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TRANSCRIPT
„Learning with Learning Ladders – Teaching with the MultiGradeMultiLevel‐Methodology“
An example to realize Inclusive Schools
Monday, 18.02.2013 – Friday, 01.03.2013
University of Wuerzburg Indian Institute for Technologies Madras Pedagogics for Children Department of Humanities with Behavioral Disorders and Social Sciences
Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources, RIVER
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Program
18.02.2013 flight to Bangalore International Airport
19.02.2013 Arrival at Bangalore International Airport, transfer to Rishi Valley: International Guesthouse Walk at the campus of Rishi Valley, basic information about Krishnamurti Foundation India, Rishi Valley‐School, its development in education and its basic structures and institutions
20.02.2013 early morning: joining yoga‐, music‐, sport‐classes per choice participating the morning assembly at Rishi Valley School visiting Satellite‐School Harithavanam near to Rishi Valley, studies about the school situation, identification of known and unknown parts of MGML‐Methodology, observing‐tasks about teacher, students, learning‐atmosphere, work with learning ladders
discussion about the observation, preparing for own teaching exercises at Satellite‐Schools
21.02.2013 early morning: joining yoga‐, music‐, sport‐classes per choice participating the morning assembly at Rishi Valley School teaching at Satellite‐Schools Harithavanam, Ashokavanam, Arimedhavanam,
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Sundaravanam around Rishi Valley, observing‐tasks about teacher, students, learning‐atmosphere, work with learning ladders
discussion about the observation, preparing for own teaching at Satellite‐Schools Puppet show acted by the teachers of the Satellite‐Schools, introduction in local cultural and traditional art of the region; exchange with the teachers about local culture implementation in curriculum development and education
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22.02.2013 early morning: joining yoga‐, music‐, sport‐classes per choice participating the morning assembly at Rishi Valley School teaching at Satellite‐Schools Harithavanam, Ashokavanam, Arimedhavanam, Sundaravanam around Rishi Valley
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discussion and reflection on teaching; preparing for own teachings at Satellite‐Schools trip to Madanapalle (next town), talk about the influence of the cities and their lifestyles to the rural childhood; tasks of education in that field
23.02.2013 early morning: joining yoga‐, music‐, sport‐classes per choice presentation of Dr. Karthik at the Rural Health Centre, questions on rural education in context of health, nutrition, family‐development and local diseases teaching at Satellite‐Schools Harithavanam, Ashokavanam, Arimedhavanam, Sundaravanam around Rishi Valley
visiting the art exhibition at Rishi Valley‐School discussion and reflection on teaching; preparing for own teachings at Satellite‐Schools talk and discussion with Rama and Padmanabha Rao, directors and founders of Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources on the development in the last 30 years, actual tasks and challenges
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visiting and joining folk‐dance‐classes at Rishi Valley‐School
24.02.2013 Sunday morning: free Visiting Hill‐Station Horsley Hills, information about Chittoor‐District and its development within the last 150 years, Talk at Study Centre about questions on education in the context of Krishnamurti
25.02.2013 early morning: joining yoga‐, music‐, sport‐classes per choice participating the morning assembly at Rishi Valley School teaching at Satellite‐Schools Harithavanam, Ashokavanam, Arimedhavanam, Sundaravanam around Rishi Valley
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discussion and reflection on teaching; preparing for own teachings at Satellite‐Schools dinner in a village, cooked by the women of the village (Mothers Committee), exchange about the situation of women in rural India
26.02.2013 early morning: joining yoga‐, music‐, sport‐classes per choice
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participating the morning assembly at Rishi Valley School teaching at Satellite‐Schools Harithavanam, Ashokavanam, Arimedhavanam, Sundaravanam around Rishi Valley
discussion and reflection on teaching; preparing for own teachings at Satellite‐Schools talk to Dr. Radhika Herzberger (and Prof. Dr. Hans Herzberger), director of Rishi Valley; questions on education under the focus of global developments
27.02.2013 Transfer to IIT Madras
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Welcome (HoD) and Inaugural Address (Dean Academic Research) 2:00 to 2:30 pm Session I 2:30 to 3:30 pm Inclusion ‐ what it means in different contexts Questions on Inclusive Education and Culture of Learning in a Diverse Society – Thomas Müller, Associate Professor, Institute for Special Pedagogy, University of Würzburg Discussants: Mr Christo Das Gandhi, IAS Milind Brahme, IIT Madras Chair: Suresh Babu, IIT Madras 3:30 to 3:45 pm TEA Session II 3:45 to 5:00 pm Inclusion in School Education in India and Germany: A Historical Perspective History and development of Inclusive Education in Germany – Teacher Trainees from University of Würzburg, Germany History of Inclusive Education in India – Teena Augustine, Research Scholar, IIT Madras and Devika, The School KFI Chair: K Kalpana, IIT Madras
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28.02.2013 Session III 9:30 to 11:00 am Best Practices in the field Scope of MGML and Inclusive Pedagogy – Faculty and Resource Persons from the Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources (RIVER) Inclusion, Depth and Meaningful Classroom Experience – G Gautama / Sumitra Gautama, Chennai Education Centre KFI Technology and Inclusion: Bridging the Digital Divide – Josephine Anthony, Research Scholar, IIT Madras Chair: Thomas Müller, University of Würzburg 11:00 to 11:15 pm TEA Session IV 11:15 to 12:45 pm Challenges of Inclusive Education in the Indian context Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Education – Christo Das Gandhi, IAS Working with Tribal Children: A perspective on Inclusion – Ms Prema Rangachary, Vidya Vanam Inclusion as Policy under the RTE‐SSA – Ms K. Sasikala, Joint Director, SSA Tamil Nadu Discussants: Teena Augustine, T Semmalar, Research Scholars, IIT Madras Chair: V R Muraleedharan, IIT Madras 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm LUNCH
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Session V 2:00 to 3:00 pm Workshop: Inclusive Education: Understanding Concepts and Practices – Identifying Challenges Participants: Research Scholars and Students from IIT Madras and Teacher Trainees from University of Würzburg Resource Persons: Teachers and Experts from RIVER, G Gautama/Sumitra Gautama, Chennai Education Centre KFI Thomas Müller, University of Würzburg, Christo Das Gandhi, IAS, Milind Brahme, IIT Madras 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm: Presentation by Workshop Participants
3:30 to 3:45 pm TEA Session VI 3:45 to 5:00 pm Panel Discussion: Where are we and where do we go? Discussants: M P Vijaykumar, IAS (Retd), Thomas Müller, Christo Das Gandhi, IAS, G Gautama/Sumitra Gautama, Prema Rangachary, Suresh Babu Moderator: Arvind Sivaramakrishnan
01.03.2013 Final talk and reflection on the excursion to India
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Report of teacher students on their work at the Satellite Schools: Ashokavanam, Harithavanam, Sundaravanam, Arimedhavanam
1. Dorothea Weinhart and Henrike Giegold 21. 02. 2013: We had the first contact with the class and the teacher. This was a challenge because of lingual problems. Only the older ones were able to use complete English sentences. So we tried to get a first impression of the class and the classroom and tried to contact the children nonverbal. For example in writing math’s exercises and the children gave the solution or having a small conversation about colors or body parts. 22.02.2013: Now we knew about the classes English skills and so we were able to prepare the class like this. First we started with the smaller students (1. and 2. class). First they got different pictures of animals and things which the children should paint. We had prepared the day before a cube with different pictures of animals with description (elephant, cow, cat, dog, bird, and lion) on each side. Now we showed the children how to throw the cube and that they should say how the animals are called and imitate the sounds and movements of them. After that we tool the older children who should choose one picture, say the name and write this over the picture. Important for us was that they build complete sentences with the animals and things names like “It is a cow.” We created some questions and sentences which the children should say and fill in their animal or thing as answer to the question “What is this?” Another question was what color the animal or thing has and let the children answer. After that we went out and used the cube again. But now the children should build complete sentences referred to the animal which they got. The children who threw the cube asked “What is this?” and the others answered “It is a…” They all did very well. After that we went back in and started with the milestone 1 with the older children. We read the story about “My first day in school” which the children afterwards read out one by one sentence by sentence. To that story existed papers if exercises which the pupils did. This day was very good because through the things we brought with us and the milestone the lingual barriers weren’t that bad or such a big problem than the day before. 23.02.2013: On that day we wanted to go on with the milestones. So we prepared milestone 2 and out of that the part with the personal pronouns. But we focused on “he, she, I and you”. We started in the morning with creating nameplates. After that we show them to introduce themself like “I am Dorle. I am a girl.” and “You are Henni. You are a girl.” The children imitated that one by one. After that we started introducing the neighbor like “She is …. She is a girl.” and “He is…. He is a boy.”. We showed it the children through emphasize the gender. The children had to imitate that, too. Finally we built the sentences with words like “student and teacher” which is used without gender.
