Education Essay

Part A
Dawson E. (2017) Social justice and out-of-school science learning: Exploring equity in
science television, science clubs and maker spaces possibilities is an article discussing equity
and inclusion with many educational implications. The main focus of this article is discussing
equity in out of school science learning, however the points raised have wide reaching
implications for the entire educational system. One of the main challenges to equity and
inclusion in out of school science learning according to this article is the perception of
science subject, science is traditionally viewed as a subject mean for white, English speaking
mean and many who do not fall into that specific category often find themselves excluded
entirely from science or at the last heavily discouraged from taking part. The article then
goes on to discuss some of the potential solutions to the equity and inclusion issue in out of
school science learning. One of the new solutions discussed by this articles are new
initiatives being undertaken, initiatives such as SciGirls and Knowledge rooms have been
challenging the established social structures surrounding science and have been attempting
to provide more equitable and inclusive spaces for marginalised groups to take part in
science learning. One of the man reasons equity and inclusion are important for science and
for education as a whole according to this article is that by providing traditionally excluded
groups more opportunities to participate they will have a better school career and be more
likely to succeed in the future.
Part B
Should schools be more inclusive, and, if so, how?
Inclusivity within the education system is a hotly debated issue with governments across the
world taking many different approaches to inclusion and inclusivity. The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO for short believes that “inclusive
education is central for all learners and the development of more inclusive societies”
(UNESCO, 2008), a sentiment generally shared by the Scottish education system. This essay
will discuss and analyse key areas of inclusion policy, providing an explanation for why
inclusivity is an essential aspect of the education system and provide some suggestions for
how a more inclusive education system might be achieved.
Policy surrounding inclusion within the education system has changed drastically over the
years, early inclusion policy focused mainly on children with physical disabilities and how
they might be accommodated, however more modern policy has begun to take a much
broader approach to inclusivity attempting to accommodate and provide for a wide range of
groups that often find themselves excluded for an equally wide variety of reasons. For
example the ‘Salamanca statement’ made by UNESCO in 1994 stated that regular schools
that were inclusive to all people were a better way of dispelling discriminatory attitudes
compared to segregation based models where a mainstream school would be used for the
“normal” students and separate schools would be provided for those with disabilities.
(UNESCO, 1994) Another example of new inclusivity policy is the document produced by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD surrounding inclusion
and equity ‘Equity, Excellence and inclusiveness in education policy lessons from around the
world’ This document outlines many of the methods used to increase inclusivity across the
world and provides suggestions for how inclusivity and equity might be achieved in an
educational system.(OECD, 2014) Inclusion policy also attempts to outline and ultimately
change the way we think about inclusion so that we can have a better understanding and
make better policy with that understanding, there are four main concepts related to
Inclusion, Exclusion where individuals are denied access to the education system as a whole,
Segregation where individuals are provided separate environments to take part in the
education system, integration where individuals are placed into mainstream education
provided they can adjust to the requirements of that system and inclusion which is a long
process of reform to the entire educational system involving changes to content, teaching
methods and general structure with the aim of providing an equitable and inclusive
environment for all students and accommodate the needs of all to provide a full learning
experience for all. This new view of inclusivity is meant to provide educators and
governments with a framework for how they can improve equity and inclusivity in their
educational systems by providing a better understanding of how people are treated
differently by the different methods of inclusion. Education does not only take place inside
the classroom and thus inclusion policy for education must also consider how to be more
inclusive in out of school learning as well, one discussion surrounding this issue is Dawson E.
(2017) Social justice and out-of-school science learning: Exploring equity in science
television, science clubs and maker spaces possibilities which is an article looking into how
out of school science learning can be more inclusive to marginalised groups and gives some
suggestions for how this might be achieved, for example new initiatives have been
attempting to change the attitude towards science as a subject to make it more appealing
and more inviting to groups that are traditionally excluded from taking part in science.
(Dawson E. 2017)
The discussion over the importance of inclusion, how it should be implemented and if it
should be implemented at all is one that has been going on for a very long time now and
there are many different factors to consider with each method and policy having its own
strengths and weaknesses making them more or less viable as options for inclusion. For
example many policies surrounding inclusion focus on providing access for disabled people
to take part in the educational system, one strength of this approach is that by directly
including disabled people in mainstream education their presence is normalised and
destigmatised, helping to change the attitudes of able-bodied students and teachers
towards disabled students as opposed to providing a separate school for such pupils which
would do very little to change the attitudes and perspectives towards disabled people in a
positive way and may even serve to negatively incline people towards them however one
weakness of these such policies is that they typically ignore the needs of other marginalised
groups such as women, ethnic minorities and LGBT+ individuals leading to these ground
often being excluded by both pupils and teachers. Other educational policies have taken a
different approach to inclusion choosing to try and tackle inclusion on a national lever rather
than a school wide one, one strength of this type of policy is than by having a nationwide
policy all schools will conform to the inclusion standers set meaning that pupils all pupils will
have some guarantee of inclusion regardless of the school they attend which may not be the
case otherwise, however one weakness of this kind of policy is that it is likely to generalise
as it would be near impossible to account for the wide variety of circumstances that may
occur leading this kind of national policy to be inflexible and occasionally detrimental if it
cannot be adapted to changing times. (McAuliffe, 2018)
In conclusion the arguments for how and if inclusion should be implemented are wide and
varied, groups such as UNESCO and the OECD have done a significant amount to research
and study into inclusion within education, attempting to outline policy and practice
surrounding inclusion and how it can be implemented in a way that is beneficial for all pupils
and even trying to change how we think of inclusion in the first place, additionally other
researchers have been tackling inclusion outside of the classroom with new initiatives that
have large scale implications for the education system as a whole. Each of the policies
suggested by these groups have their own strengths and weaknesses, some do a great deal
to help specific groups but also ignore the needs of others while larger scale policy is
standardising inclusion across the country but can also be inflexible and bureaucratic. In
closing inclusion policy is a vital area of interest to the education system and the people
managing it as inclusion is necessary for all pupils regardless of their personal circumstances
to have a successful educational career.
Bibliography
McAuliffe, L (2018) Inclusion for all? 1st edition. Edinburgh, 2018
UNESCO (1994) The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs
Education 1st edition. Spain, 1994
Schleicher, A. (2014), Equity, Excellence and Inclusiveness in Education: Policy Lessons from
Around the World, International Summit on the Teaching Profession, OECD Publishing.
Dawson E. (2017) Social justice and out-of-school science learning: Exploring equity in
science television, science clubs and maker spaces possibilities London: University collage
London

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Part A

Should schools be more inclusive, and, if so, how?

McAuliffe, L (2018) Inclusion for all? 1st edition. Edinburgh, 2018

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