EDU541 Differentiated Curriculum and Learning Management

Critical Reflection

This paper candidly reflects on the changes in the treatment and support of students with special needs in society and the effectiveness of the current diversity educational policies, programs and services in terms of how they impact on learning management.  Also, as part of the reflection, the paper will consider the issues of equity and quality of schools education in the light of the Christians’ obligation to support social justice for all as prescribed in the Bible – Micah 6:8.

Over the past five years, a paradigm shift has been witness in peoples’, governments’, and institutions’ perception of individuals with special needs in Australia and the world in general. The paradigm shift has been occasioned by the high prevalence of disability in Australia as studies shows that approximately four million people in the country have some kind of disability.

In the past, individuals with special needs were discriminated as they were perceived to contribute nothing as far as economic development is concerned. In the education sector, for instance, special needs children were discriminated as they were educated in segregated environment different from that of the normal students. However, in the 1980s, as technology continued advancing and the advent of international policies supporting the rights of disable people, made individuals change their perception of special needs people. For instance, Wolf Wolfensberger’s 1972 principle of normalization in human service, played a significant role in making people and education institutions to start accepting people with disabilities into the mainstream (Tilstone et.al, 1998). Specifically, the normalization principle made Australia start considering offering students with special needs the same similar curriculum to that of normal students in normal classrooms as it promoted equal educational opportunities for all students regardless their physical conditions.

It is the beginning of amalgamation of special needs students in normal classrooms that led to the emergence of the term ‘inclusive education’. According Bu et al. (2020), and Alquraini and Gut (2012), inclusive education is the process where all the students regardless of their challenges are placed in general classrooms as per their age to high quality education that would play a significant role in helping the acquire knowledge that significant in helping them becoming important individuals in the society.

In Australia, various reforms and policies have been initiated to make inclusive education a reality. For instance, the Every Student, Each School (ESES) Program that was initiated by the Australian government provided approximately $ 48 million to schools to help them meet the various educational requirements for special need students in 2012 and 2013, as accentuated by the NSW department of education. Accordingly, the education plays an essential role in helping Australia achieve its aim for democratic and equal society as it takes into consideration special needs students which is significant in equipping the young generation with the skills and experiences necessary for overcome life challenges and appropriately seizing opportunities in life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, passed significant statements to support inclusion but the statements were not apt in defining the changes necessary in educational institutions in making learning for students with special needs smooth. Another attempt to ensure inclusive education becomes a reality in Australia was made by Federal Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1992 which criminalized the denial to admit students with special needs by any school. However, according to Forlin and Forlin (1998), DDA had some loopholes that needed legal models to be addressed. Nonetheless, other attempts were made to encourage equality in the education sector in Australia as evidenced by the signing of the Melbourne Declaration that was signed in 2008. According to Melbourne Declaration on Education Goals for Young Australian’s (2008), the declaration will play a significant role in helping the young generation access education in equally regardless of their conditions. However, with experience of the statements in the declaration of Human Rights and DDA, the Melbourne Declaration was developed in such a way that it achieves its objectives as much as possible. The Melbourne Declaration set the goals and the various ways of achieving them, an aspect that made it to be successful. One of the Declaration’s goals is to “promote equality and excellence and transform young Australians into successful learners, confident and creative individuals, active and informed citizens” (ACARA, 2010, pg 12-13). In essence, the Melbourne Declaration recognized the various changes that are required in the general classrooms to help them accommodate students with special needs, for instance, advancement the advancements required in the information and communication technologies. Through the Melbourne Declaration, education institutions in Australia have got a framework to use to help achieve equality in educational institutions – it has made it easy for students with special needs to achieve high-quality education just like their counterpart, normal students. Also, according to ACARA  (2010 pg 13), the Australia curriculum enables the scope of flexibility and adjustments its complexity to help learners acquire knowledge effectively. Accordingly, the various policies changes that have been witnessed in Australia – DDA and Melbourne Declaration – have played an essential role in improving the quality of learning in special need students.

Moreover, I will delve in examining the effectiveness of current diversity education policies, programs and services and their impacts on learning management in this part of the paper. Legislative requirements have been initiated, particularly by the Disability Standards Act of 1992; to help determine the extent to which educational institutions provide students with special needs with high-quality education. Nonetheless, there are other domains working towards improving the standards for teaching and learning to achieve appropriate outcomes as far as inclusivity in education is concerned. Some of the domains include, Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority (ACARA), the NSW education standards Authority (NESA), Australia Institute for teaching and school leadership (AITSL), and Australian association for special education (AASE). As Prater (2003) states, in its role to promote inclusivity the education sector in Australia, NESA initiated collaborative curriculum planning necessary for devising the most appropriate teaching strategies per the students’ needs in each subject. Similarly, NESA also play a significant role in introducing life skills and vocational and educational courses that promote equality in education al institutions in Australia.