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Now it was time for a break. So we went out to play a game. For that we hang out a spider net with two plates “she” and “he”. The children should build lines corresponding to their gender or the plates “he/she”. After that they should go through the spider net. They had so much fun. Now they went inside the school and got a word puzzle. Out of this came 5 sentences which included she/he/I and you. After that they should glue them in the right order on a colored paper. With this paper they went to their blackboards for writing them down. We corrected that and the work with the milestone was over. In the resting time we just spent time with the children, playing games and singing songs. The children were so excited; it was a pleasure to participate that. 25.02.2013: On that day we switched to the Harithavanam School. First were getting to know the children. After that we started with the children of 3rd class (9 pupils) with milestone 2. The story was called “Meeting the new teacher”. First we read it out with gestural and mimic support and repeated the vocabulary. Then we read the story once again and every child read one sentence. The new vocabulary contained words of the feeling like afraid and excited. These words we showed using body language which the children imitated. After that we split the children in 2 groups and did the exercises on the worksheets (crossword, text with gaps). The children who have been already ready with the exercises did some extra exercises like answering questions to the text. After that we introduced some songs like “My name is John” and “I’m singing in the rain”. 26. 02.2013: First we repeated the vocabulary of the day before. Then we continued with the story of the other milestone “My first day at a new school”. We read the story and afterwards every child read it out loud. After that we pointed the new vocabulary out with gestural and mimic help. Then we split the children in 2 groups once again. But on that day one of us worked with the children that haven’t done the worksheets yet. So they did the exercises and after that we read the story once again in English and Telugu for better understanding. The other group was constituted with the three older children. They repeated the new story and they practiced the new vocabulary by dictating them. The children wrote these on their blackboards. In the end of the working phase they painted faces comparing to the words “happy” and “afraid”. For finishing the last day at school we sang the songs once again, which the children liked very much and they were even able to sing them almost by their own.
Created Material:
- Cube:
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- He/she/I/You plates:
- Spider net with he/she:
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- Students of 1. and 2. class painted pictures (22.02.13)
- Students of 3rd class did exercises from the milestone 2 (25.02.13)
2. Nina Wagner Thursday, 21st February, 2013 School: Harithavanam in Kanasanivari Palli During the first lesson we tried to sing an English song with the older children (class 3‐5). Therefore we went outside into the “Round House”. Together with the children we first spoke the text of the song very slowly and wrote it on the board in the “Round House”. After we had repeated the song a couple of times, we taught the children to make movements
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and body gestures that fit to the song. In this way they also learned the expressions for different body parts. At the end of the lesson we were able to sing the song together and to make the body gestures at the same time. In the last 20 minutes the children did mathematics. We helped the “teacher‐supported‐group”, watched them carefully and tried to find out if (and where) they have some problems. Friday, 22nd February, 2013 School: Harithavanam in Kanasanivari Palli In the first lesson we repeated the English song together. Afterwards we split the class in two groups. The older children went outside with us to try out some games of marbles. First we did some exercises with them to train the children’s capacity for teamwork and their own body control (sitting on the ground in a circle and giving the marble to the left neighbor with the right leg....). After this exercise they showed us some of their own traditional games. In the second lesson I went inside with the older ones to do English with some children. We created our own memory game. Therefore they cut out some cards in two different colors. I had already prepared some pictures which the now had to color and for which they had to find the corresponding word in English. This exercise helped them to train their fine motor skills and their competences in English. Saturday, 23rd February, 2013 School: Harithavanam in Kanasanivari Palli First we started with our English song. We sang it in the “Round House”. After the song we split the children in two groups. The older ones went inside with me. Inside the classroom we talked some minutes about letters, the use of it... After talking about it I showed them how to fold little letterboxes. Every child now could make his or her own letterbox and they could color them if they liked to. After finishing we fixed the boxes (with the names on it) on the wall. I had already prepared little name‐cards. On every card was written the name of one of the children. Each child took one of these cards. Everybody get a different name‐card. Now they had to write a really short letter to the child they saw on the card. I realized that writing a letter is something totally strange for them and I tried to encourage them to write each other from time to time. I made the experience that they really love folding and working with paper and pencil and that they are very skillful in doing it. Monday, 25th February, 2013 School: Arimedhavanam At the beginning the older children went outside with me. We moved into the “Round House”. There we created our own memory game. First I showed them 20 pictures which I had prepared the day before. The children had to find the corresponding word in English. After this exercise they colored the pictures. Then they cut out little cards in two different colors (blue and green). On the green cards they put the colored pictures. On the blue cards they wrote the corresponding English words. They did very well, they knew the English words (bear, apple, tree...) and they showed good fine motor skills. After the preparing‐phase we started to play the game. Therefore I explained the rules very slowly and carefully but nevertheless they were not able to follow them exactly. But there were also children which played very well and which showed a good memory.
