Including  the  excluded–

Dilemmas  in  managing  social  justice  in  inclusive  practices

Ann-­‐Carita  Evaldsson,  Uppsala  UniversityEva  Hjörne,  University  of  Gothenburg

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General  Background

• Interest  in  the  management  of  inclusive  policy  in  everyday  practices  in  a  school  where  not  everyone  fits  in  and  pupils  are  excluded  (in  terms  of  ethnicity,  gender,  class,  disability,etc)

• Inclusion  speaks  to  social  and  democratic  justice  and  the  recognition  of  pupils’  rights  in  terms  of  equity  in  a  school  for  all  (Slee,  2001;  Fraser,  2005).

Research  on  inclusion  and  justice• Inclusion – a  catch-­‐phrase  used  worldwide  and  the   ideology  of  

today  (cf.  ’one  school  for  all’),  indicating  a  right  to  an  equal  school  for  everyone   and  a  development   from  special  education  to  inclusive  education  (Slee  &  Allen,  2001)  

• Previous  research  on  ideological  aspects  of  inclusion  show  that  integration,   labelling  and  differentiation  still  are  predominant   (Nilholm  et  al,  2010;  Haug,  2014;  Slee  &  Allen,  2001)  

• Some  argue  it  is  a  matter  of  a  discursive  change  rather  than  a  change  in  practice  and  ”a  feel-­‐good  rhetoric  that  no  one  could  be  opposed  to“ (Armstrong  et  al,  2011)

Few  studies  of  inclusive  practices

• To  include  is  not  necessarily  the  same  as  being inclusive,  ”to  shift  students  around  on  the  educational  chessboard  is  not  in  or  of  itself  inclusive”(Graham  &  Slee,  2008,  p.  278)

• Few  studies  focusing  on  social  justice  and  inclusive  practice  from  children’s  perspectives  (see  Renshaw,  Choo  &  emerald,  2014;  Hjörne  &  Evaldsson,  2014)

FOCI  OF  INTEREST•the  local  social  processes  through  which  an  ideology  of  inclusion  is  managed  in  a  comprehensive  school  in  Sweden•How  children’s  perspective  is  taken  into  account  across  various  classroom  activities  and  social  constellations•the  forms  of  participation  adopted  by,  or  imposed  to,  individual  children  as  part  of  inclusive  practices

Empirical  setting,  data  and  method• Video  ethnography of classroom interaction in  a  school with an  ideology of inclusion

• Case-­‐study of one individual,  a  boy,  Khalil,  9  years old,  with special  needs

Micro-­‐sociological approaches• Local  identities  become  intelligible  with  reference  to  socially  

circulating   ideologies,   reconcontextualized   in  specific  ways  (Rampton,  1999;  Wortham,  2008).  

• Participation   as  locally  produced  and  maintained  through  interaction  and  practical  activities  within  classrooms  (MacBeth,  2000;  Austin,  Dwyer  &  Freebody,   2003;  Goodwin,  2000,  Renshaw  et.al,  2014;  Hjörne  &  Evaldsson,  2014;)  

Analytical  questions

•What  dilemmas  of  inclusive  practices/ideologies   are  managed  in  everyday   classroom  activities?

•What  forms  of  participation  emerge  in  the  classroom?  

•What  forms  of  recognition is  accomplished   in  the  classroom   in  order  to  be  inclusive/  to  be  included?

•How  is  children’s  perspective  and  agency  displayed   in  this  process?

Trajectory  of  shifting  forms  of  participation  • Excerpt  1.  Student initiating  peer   learning  participation  • Excerpt  2.  Negotiating  access to  a  peer  activity• Excerpt  3.  Teacher  monitoring peer  participation

• Excerpt  5  Teacher  taking  control  over  peer  activity• Excerpt  7.  Teacher  evaluating  peer  learning  activities• Excerpt  8  Dilemmas  in  managing inclusive  practices

Ex.  1  Intitiating  a  Peer  learning  activity  

1.  Student  initiating  peer  participation

1.Teacher: Now  I’ll  remove  a  ”n”  there  [rub  out]  and  then  I’ll  ask  you  to  put  one  more  ”t”  there  [pointing  with  the  pencil  in  the  book]

2.Khalil:              ((  is  writing))

