This paper reports on a study designed to examine teachers' craft knowledge of their practice of ‘inclusion’ in terms of what they do, why and how. The research approach offers an important alternative to studies of students with ‘additional needs’ and the search to articulate the specialist knowledge and skill required to teach them. Through classroom observations and interviews with 11 teachers of students across the full age range in two Scottish primary schools, we investigated how teachers make meaning of the concept of inclusion in their practice by exploring theoretical assumptions drawn from the literature about inclusive pedagogy. The analysis enabled us to identify practical examples of inclusive pedagogy that met the standard of extending what is generally available to everybody, as opposed to providing for all by differentiating for some. Examples of the inclusive pedagogical approach are provided.