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In the next lesson we did some physical training. I brought a, elastic band with me to play “French skipping” with the children. It was the first time they played with an elastic band, it was a bit difficult but it was a lot of fun. Tuesday, 26th February, 2013 School: Arimedhavanam Together with the children from class 3 and 4 we did the first English Milestone. Therefore we had prepared some vocabulary‐cards with the new words the day before. Step by step we introduced the new words to the children. It was difficult for us because we don’t speak their language and the children couldn’t speak English very well. We also recognized that the exercises of the milestones are quiet difficult. Perhaps it would help them to have more detailed and more precise advises on the sheet what to do in the exercises. But I got the impression that the children really want to learn English and that they had a lot of fun.
3. Sara Schnur Day 1: 21th of February I had been in Venus class in Arimedhavanam together with Steffi. On that day there were 31 pupils in class. Beside Venu there is Ranika the co‐teacher. At first we observed the whole class while sitting on one side of the classroom. I wanted to see how the pupils are working in the different learning arrangements (teacher supported, partly teacher supported, peer supported and individual learning). Some children worked on learning the letters via different ways. For example writing the letter on a board again and again or laying the letter with seeds on the written letter on the floor. That seemed not that different to our German way of learning new letters. On that day there were a lot of preschool children in class and they were really loud. A lot of them didn’t know what to do with them so they disturbed the other students quite a lot. Therefore we decided to take all the preschool children and 1st grade students out of the classroom to play some games with them. We explained the games “Come along – run away” and “1 – 2 – 3‐turn‐around” to them and played it together. It was a lot of fun for us, Rani and the children. After these two games we drew boxes on the ground with chalk like “Heaven and Hell”. In English the game is called “hopscotch”. We wrote the numbers from 1 ‐ 9 into the fields. At first one of them should throw a small stone on the playing field. After that he or she should jump to that field where the stone landed and he or she should count loud while jumping until that number where the stone lies. Ranika took a lot of notes and we talked about playing the game connecting it with mathematic exercises. E. g.: 7‐3= 4: jump to 7, than subtract 3, jump to 4. Count loud! Day 2: 22th of February
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I brought an animal‐memory from Germany. I tried to play it with some of the children. At first I showed the pictures to them and they should try to find out which animal is on the card. I wanted to find out which names for animals in English are known. The difficulty of the memory is that it’s not always clear which card fits to the other due to the fact that there are just parts of the body of the animals on the card. So on the one hand the students had to find out which animal is on the card and say it in English and on the other hand they should try to match the right cards. After showing the cards and checking the names I played memory with them. After a small break outside we produced small boxes made of colored paper with them. At first we did it with all the 4th‐grade‐students. Steffi and I showed them in small steps how to make a box. After finishing we did it with the 5th grade and then with the 3rd grade. The 4th grade helped the other students. So we didn’t have to show the steps anymore. The students showed it to each other or Ranika helped them. Day 3: 23th of February Steffi and I prepared a unit with several stations to the topic “guessing” for the 5th grade. Five stations:
1. Length of the classroom The students should guess the length of the classroom in feet.
2. Age of Steffi, Sara, Thomas, Venu and Rani The students should guess how old the persons are
3. Number of the noodles in the boxes The students should guess how many noodles are in the boxes by shaking and lifting these
4. Number of the things hanging over you The students should guess how many things are hanging around in the classroom
5. Liters in the bucket The students should guess how many liters are in the bucket We gave instructions to the students for example that they should take a paper and a pen to write their guesses down. The stations had been in and around the classroom. All of the students did the same exercise together whether we said that they could start with the task which they want to do first. The children were excited and there were no problems between them or due to the exercise. At station 3 (noodles in the boxes) they stood in a cue and waited for each other. After finishing the exercises we went back to the roundhouse and checked the solutions. It was very interesting to hear what they had guessed. Then we did a “guessing memory” together with the students. We had 5 pairs so 10 boxes. There was always the same amount of noodles in two boxes. The students should find the right pairs per shaking and weighing the boxes in their hands. After playing that game we provided evidence of Steffi’s and my solutions. We filled the water from the bucket in bottles to show to amount of water or we counted the noodles in
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the boxes together with the children to convince the students that our solutions were really true. All in all it was an interesting unit. We led the “guessing memory” at Venus school. Day 4: 24th of February We changed schools so Steffi and I went to Saidabad School in Sundaravanam. Unfortunately Saidhabi was sick and not in. Only the co‐teacher Jamal was in on that day. After some minutes of observing the children we asked for the new English material. We knew that our colleges Kristina and Anja worked with the new English material in that class the days ago. At the beginning it was quite hard without Saidhabi to find out what the children already did but after a while and the help of the students we went on with the exercises. We did the word search and we sang the song “I’m hungry” outside with body gestures. After the song we repeated the pronouns together with the students. They should go around in and outside the classroom and say e. g. “It is a tree.” “She is a girl.”, … It worked quite well but they didn’t understand to work in pairs. Finally they walked around in a big group. Beside the pronouns we introduced some new words with the topic “feelings”. We tried to keep learning the words simpler through body gestures and facial expressions. Day 5: 25th of February Saidhabi was still sick but she came for some minutes to get to know us and to check if everything is in order. I went on with the English Milestone 1 and Steffi worked with the younger students in math. I repeated the vocabulary together with the students and helped them with the different exercises. At the end we sang the song “If you’re happy”.
