Making teaching inclusive

Schools are taking baby steps to grow more inclusive, with a major focus on training teachers, writes Aruna Sankaranarayanan

As an increasing number of schools are more accepting of the idea of inclusion and embrace this ideal, at least in spirit, if not entirely in practice, it is evident that the tide is shifting, albeit gradually. While inclusion, as a philosophy and practice, is vast in scope and requires vision, commitment and resources, schools are taking baby steps to grow more inclusive. One area that is gaining traction is teacher training.

Being at the heart of an inclusive classroom, teachers must learn to support the diverse learning needs of a heterogeneous group of learners. How feasible is this for teachers to implement on the ground? What challenges do they face? Three educators who strongly believe in inclusion share their views on differentiation or how teaching may address every child’s needs and interests.  

Sangitha Krishnamurthi, co-founder of The Teachers Collective, an organisation committed to reframing classroom inclusion, has been training teachers to create more inclusive spaces for the past seven years. One of her organisation's goals is to delink the construct of inclusion from special education needs because all children benefit from differentiation. Foremost, they exhort teachers to get to know the various diversities housed within their classrooms.

From differences in socioeconomic status to family backgrounds (including whether children are from urban or semi-rural or rural households; whether children are first-generation learners, etc.) to linguistic and cultural exposure to learning profiles (that may encompass giftedness and disabilities), diversities can be varied, complex and intersectional.

While teachers may initially feel diffident or even overwhelmed when introduced to differentiation strategies, Krishnamurthi has noticed a palpable shift in teachers’ attitudes once they start witnessing positive classroom changes.

The Teachers Collective favours a multi-pronged approach when it comes to differentiation. For classroom instruction, Krishnamurthi recommends Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework first developed by CAST based on three broad principles. These include representing content to students in multiple ways, allowing them to express their learning in various formats and engaging all students by leveraging their proclivities and predilections.

Lekha Pramod, a mentor-teacher at Euro School, tries to incorporate these principles into her teaching as she strongly advocates that teaching should support the needs of all children. When she was teaching a Grade 7 English class at a previous school, students had to read a rather boring lesson on Tansen, a Hindustani classical music legend.

As many of her students weren’t enthused by Hindustani music or the singer, Pramod had to think of creative means to awaken their interests. So, she got her students to form groups based on their interests. While one group explored how music is connected to science, another was tasked with finding linkages between music and mathematics. A third group probed the relationship between music and languages.

For the project, completed within four sessions, each group had to make a chart depicting the connections they uncovered through their research. Besides the Internet, children spoke to their music teachers, grandparents and parents. Pramod found that students were actively engaged during all project phases, from planning to research to discussion, execution, and presentation.

Further, Pramod, to her surprise, found that her involvement was minimal even as students engaged in deep learning. The momentum of their learning led students once she gave them directions. All students benefited from this multidisciplinary approach as they learned how music manifests itself in patterns, natural rhythms and the tonality of languages.

For Vani Ramachandran, an educator who works in The Atelier, a school inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, inclusion is a “way of being.” The idea of differentiation is woven into the Reggio Emilia approach, which is child-centred, constructivist, self-directed and experiential.

“We want children to be in charge of their learning,” says Ramachandran. “Every child deserves to be heard, seen, respected, trusted and cared for.” She emphasizes the importance of meeting children where they are.

Loris Malaguzzi, the founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, believes that children have “a hundred languages” by which they express themselves. The onus is, thus, on the teacher to listen and decipher these many and varied tongues. According to Ramachandran, who works with children in the age group of four to six years, children may express themselves through construction, mark-making, music, movement, sculpture or forging connections. The main challenge for teachers is to be observant and present to respond to the many ‘languages’ that children may choose to communicate in.

Just as there’s no one ‘right’ way to learn or express your learning, there are multiple pathways by which schools may grow more open, diverse and inclusive. Educators are adopting myriad routes towards greater inclusion. 

(The author is a psychologist and writer.)