How Can School Become More Inclusive?

An inclusive school promotes the idea of inclusion and encourages children of all abilities to be taught under the same roof thus paving a way towards emitting exclusion and discrimination. The idea of such schools is to remove any sort of barriers that come in the way of education. Besides the academic curriculum, there exists an area of the social curriculum in every school that faces hurdles to achieve full inclusion.

The social or hidden curriculum which is a by-product of an educational institution conveys values, belief systems, and the patterns of expected behavior in the school setting. Typically it receives the least priority in any educational institution and is the most ignored area which needs to be addressed to achieve maximum inclusion.

Teachers can be a great source to promote inclusivity by providing explicit instructions on social inclusion, socially inclusive behavior, and expect that all students will adhere to an inclusive belief system. Online tutors should also be encouraged to teach kids about these issues and create awareness.

Strategies to Promote an Inclusive System:

Here is the list if the strategies that the teachers and administration can use to promote an Inclusive system in the institution:

Switching the Seating Plan:

By switching seats the teacher can provide an opportunity for students to interact with every student thus working with a new partner will enhance the confidence and communication skills of a student. It can also promote a healthy environment thus promoting social harmony. By engaging the students in healthy activities and fun games, teachers can provide an opportunity to communicate with each other in an informal and friendly manner. 

Create Small Work Groups:

By creating small workgroups among the students the teachers can convey an important message to work mutually and team up to achieve a task that is assigned. The teacher can provide the students with the essential guideline in this regard so they would have a better experience and can develop a positive insight towards the concept of team-work.

Make Use of Socially Inclusive Language:

Acquiring good communication skills is the topmost priority and for that purpose, the teachers can guide the students on how to use socially inclusive language to create an environment of respect. The teacher should promote the use of socially acceptable language which will impose a duty on the students to use a language that is culturally appropriate and acceptable.

Promoting Socially Acceptable Behaviors:

The teacher should play as a role model in portraying socially acceptable behavior by behaving in a certain way. They should convey the expectations to the students so they would know how to behave in a certain social situation.

Highlight Student’s Interests and Strengths:

 The teacher should ask the students to share their interests and strengths so they can work to improvise it. Celebrate their success and achievements, demonstrate their talents, and work on their expertise so they can play a productive role in community development.

Include all Students in Learning Together:

The teachers should make sure that all the students should get equal attention and should be treated equally in terms of opportunities and learning. The Teacher and other staff members should ensure that the special and gifted through students are also included in the classroom and should be allowed to learn and interact alike.

Multi-Faceted Technique to cater to the students of Diverse Disabilities:

The Typical structure of school focuses on standardized materials as if all the students are at the same level of abilities and understanding. In actuality, it is not the case as every school or class has a diversity of students. In inclusive schools, the teachers embrace the diversity of ability and chalk out their plan of instructions accordingly to cater to every student on a narrow ground.

Catering to Behavioral difficulty Students:

Inclusive schools have the potential to cater to children with behavioral abnormalities. The teachers are expected to work together with the student to identify the root cause of certain behavior and chalking out a proper plan to work upon mutually to correct the behavioral challenges.

Partner with Parents: 

Parents with children of special abilities have already gone through a lot and have received a lot of negative feedback from the traditional schools that do not follow inclusive approaches. The children have received negative behavior and have been sent to special schools which is quite demotivating for the student and the parents as well. The idea of an inclusive school is to provide a sense of importance to the student and provide psychological comfort to the parents as well.

The above-mentioned techniques which are used by inclusive schools should be adopted by the traditional school as well. Inclusivity is a trait that should be appreciated as it conveys the idea of greater social values, ethics, beliefs, and social harmony.