4. Stefanie Volta Venu‘s and Rani‘s school The first day in Venu’s school we started with the games you do not need additional material. The first game was called “Come with running away” (Komm mit, lauf weg!). The children were sitting in a circle. One child has to run around a touch another child sitting in the circle. This child has to jump up and fight running for the free place in the circle. There are two options how to run: in the same direction or in the contraire. The first game, we played with the students is called "Come with me running away". All children sit in a circle on the floor. One is selected which takes over the role of the scavenger and taps to a different child in a circle. The two then fight for the vacant place in the circle. The one who does not get hold of the free space is catcher of the new round. In this game, the catcher decides whether his 'victim' runs in the same or in the opposite direction! Another game that we tried out with the kids, is called "1, 2, 3 turn". All children stand in line and wait for a child who is about 10m away says "1, 2, 3 turn". In these three seconds all
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children have the opportunity to run on the other child as soon as possible. But after three seconds everybody should stand frozen. If someone moves, one must return to the starting position. The one who reaches the child first must be the new determiner. The third game we played with the children, which was then also immediately connected with math problems was "bounce box". There are box painted with chalk on the floor and there is a stone which is thrown on the different numbers in the box. Rani has now even a box with "+" and "‐" painted on the floor, making the math problem determined. She immediately connected the game with some little math problems and the children really enjoyed the other way of trying to solve math problems. When we were leaving the school this day the children continued playing the new games. The second day in Venu and Rani’s school we decided to make boxes with one’s hands. All were very delighted by create something with colored paper and liked the idea that the little boxes can be used for several events. In the afternoon before the third day in Venu and Rani’s school, we invented a game series on "guessing" where the children should be introduced to the topic. We decided to try this out with class five because their English skills were most advanced. And for the explanations the English skills were used. We invented five stations. The first station was to guess how many mobile were hanging on the ceiling. The second station was a guessing memory where the children had to put the little boxes into the right order. The day before we filled the handmade little boxes made out of paper with noodles and counted them. Always two boxes fit together. All in all the children had to find 6 pairs. This game the children knew the least. The third station was to guess how much water was in the bucket. And on the fourth station the children had to estimate how old there are. One last station was to guess how long and how wide their classroom was. After the little station work with the kids we went to the round house to share their results. The children enjoyed the fact that this little station work ended in a small contest. The fourth day we changed school and went to Sundaravanam. The teacher Karla was ill these days but she had prepared something for us. We should do the new English learning ladder with grade three. But this task was quiet complicated for us because we had never seen this material before. We took a few minutes to get a bride overview about the turning points in the text and started to read it in the beginning. But we immediately noticed that the text was too complicated for them. It was me and my colleague very hard to explain to children the different tasks because we unfortunately did not speak Telugu to switch between the mother‐ and the foreign language. This day was the most important day to understand the ladder system from MGML Methodology because we had the direct contact and realized that the children do not have any experience to learn without the ladder. Our problem than was to work with the material but not with the visual form of the ladder to which the kids are used to. Another problem was to force them to work all in the same tempo. The fifth an last day we already knew about these problems we had the day before with the English material and could be prepared. We decided to contact the assistant teacher to
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translate some important explanations and information the children need to know about the English text and the way they had to work with. After the work with grade three on the English material I had to practice figures with the youngest children. They had little blackboards and tried to follow a pre‐drawn line. At the end of the day we sang “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.”
5. Kristina Riedel
Day 1: Saidhabi, Sundaravanam Scarcely having arrived at school, we were involved directly in the class. The teachers got the new stuff for the English learning ladder of the third grade the day before. With this stuff, we began the introduction into the learning ladder with 12 pupils of the third and fourth grade. The focus here was on the introduction of the first milestone. After about an hour of class, we took a break and taught the children a new song ('If you're happy and you know it...'). We also made a little game for coordination. Here, they had to shake their left or right leg and their left or right arm simultaneously, according to the target. In order to not disturb the others, we went outside with the 12 pupils. After the break, we worked a little further with the English stuff. The three hours at school passed much too fast. The impressions and experiences you make in only these few hours are so instructive and effective. In the afternoon, we prepared a variety of activities for the next day to repeat the newly learnt vocabulary. Therefore, we draw cards on which the word was depicted and we also wrote all the vocabulary on cards.
Day 2: Saidhabi, Sundaravanam With the image and vocabulary cards we created the day before; the pupils practiced and repeated the new vocabulary. First, they had to read the words and match them to the painted images. All words were written on particular notes and every pupil received a word
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which he or she had to build a sentence with. The words were changed several times, so that every pupil had four different words and built proper sentences with it. After the repetition, the pupils worked on the learning ladder on their own and did the different exercises. When they finished, we sang the song 'If you're happy and you know it...' again to relax a little bit. They also learned a new song: 'Head and shoulder, knees and tooth'.
Day 3: Saidhabi, Sundaravanam On the third day, we repeated the content of the story once again with the help of the vocabulary cards. The pupils also worked independently with the learning ladder. The results of the exercises were corrected by us and then we pointed out their mistakes and corrected them. The two songs we learned the days before, we sang with the whole class today. The older pupils who knew the songs already helped the younger ones with the motions going along with the songs.
6. Anja Grieser Thursday, 21th February 2013 Kristina and I were invited to visit a satellite school called Sundaravanam. Saidhabi, the teacher introduced us to the class and welcomed us. Immediately, she involved us in her lesson. This gave us the chance to do an introduction for the first milestone of the English learning ladder for grade three and four, together with 12 students. The material was printed and handed out the day before. For that reason Saidhabi had no practical experience
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with it. The kids enjoyed testing out all new things. We made a break after an hour of learning and took the children outside to teach them the new "If you’re happy and you know it..." song. Then we did a coordination exercise where the kids were told to shake, for example the right foot and the left hand at the same time. After a break we continued the work with the material. In the afternoon we prepared various activities for the next day to repeat the newly learned vocabulary. On a set of cards we wrote new words and on the others we painted the meaning of these words in pictures. Friday, 22th February 2013 Today we repeated the units we had done yesterday and practiced some new exercises for the milestone. With the cards we had created the day before; we practiced and revised the new vocabulary. The students had to read the words and relate them to the pictures. Right after this, every pupil received a word and they had to form a phrase with it. They had to swap cards repeatedly, so every child had four different words to work with and four matching phrases in the end. After a vocabulary revision, the students worked on their own with the learning ladder. To relax we sang "if you're happy and you know it" and taught them a new song called "head and shoulders, knees and toes". Saturday, 23th February 2013 Using the cards, we repeated the vocabulary so the kids could use them to tell the learned story again. After this they worked self‐consistently with the learning ladder. We corrected the results and showed them their mistakes. Accordingly we took all kids outside and sang the newly learned songs. The older students knew them well already and helped the younger ones with their movements. Monday, 25th February 2013 In Ashokavanam I introduced myself to the teacher Shankar and his students. I took some of them outside and we played the cube exercise which they had learned some days before, together with Henrike and Dorothea. I asked them if they knew the "head and shoulder, knees and toes" and "if you happy and you know it" songs and we sang them together. After this we received a new English learning ladder from the teacher that included the first milestone for grade three and four. We started with a little review, using our experience with the material. We also tried to include in our working method our experience with the kids, especially their learning problems and difficulties. We then had a little break outside and sang a few songs. Then we went on through the milestone while Shankar observed us and helped us whenever we had questions. Tuesday, 26th February 2013 Yesterday I observed that the kids normally answer to each English phrase in one word only. Therefore we stared by repeating the vocabulary. To do that I put some vocabulary cards on the floor upside down. Every student had to pick up one card and form a sentence with the given word. To make it a bit more complex, they had to build phrases with more words later on. While Luka taught the children questions including the word "or", I took my time to do some observations about the atmosphere in the classroom and how the kids behave while
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learning. We then went on with the milestone. In the end we repeated the songs and said goodbye.