Additionally, as curriculum implementers, there is a need to implement various initiatives that equip teachers with necessary skills to handle to students with special needs in an inclusive classroom. According to Lingard (2005, pg.174), teachers are significant in making the outcomes of learning effective. This instigates the needs to improve their standards of learning and professionalism as will help them achieve effective learning in an inclusive environment. The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) implemented some of the changes that ensure that teachers will be a position to promote effective learning in an inclusiveness environment. For instance, AITSL has replaced some of the standards and competencies under the National Partnership on Improving Teacher’s quality to ensure that teachers provide excellent teaching (AITSL, 2011). Besides, Australian association for special needs education (AASE), recommends the use of research-based education practices to help achieve the best outcome in an inclusiveness education setting. For instance, it promotes the use of Response to Intervention (RTI) models to help every student grasp the various concepts taught in class. In the contemporary Australian educational system, AASE aims at preparing all teachers to be handle students with special needs even with teachers holding a certificate of special needs education. As Feng and Sass (2013) posits, teachers with relevant training in handling special needs students produce the desirable outcomes when handling students with disabilities.

Furthermore, Australian government is also at the forefront in promoting equality in the education sector. This is evident by its introduction of the Gonski 2.0 scheme, which provides financial support to students with special needs, and those coming from less privileged families, consequently helping them perform well in their academics (The Australian Educational Reporter, 2017).  It is approximated that Australian government donated $ 17 billion to both government and private schools to help them promote equality in education. It is encouraging that even the Australian government aims at increasing its findings to educational institution as way of promoting equality in the educational sector, as Australian Government Department of Educational and Training (2019), approximates that by 2019 the funding will rise to close to $ 32 billion in each year. Importantly, this contribution will be disbursed to all schools regardless of their ownership as the aim of the government is to promote equality in education.  As stated by Nes (2000), is imperative to ensure that teachers at the lowest level – pre-school teachers – are also equipped with the knowledge necessary to impact knowledge to special needs students if inclusive education is to be achieved.

The implementation of the various initiatives to promotes the inclusive education in Australia, begs the question of whether inclusive has any inherent benefits or not. This part of the paper will extensively examine the various benefits of inclusive education.  While some individuals, especially those who have little knowledge of the Bible argue that inclusivity has no inherent benefits, I hold divergent opinion on this matter. This is because from the book of Micah 6 :8, the Bible states explicitly that we are all equal in the eyes of the lord, despite us having some physical, mental, and emotional differences. As such, inclusive in education is a noble task that should be upheld not only in Australia but in the world in general. After all, inclusive in education does not make any student normal, but provide students with opportunity to expand their knowledge in a normal environment – inclusive education promote social rights of special needs students (Foreman, 2015). Besides, inclusive education promotes the student’s ability develop both communication and social skills that which could otherwise have been difficult to develop in a segregated learning environment. Nonetheless, regardless of the inherent benefits of inclusive education to the Australian economic development, the law anticipates that each student be given the right to learn and be successful despite their cultural, social, or economic background. Consequently, inclusivity should be upheld in the education sectors through implementing policies that favor inclusivity. Nonetheless, to foster equality in all educational institutions there is a need to for government and teachers to understand the difference between integration and inclusion as they are two distinct words that may appear similar.

Conclusively, from the above explications, it is clear that inclusive education is worthwhile course that should be promoted at all times.  This is because it provides students with the opportunity to become effective individuals in the future who will help promote economic stability. Inclusive education also reduces chances of discrimination in the employment sector as most all individuals regardless of their differences will be having the required skills. Also, for inclusivity to be achieve there is a need to ensure that all barriers that hinders effective teaching of students with special needs in learning institutions are eliminated through the concerted efforts of the government and the general public.

References

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https://dyslexiaassociation.org.au/articles/ 

Australian Curriculum Assessment And Reporting Authority (ACARA, n.d) The Shape of The Australian Curriculum. Retrieved From, http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum.pdf

David. M, Leather. C (2013). The Dyslexic Adult: Interventions and Outcomes- An Evidence-based Approach. Retrieved From, -https://books.google.com.au

Forlin.P & Forlin. C. (1998). Constitutional and legal framework for Inclusive Education in Australia. Australian Journal Of Education, 42(2), 204-217.

Ehmke.R. (2019). Supporting the Emotional Needs of Kids With Learning Disabilities, Child Mind Institute. Retrieved From, https://childmind.org/article/supporting-the-emotional-needs-of-kids-with-disabilities/

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https://www.kaplanco.com/ii/meet-social-emotional-needs

NSW Department of Education, (2019), Our Disability Strategy- Teaching and Learning. Retrieved From,

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Santoro.N, Reid. Jo-Annie, Mayer.D, Singh.M (2012) Producing quality teachers: the role of teachers professional standards, Asia- Pacific Journal Of Teacher Education, Vol. 34, no.1, pp1-3

Siegel. L. S (2006). Perspectives on Dyslexia. Pediatrics and Child Health, 11(9), 581-587. Retrieved From, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528651/

The Australian Education Reporter (2017). Gonski 2.0- What Will It Mean For Your School. Retrieved From,    http://www.edureporter.com.au/pdf/Australian-Education-Reporter_17_Term-2.pdf

Foreman. Phil. (2015). Social justice principles, the law and research, as basis for inclusion: an update. Retrieved From, https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/department/psdlitreview_Socialjusticeprinciples_th elaw_and_research.pdf 

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