This book presents and discusses an approach to action research to help reverse discriminatory and exclusionary practices in education. Insider accounts of action research will help challenge assumptions about the limits of inclusive education, and offer examples of how change can be realistically achieved through processes of collaboration and participation. Written by a team of practitioner researchers drawn from a wide range of schools and services, this book addresses a wide range of real-life situations by exploring ways in which teachers have tackled inequalities in the school environment through action research based on principles of equality and democracy. These include: * the co-ordination of services for minority ethnic groups, including refugee and asylum seeking children* young children with autism working with peers in the literacy hour* action research and the inclusion of gay students* developing the role of learning support assistants in inclusion * reducing exclusion of children with challenging behaviour * listening to the voices of young people with severe learning difficulties * developing links between special and mainstream schools * challenging marginalising practices in Further Education.
Author(s): F. Armstrong
Edition: 1
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 160
Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
Contributors......Page 8
Foreword......Page 10
Action research: developing inclusive practice and transforming cultures......Page 14
Disability and empowerment: personal integrity in further education research......Page 30
From confusion to collaboration: can special schools contribute to developing inclusive practices in mainstream schools?......Page 45
Forging and strengthening alliances: learning support staff and the challenge of inclusion......Page 61
Students who challenge: reducing barriers to inclusion......Page 76
'We like to talk and we like someone to listen': cultural difference and minority voices as agents of change......Page 90
Ordinary teachers, ordinary struggles: including children with social and communication difficulties in everyday classroom life......Page 105
'What about me? I live here too!': raising voices and changing minds through participatory research......Page 118
Out of the closet, into the classroom: gay students, teachers and research action......Page 136
Challenging behaviour ours, not theirs......Page 151
Appendix......Page 155
Index......Page 157