Day 4: Venu, Arimedhavanam The focus of my work today was limited on observing the activities of the pupils. It's really astonishing to see how independently the children are in their learning. After half of the time, I carried the six preschool children outside to do some little plays with them. They don't have a learning ladder and are engaged by the teachers as a sideline if they got time. With those six, I made a little skipping game. At the break and during the next lesson, the older pupils were joining up with us and also tried the skipping game. Day 5: Venu, Arimedhavanam On the second day at Venus school, we began the introduction to the English learning ladder with the pupils of the third and fourth grade. First we read the story to acquire the new vocabulary going along with it. Therefore, we built several example sentences for every new word to explain its meaning. To deepen and consolidate the vocabulary, we made some vocabulary cards the day before. Those were handed out to the pupils by us and then they had to build an example sentence out of every new word. In doing so, they helped and corrected each other. Having understood the vocabulary, the pupils worked independently on additional exercises of the learning ladder. After that, we checked and corrected their answers. To round off the day, we played again the skipping game of the day before.
7. Lucas Kötter 20th of February: Harithavanam, Kallas School All of us visited Kalla at her school and got a first look in the classroom. We were able to observe the children and teachers while they were working and also worked a bit with the children. For me it was interesting to see that the children mostly worked on their own. Both teachers are always there for questions or to explain something but they play a side part. The motivation of the pupils to learn is impressive! At the end we sang the song “If you are happy and you know it…” with the kids.
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21st of February: Harithavanam, Kallas School I started the day at school with a few more observations to learn how the kids work with the learning leaders. For example witch animal symbol belongs to witch activity. After that we tried to sing the song from yesterday again. Kalla and her Co‐Teacher recorded us on cassette to practice with the children later. After that we sat in the Round House with the children of the third grade and Kalla. I wrote the text of the song on the black board and we sang it again together so that the children could learn at least some of the words. Back in class we helped the pre‐school children with mathematics until lunch. 22nd of February: Harithavanam, Kallas School On the second day in Kallas School I took some marbles, which I brought from Germany, to play with the kids. Also I introduced some Vocabulary. To have a smaller group we split the class in half. We sat down in a circle and gave a marble around always with a different body part (left/right arm/leg). After that I taught them some games I know with marbles and they also showed me some games they like to play. The Co‐teacher showed a game the inhabitants of the village play often. It was very interesting and the children had a lot of fun. My plans worked very well and I think the children understood the most. But sometimes the teachers translated for the kids. 23rd of February: Harithavanam, Kallas School It was our last day at Kallas School. I picked up the theme of the last day and did practice the body parts. Like yesterday we had two groups. My group was in the Round House where I told one child to lay on the ground and another one painted the body on the ground with a piece of chalk. After that we named the different parts of the body together. They knew a lot and I wrote all the parts on the ground. The Co‐teacher wrote the parts in Telugu so that the children could learn them better. The second group knew a lot more parts and also most of the pronunciations. They were the older ones so I expected that. But despite of that I was really impressed how much they know. With each group I also played some games like “Ochs‐am‐Berg” and a few jumping games. Again they also showed me some of their games.
Playing with marbles learning body parts
25th of February: Ashokavanam, Shankars School I began the day in the new school with again a few observations. I wanted to see whether there are differences between the schools. A few I saw like that Kallas School was better organized. But I didn´t recognize big differences. After that we spoke with the teacher and got the new English Milestone from him. We started with a little review and then went on
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through the Milestone. Between Review and the new parts we made a little break and sang a few songs outside with the kids. Shankar observed us while we were working and helped us with the children. 26th of February: Ashokavanam, Shankars School We started with a review of the vocabulary and after that I worked with children on a problem which occurred yesterday. The children didn´t really understand a question with the word “or”, so I made some cards with the question and some answers so that the children could visualize the problem. I think after this practice most of them understood. After that we went on with the milestone. A repeated the songs in the end
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Thomas Müller – IIT Madras, Chennai – India, 27.02.2013
Questions on inclusive education and culture of learning in a diverse society India is one of the fastest changing, developing and growing societies in the world. It’s on a rapid way from a modern to a post‐modern society, influenced by its great cultural, religious and spiritual traditions. What are the challenges, problems and questions on this way, seen under the perspective of inclusive education? Let me describe the developments of today starting some 150 years ago: Since the end of the 19th century modern societies were distinguished by structures, which offered most of their members’ orientation, stability and security through rules, traditions and (religious) rituals. At the same these societies were always endangered, to enjoin the same members’ heteronomy, limitations and borders in their individual and common development. For India this can be recognized for example very well by observing the development of casts and jalits and its influences till today. Over the last 60 years the structures and organisation of modern societies changed. Influenced by the century of the enlightenment and the belief in progress in the century of industrialisation, the possibilities of people changed, also in India. A more and more global and capitalistic society has grown and still grows. Individualisation, changing values and an increasing pluralistic lifestyle are the results of this mutation. But in contrast to earlier times, daily life, its conditions and possibilities get more and more difficult to a growing number of members in the new global society. Almost everybody is allowed to do nearly everything, but only little is really possible to most people. This development means that less and less members of a society experience individual freedom, self actualisation and self determination. But more and more are confronted by the negative results of this development: disembedding, unorientation, instability and non‐binding values. That’s why Bauman points out post‐modern structures as “liquid” and their members as “depraved”. (cp. Bauman 2006). The depraved people fall out of the “pool of individualisation and freedom”. They can’t keep up with the global developments or keep back behind them. So, they are displaced from the society to their “refuse heap” (cp. Bauman 2006). Their lives are fluid and disembedded. They get victims in processes of social delimitation. These developments lead the questions on inclusive education far beyond the discussion of handicapped and non‐handicapped children in common schools, like we discuss it in Germany in a very isolated way. In addition to this, the belief in progress is shocked again and again by massive problems conditioned by climatic catastrophes, economic changes and familiar as personal fail. The result is a complex system of poverty, which primarily touches rural India, but in a second step the cities also. People leave their villages because they cannot recognize how they could survive there ‐ not only in a materialistic, but also in a cultural way. If people in the villages all over India don’t get the deep feeling that their lives are appreciated by the whole society, even by them, who belong to the fast growing industries, they won’t see a reason to stop their own land escapism and to be excluded from their origins thereby. The new individual freedom in modern societies is deceptive, if a big part of its members don’t dispose of the social and cultural abilities as competences, to shape the so called
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“new” life in a meaningful individual and common way. This could be one task for an inclusive education in the cities and at the rural sides in India. What does that mean? Depending on their individual abilities, their psychic energies and their social possibilities, the depraved members of our new societies can realize a boundary management, which guides them to self‐potency, self and community empowerment at one side, but also to collapse, fail and depression at the other side. These processes are described exactly and extensively by the Indian Nobel‐Prize‐Winner Amartya Sen in its Capability Approach (cp. 1999). Influenced by the way of boundary management and its results,
arises inclusion as the possibility to understand the “world” and to get stability and orientation
arises inclusion as the possibility to handle the “world” and to get control over one’s own life
arises inclusion as the possibility to realize the “world” and one’s own life as significant and meaningful
Life as its self can be characterized through the plurality of possible perspectives, the existential uncertainty of all horizons of sense and the disintegration of traditional worth and community links. The modern human being has no fixed place in the world, but has to build up its own instable and fragile identity very laborious. In that sense homelessness and exclusion – not inclusion ‐ can be described as the existential experience of modern human beings. If every possible identity is a passive product of arbitrary, discursive events only, the speech about freedom, justice and self‐determination is useless. How can personal identity and cultural practice be arranged? How are individual and cultural identity related to each other? Which cultural and social conditions are necessary, to realize and keep stable identities? A succeeding identity needs a cultural horizon, from where individuals and communities get their ‘milestones’ of self‐understanding. A cultural horizon could be seen as a room of meanings, in which ideas of a good human being and a well working community are connected through conceptual thinking and narrative patterns. This needs our wide understanding of inclusive education to be realized in future. Identity emerges and is received through the orientation in a cultural room of significant meanings by language and a sort of cultural practices, which are not produced individually, but which are a common cultural possession. Schools as places of individual and common learning movements can offer this orientation. If they are created in that way, they will contribute a significant part for the creation of identity and the experience of sense above the individual. The essence of the human being is a kind of expressive self‐interpretation, which mainly is not an act of consciousness but immediately embodied through language, cultural practices and intuitive knowledge. Identity needs expressive unfold, articulation and realization. This is possible only, if individuals have a rich cultural fund of practices and activities, in which their identity in the everyday life can be shown. Places of public or private, of common or individual life can lose their identity, because they are not any longer recognized by their inhabitants. The reason may be that they do not find
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meanings inside any longer. In this case the relation of the individual, the community and the world must be described negatively. Estrangement not identity will be the result. A child that visits a school somewhere in the world, changes not only his own biography, but also the whole community. By visiting the school it will change the daily rhythm and the courses of its family and it will change the knowledge through its experiences. The child changes the community that will not be the same any longer. In that way school becomes a promise of cultural identity and inclusion. Some significant questions have to be asked in these contexts:
Are we aware that society changes through every action of every human being every day at any time? Or do we imagine that we are fixed and dependent on this society? Or are both these facts creating our community?
