Campus Connections: Inclusion

Has The Push For Inclusion Gone Too Far?

NO
I think inclusion provides a wonderful learning opportunity for all students, so I don’t think the push for inclusion has gone too far. With the proper support, an inclusive classroom can provide students with experiences they wouldn’t get in a traditional classroom.

All children are blessed with amazing abilities. Some children also have disabilities. Regardless, children learn from one another. Children with disabilities provide all children with rich learning opportunities on a daily basis.

For inclusion to work, there needs to be more than one teacher in the classroom. In an ideal inclusive classroom, there would be at least one regular education teacher, one special education teacher, and one paraprofessional. This minimum support is necessary to provide every student the opportunity to be successful.

I’m currently student teaching in an inclusive kindergarten classroom in Baltimore’s inner city, and the class is amazing. Besides myself, there’s a regular education teacher, a special education teacher, and two paraprofessionals. Of the 21 students in the class, six have special needs. Everyone in this classroom learns daily from each other, including the adults.

The students discuss abilities and disabilities. They have learned to respect one another’s abilities and, where present, disabilities. They have all learned to sign simple words, such as "please" and "thank you." The daily lesson routines include learning centers and small groups. The children with disabilities are included at the learning centers and in the groups with the children without disabilities. I’ve seen wonderful exchanges between these children.

Inclusion is a hot topic in education, and there’s an ongoing debate as to whether inclusion is beneficial or not. Can inclusion work? My experiences in this wonderful inclusive kindergarten classroom have proved to me that inclusion can and does work!

YES
As someone who believes in quality education for all, I’m supportive of inclusion -- but it must be under the best conditions, and that means having trained teachers, integrated classrooms, and supportive school environments. Right now, I don’t see that happening, and that’s why I think the drive for inclusion has gone too far.

Take me, for example. I just graduated with a master’s degree in secondary education from an NCATE-approved university here in New Mexico. But, if you can believe it, I was not required to take a special education course as part of the teacher training curriculum. And all around the country, student colleagues go into inclusive classrooms with only one special ed class under their belt.

Not only that, I graduated unfamiliar with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a law mandating the inclusion of special needs kids——a law that would affect me as a classroom teacher. It wasn’t until I came to an NEA Student Program conference that I learned about IDEA and the impact it’s having on classrooms around the country. In one day, I learned a great deal about special needs students and the paperwork you must fill out to help them.

If that’s my experience, what do you think is happening with other teachers and students around the country?

We can’t turn back the clock and stop inclusion, nor would I want that to happen. What I do want is better preparation and support, particularly for new teachers who are not adequately equipped for an inclusive classroom. If a legislative act like IDEA is such a groundbreaking move, why isn’t it integrated into teacher training programs and new teacher support programs? Too often, education reforms are pushed so far so fast, they’re always fighting failure. No one wants inclusion to fail. No one wants children to suffer or teachers to get frustrated. But if beginning teachers like me are unfamiliar with a law that has such an impact on my teaching, we’re all starting out with a strike against us.