3. Teacher: Mmm,  then  you  can  show  them  to  me  and  I  can  see  that  you  have  done  right,  now  you’ve  started  on  two  goals  here  (3)  then  I’ll  like  to  show  you  a  material  where  you  can  work  with  capital   letters  and  full  stop  

2.  Student  initiating  peer  participation

4. Khalil: I  would  very  much   like  to  do  a  math-­‐game  together  with  someone,  Filip,   I  can  ask  if  he  would  like  to  do  so

5. Teacher: Are  you  going  to  ask  Filip  then  (?)  if  he  wants  to  join  you  (?)

6. Khali:           ((  is  leaving))

3.  Negotiating  access  to  peer-­‐learning  activity

3.  Negotiating  access  to  peer  learning  activity

27. Teacher: [turning  towards  Filip]  what  is  it  you’re  going  to  do  28. Filip:   I  don’t  know  29. Teacher: No,  Khalil  has  a  question  he  wants  to  put  to  you30. Khalil: Do  you  want  to  play  a  maths-­‐game  with  me  (?)31. Filip:       I  don’t  care  ((walks  away))32. Khalil:       An  amusing  one  ((follows  F))33. Filip:       don’t  care  ((walks  away))34. Khalil:   Yes  you  do  (follows  F,  tapping  his  shoulder))35. Filip:       I  don’t  care  ((walks  towards  his  friends))36. Khalil:   Yes,  what  are  you  gonna  do  now [?]

Teacher  taking  command  over  peer  participation

4.  Monitoring  peer  learning  activity

41. Teacher: What  about  it,  Filip,  are  you  gonna  do  a  maths-­‐game  with  Lin-­‐ Khalil  [?]

42. Filip:   don’t  care  ((standing  at  a  table  with  other  pupils))43. Teacher:   Come,  Lin-­‐Filip44.    Khalil: Filip!  ((standing  at  the  same  table  as  Filip))45. Teacher:   Khalil,  you  can  come  too

5.  Taking  command  over  peer  activity50.  Teacher:    Come  [towards  Filip]  what  kind  of  job  are  you  going  to  do  51.  Filip:     Don’t  know52.  Teachers:   You  don’t  know  [?]  how  can  you  get  to  know  what  it  is  

you’re  supposed  to  do  [?]53.  Filip:   ((mumble))54.  Teacher:   You  don’t  know  a  bit  of  what  you’re  going  to  do  and  not,  

what  kind  of  job  you  have,  nothing  [?]  55.  Filip:   ((inaudiable))56.  Teacher:   No,  but  then  I’ll  decide  for  you,  Then  I’ll  decide  you’re  

doing  a  ga-­‐ Mia’s  maths-­‐game  with,  with

Ex  7  Evaluating  peer  learning  activity

7.  Evaluating  peer  learning  activity

1. Teacher:   Is  it  good  for  Khalil  when  you’re  doing  like  that  [?]2. Filip:   What  [?]3. Teacher:   Will  it  be  good for  Khalil,  that’s  one  of  our  goal  doing  good  

for  the  other,  will  it  be  good  for  Khalil  now  [?]4. Filip:   What  do  you  mean  being  good  for  Khalil  [?]5. Teacher:   That’s  what  we  have  to  think  about6. Filip:   What  do  you  actually  mean  [?]7. Teacher:   As  you  know,  we  are  going  to  do  the  very  best  for  the  other,  

how  do  you  do  so  that  it  will  be  good  for  Khalil[?]

The  boys  are  talking  silent  with  each  other  while  the  teacher  is  speaking

7.  Managing  dilemmas

8. Filip: What  [?]9. Teacher:   What  are  you  doing  so  that  it  will  be  good for  Khalil  [?]10. Filip: I  don’t  know11. Teacher:   But  hallo,  hallo,  (moving  towards  the  boys)  we  do  have  that  

as  a  goal  working  with  doing  the  very  best  for  the  other,  Filip

Some  preliminary  conclusions

• Different  forms  of  a  child’s  participation  and  recognition  are  enacted  within  teacher  led  activities  and  peer  initiated  activities  

• Several  dilemmas in  the  management  of  inclusive  education  as  displayed  in  everyday  practice:  

Doing being inclusive

• The  question  is  whether  the  forms  of  participation  accomplished  in  everyday  classroom  activities  capture  children’s  perspective  and  issues  of  social  justice?