Are people able to observe their movements and actions in life in the consciousness that life is a phenomenon of living together and working together?
What is it that enables us to carry out our individual tasks into the communities of this world in the started 21st century?
What are the central questions to inclusive education and schools in that fields? Even though when it seems a hopeless effort, especially when we consider that we are speaking about India as a country with more than 1.2 billion people and about Germany as a country with round about 86 million inhabitants, we can start to think about the individual.
Could it be that the existence of a human society originates in the human being itself?
Could it be that we can start recognizing and honouring the uniqueness of every human, to respect the dignity of everyone, when we meet passing by, work together or are in different relationships?
Could it be that it is the living moment of now that changes us and society in a powerful and loving way, which also touches soul and heart?
Could it be that our action is transformed, when we begin to realize this in all our daily life situations?
The answers to these questions are given daily in the character of all people acting in this world, whether we take the categories of East and West or North and South, or in the uniqueness of the Indian continent and culture. I want to point out that there are possible answers and that the change in the society towards a deep understanding of being together is growing and togetherness itself is growing and that we are all part of this development. One of these answers is offered by RIVER for more than 25 years. In the context of RIVER, I want to point out the philosophical background. In Krishnamurtis teachings it seems that he continuously pointed out that it is the individual himself who represents the actual existing society. So change in societies is deeply combined with our own existence and with all questions of human existence. It contains all other questions of culture and nature including the ecological question. Let’s listen to some selected parts of Krishnamurti’s talks about society. I quote:
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“That is the problem of the world, whether individual is a mere instrument of society, a plaything of influences to be moulded; or whether society exists for the individual” (Krishnamurti 2006, 23). “The action of relationship between you and another, between you and me, is society; and the society becomes static, if it has no live‐giving quality, so long as there is not this inward revolution, a creative, psychological transformation; and it is because there is not this constant inward revolution that society is always becoming static, crystallized, and has therefore constantly to be broken up” (Krishnamurti 2006, 24). Unquote. It seems to me that Krishnamurti describes a complete change in perception that really can change society. With this deep understanding everybody who is working in education as a part of society becomes at the same time a central task. I quote again: “Modern education, in developing the intellect, offers more and more theories and facts, without bringing about the understanding of the total process of human existence” (Krishnamurti 2000, 64). “If I may point out, we need to be re‐educated, not through school, college, university – which are also condition our brain – nor through work in the office or the factory. We need to re‐educate ourselves by being aware, seeing how we are caught in word” (Krishnamurti 2001, 108). Unquote This form of clear perception without any concepts in a form of flowering learning in action opens to a new form of learning in society and school. Everybody remains in the learning mood, whether teacher or pupil, parents or child, young or adult. It means permanent learning in all relationships, in work, in society. It means inclusion. The change which Krishnamurti talks about happens in our consciousness and in the transformed culture of action. This culture of action remains fluid and concatenated, deeply perceptive and non‐judgemental. It is full of awareness and can be lived in the moment of now at the same time. Each individual, whether child, young or adult is directed back to himself. Everybody has to take over his own responsibility in the presence of the uniqueness of the moment, nobody can take over, or be handed this creation. Life in its social tasks is an issue of creating where everything is interacting, inner and outer, individual and collective, natural and cultural, material and metaphysical. This life becomes the task of all self‐cultivating individuals and all people working in institutions which support these processes of self‐cultivation. For these tasks, we need to have schools which embody a spirit of consciousness. These schools represent a self‐learning organism; give space, both to the individual and the community, where everyone involved can unfold to rediscover his full potential. What is described here holds the global question, which is also a relevant question for the Indian sub‐continent. Inclusive education is itself a living culture, which essentially has dynamic elements. It is inherent in the nature of this way of life that it is inclusive of different scientific perspectives and is concerned about learning. There exists no duality or fragmentation. It’s a permanent learning and acting together in concreation (cp. Girg 2007 and Girg / Lichtinger / Müller 2012). In the transformation of schools towards an inclusive educational culture, we become aware, that the essential learning process is in life itself. Educational processes are rebound in the learning movement in the presence of now. (cp. Senge 2005)
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What children learn in their families, communities and in school belongs to one learning movement. It is learning by the tasks of life and for the tasks of life at the same moment. As long as schools exist in institutionalized forms, these lifelong learning processes can and have to be supported by methodological structures. They have to give freedom, time and space for the development of the potentiality of the child and also have to pay attention to the continuous change, variation and transformation of learning in the unique situation. The possibility to take the ownership in the educational endeavour opens the possibility of an unlimited growth – both: for the individual and the community. MGML‐Methodology and Activity Based Learning are examples how to enable children to build up a cultural grounded living practice in a holistic constructed setting, which helps them to continue their livelong learning processes. Each part of the methodology affects the daily culture of learning and living. Let me point out very short some aspects of MGML that may be relevant under the focus of inclusive education:
1. The Community In the beginning of a Satellite School the dialogue between the villagers and the school takes place. By planning school together with the communities, RIVER realizes its significance and appreciates the community of a village as itself, but coeval the “life” of each member of this communities. At the same time, the villages can recognize, that the need of education is not higher valued than other concerns and needs of the villages members. The open character of the school allows parents to observe what is going on at every time of the day. So school gets transparent and understandable and not mystic some how. The possibility of a pre‐school allows older children to attend school without taking care of the younger and releases coeval the parents. The common celebration of school festivals, which are thematically linked (cp. metric mela), connects the school to the village in a very natural way, confirms the community of the village und allows parents and grandparents their own subtle learning. The integration and re‐cultivation of regional of cultural assets like specific rituals, songs or stories, strengthens the community and confers the villages and their peoples significance (cp. mother‐stories). The work with members of the villages, mainly with the mothers, about health, hygienic rules, birth control and so on grades up the physic and psychic well‐being in the villages, strengthens their self‐perception and the belief on their self‐potency.
2. The Children The school gives back children their childhood through learning, stories, songs, games and community. Without school they would be forced to live an early adulthood by working in the fields or taking care of the cattle. Through self‐based and self‐paced learning an atmosphere is created which allows students to continue their learning‐processes in self‐responsibility also after missing some days. The students feel “where they are” in their own development. Each child gets attention of teacher and peers and knows in a form of self‐reflection his or her level of learning. Nobody must feel that he or she is compared with other children. During the years of learning in mixed age groups, they learn to cooperate and to help each
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other. The group setting minimizes the effects of gender, class and casts. Natural mixed age groups also support self‐acceptance and discovering one’s own role and tasks in the community. The whole methodology offers to become conscious about the own learning movement. It respects the uniqueness of every individual child and supports individual and common growth. The Teachers The MGML‐Methodology enables the teachers to act supported by a holistic structure and the natural growing forces of the child and the community of the children. Without the well known distance between teacher and pupils the teacher is able to create a real learning community. A participating ownership of teachers empowers them, to feel free and responsible. At the same time they create new forms of learning and to develop different materials according to the curriculum. In addition the teachers realize thereby their own excellence and feel responsible for school development processes. All these aspects and their effects keep villages together as a community and a small working society in the big Indian society. It strengthens the regional culture, stops land escapism to the big cities and prevents slipping in to massive poverty. So it can be seen clearly now, that we – I quote Singh ‐ “need to develop carefully structured programmes on a global scale based unequivocally on the premise that human survival involves the growth of a creative and compassionate global consciousness” (cp. Singh 2005). Unquote. Coming from my own inclusive learning process, experiences, observations and scientific views, I would like to express that RIVER is an example for a change in individuals and society. They are a strong and silent revolution for both. Krishnamurti expresses in his little book “Education and the Significance of Life” that this could have radical effects. I quote Krishnamurti again: “True revolution is not the violent sort; it comes about through cultivation, the integration and intelligence of human beings, who, by their very life, will gradually create radical changes in society” (Krishnamurti 2000, 89). Unquote. The damage of collective meaning in more and more pluralistic societies lead the personal project ‚my life‘ without significant social references and a deep understanding of inclusive education to an existential risk. To realize inclusive education and learning cultures means, to minimize this risk. We do not live in a changing world – we are the changing world. Bauman, Zygmunt (2006): Liquid times. Living in an age of uncertainty. London. Polity Press. Girg, Ralf (2007): Die integrale Schule des Menschen. Praxis und Horizonte der
Integralpädagogik. Regensburg. S. Roderer Verlag. Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources, RIVER (2003): A Multigrade Trainer’s
Resource Pack. Background document I. Rishi Valley. Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources, RIVER (2006): A Multigrade Trainer’s
Resource Pack Background document I. Rishi Valley. Krishnamurti, Jiddu (1953, 2000): Education and the Significance of Life. Chennai. Krishnamurti, Jiddu (1954, 2006): The First and Last Freedom. Chennai. Krishnamurti, Jiddu (2001): Meeting life. Chennai
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Lichtinger, Ulrike / Girg, Ralf / Müller Thomas (2012): Lernen mit Lernleitern. Unterrichten mit der MultiGradeMultiLevel‐Methodology. Immenhausen: Prolog‐Verlag
Sen, Amartya (1999): Commodities and Capabilities. New Delhi. Oxford University Press. Senge, Peter (2005): Presence. Exploring profound change in people, organizations and
society. London. Nicolas Brealey Publishing. Singh, Karan (2005): Global Education. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission
on Education for the twenty‐first century. New Delhi. www.karansingh.com
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Presentation of the teacher students on Inclusive Education in the German School System Stefanie Volta, Sara Schnur, Kristina Riedel, Dorothea Weinhart, Henrike Giegold, Nina Wagner, Anja Grieser, Lucas Kötter In front of our presentation about the specifies we have in Germany about Inclusion and inclusive education I want to explain you how the German school system is designed. It is the base to understand how the special schools were developed. In Germany the first point to decide the schooling form is at the age of five or six. The primary school in Germany is designed for four years. After these four years there is another decision to be made. Depending on the faculty the children have in grade four the teacher gives advice to which school he or she should go. But also in this decision the parents are free and don’t have to follow the teacher’s council. There are three or rather four options: middle school, secondary school or university preparatory school, they start with fifth grade and the commercial schools starting in grade seven. As you maybe know, Germany is divided into 16 states. Every state is responsible for its own school system, so they can decide on their own how to organize the school system. That is the reason why it is different in every state. Now I want to tell you something about the special school system in the different states. There are different types of schools for handicapped pupils specialized on the type of handicap they have. Later you will hear more about the different specializations. If it comes to special schools and inclusive education you need to have a separated look on the states. Very often children with learning disabilities, behavioral disorder and speaking disability are taught together in one school. Children with other types of handicaps are taught in schools specialized on the kind of handicap they have. Some states started to abolish the special schools and try to include the handicap pupils in the normal school system. Other states still have the separated school special school system depending on the type of handicap the pupils have. So there is a big difference in how the states handle the company of pupils with handicaps. But you cannot say that the states which are abolishing the special schools are good once and the others are the bad once. Every system has an advantage and a disadvantage. The reason why the discussion and changes are going on is the education law and the conventions on the rights of persons with disabilities. Until yet Germany has not found a uniform way how to realize the inclusive education in the school system and every state handle it in its own way. Since the last few years Inclusive Education has been a big topic in the German educational system.
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What do we mean when we talk about inclusion? When we talk about inclusion, we don’t only talk about the inclusion of people with handicaps, disabilities and behavioural disorders in schools but in the whole society. Since the last few years one big aim in Germany is an inclusive society. This aim is also mentioned in the UN Convention. So at the moment, the society and also the school system aren’t inclusive yet. In this lecture I want to concentrate on inclusion in educational contexts as we all come with a pedagogical interest. But before talking about an inclusive form of living and learning together I want to give you a short overview of the historical process concerning this topic. If we look at our history, there have been many different forms of living together. It is important to mention that there has never only been one form of living together during a certain period. Nevertheless you can distinguish 4 different phases. During each period, one form of living together has been dominant. The first form I want to point out is called Exclusion. As you can see on the picture, an exclusive educational system excludes certain people from educational offers like schools, universities or extension studies. For example in the Middle Ages people with handicaps, disabilities, disorders or diseases often were totally excluded and they had to live outside the town. But also many years later there have been exclusive structures in educational contexts. The second form we call Separation. As you can see on the right, certain people are still outside the system but these persons are now put together. In Germany there are special schools for children with mentally or physically handicaps, behavioural disorders or other disabilities. For each different handicap or disorder there is a different type of special school. This intentional separation of children with and without special needs has been criticized a lot since the seventies. It was time for the movement of the Integration. Especially many parents of the concerned children demanded a common education for children with and without special needs. In the course of the demands new concepts have been created that allow an integration of children with special needs in regular schools. Since this time it has been possible that all children learn in regular schools. The parents have been able to decide whether they choose a special or a regular school for their child. But as you see at the third picture, also in regular schools, children have just learned at the same place but they’ve still rested separated. They’ve still rested separated due to special procedures in these schools which have only concerned the children with special needs and which have made them different to the others. So this stage also has been criticised a lot. And as I already mentioned the new demand is an inclusive, not only an integrative, educational system. Inclusion means, that nobody makes a difference between children
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with and without special needs. It means that all children learn in the same school and that each child gets the aid he or she needs. It also means that disabilities or disorders should no longer be pointed out as something “special” that you have to correct. The idea of inclusive education characterizes the actual public discussion in Germany. The concept of inclusive education aim for a school for all children which doesn’t exclude anybody. So the aim is the development of a separated school orientated at the skills of the diverse children to one school for all. Of course in fact all children are taught in one school there is the most imaginable heterogeneity which the teachers have to handle. The idea of inclusive education refers to all children, doesn’t matter which religion, gender, ethnic and just children with or without disabilities. Obviously that is a huge challenge for all involved. Every pupil should be forwarded individually and as effectively as possible. So every child learns with his or her own curriculum and as fast as he/she is able to. Through the development to inclusive education any exclusion should be prevented. So any stigmatization is incompatible with the idea of inclusive education. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Furthermore the Convention includes the demand for the development to inclusive education. Above all article 24 demands explicitly the change of school systems to an inclusive system. Germany ratified the Convention in March 2009. Since that date the discussion about changes in school system is on the spot in public discussions. Because of the relatively indefinite indications in the convention how to realize this demand, there is a great range to interpret. Some people intent to close the special schools immediately because they consider that special schools are incompatible with inclusive education. Others are convinced that the special schools have to stay in the German school system to ensure best individual assistance. That problem the supporters of inclusive education solves through a permanent position of a special need education teacher in regular schools. So how you can see, there are many questions which stay open. So the development to inclusive education not only implicates positive points. A chance which comes with the development of inclusive education is surely the official prevention of exclusion of people with disabilities. But if the systemic inclusion includes a social inclusion has to be scrutinized. The exclusion of some groups of people, for example people with disabilities, often doesn’t only exist because of systemic reasons, but because of attitudes of the other people, which develops out of specific behaviour or interactions with them. So a systemic inclusion doesn’t have to engender social inclusion too. Another point which reinforces the idea of inclusive education is the development of an individual lesson, which is oriented at the strengths of the children. There you have to see the danger of excessive demand of the children with disabilities. They didn’t visit special schools because of their strength but because of their special needs on support.
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Actually in Germany there is inclusive education coexistent with separated schools. So there are a few schools with an inclusive profile, which admit pupils with special needs. But in this time not every child with special need is included mainly because of organizational problems. For example not every school is accessible for people with physical disabilities. Generally a special school is a school for pupils who have special educational needs due to learning difficulties, physical disabilities or behavioural problems. In Bavaria, there are 5300 schools overall and about 375 of them are special schools. In a regular school class there are about 25 pupils, in a special school class are about ten pupils. So you can recognize that a special school class has fewer pupils than a regular school class. Moreover in Bavaria special schools are focused on different specializations. There are special schools for ‐ children with learning disabilities ‐ mentally handicapped children ‐ Children with behavioural disorders ‐ Children with physical disabilities ‐ Children with language disorders ‐ Blind and visually impaired children ‐ Deaf and hearing impaired children ‐ Deaf‐blind children There are also schools for sick children. This means for children who are too sick to attend school or have to spend a very long time in hospital. Furthermore the pupils in special schools are able to graduate at a middle school level. So for example children with behavioural disorders have the possibility to get the final school certification. Teachers in those schools are specially trained in teaching children with special needs. This means the teachers have a university education. The university education is organized corresponding the different specializations. So if you are looking forward to become a teacher for special schools you have to choose one of these specializations in university. The mobile special educational service There is another service that has not being mentioned until now which is important regarding to inclusive education. It’s the so‐called “Mobile special educational service” – in short MSD in Germany. This service is located between the regular schools and the special schools. It’s represented by a teacher educated in special needs education. The MSD supports the education of pupils with special educational needs who are able to attend a regular school. His tasks refer to 1. Making diagnoses, e. g. regarding intelligence, concentration, difficulties in reading and writing … 2. Supporting the pupils 3. The consultation of regular schools teachers, parents and pupils 4. The coordination of the support or in other words fixing the measures that fit best for the individual pupil 5. Further education of teachers All in all the main task of the MSD is to support pupils with special educational needs without leaving the regular school to come closer to our imagination of inclusive education.
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There are two general forms, how inclusive education is tried to implement in German schools. Both forms are about the classes. The first is called Partner Classes. There are two classes, one at a regular school with regular pupils and their teacher and one at a school for special needs with children with special needs and their teacher. Both classes have their own schedule and are independent from each other. But sometimes they work together, if the theme in class allows it. Especially in subjects like music, sports or art. They also sometimes have projects together. The second form is called Cooperative Classes. Here there are regular pupils together with children with special needs in one class. The main teacher of the class is a regular teacher. He is supported by a teacher for children with special needs. This teacher mostly supports the children while they are working or takes one or more pupils out of the class to work with them. His main focus is on the children with special needs but he also supports the others. In Germany, there are four forms of practicing inclusion. The first is the inclusion of single students with special needs in regular schools. The children learn in regular schools with regular teachers and use the special educational mobile service. Sometimes they need special aid, and then they have the chance to get a personal learning and integration helper. The second form is schools with inclusion system. Some regular schools turn to schools with inclusive system. For that reason they hire a teacher for special needs education and develop an individual inclusive profile that depends on the pupils with special needs but also for example on architectural basics and the idea of education.