Abstract
One of the major challenges facing inclusive education for children with ASD is the identification and the removal of barriers of learning, ranging from attitudinal barriers to those related to how we organize workspaces and the conception of educational resources. The collaborative approach is one of the most effective ways of learning, and it has the benefit to develop the culture of inclusion in schools. In fact, the major challenge of the system is to personalize the educational therapeutic approach, respectively to create learning environments that generate meaningful learning experiences for each beneficiary. When the authors refer to the personalization of inclusive learning environments during pandemic period, they think both of indoor environments, but also of outdoor environments, as well as virtual environments, models of innovative practices regarding the preparation and organization of personalized collaborative spaces both in classrooms and also in learning spaces from the community, having a multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary approach in order to develop life skills.
TopInclusion - A Non-Negotiable Reality Of The Contemporary World
More than three decades have passed since the official international promotion of the concept of “education for all” and the vision of “school for all” (Jomtiem-1990, Salamanca -1994, Dakar-2000), but inclusion remains a desideratum in many countries of the world. As the Incheon Declaration (2015) shows, there have been difficulties, but also notable progresses regarding the implementation of these policies outlined, especially through joint legislative steps supported by UNESCO. The vision of Incheon Declaration (2015) is ‘to transform lives through education’, even in the context of global and national educational challenges. The humanistic approach of education and development is based on the values of human rights and on the respect for human dignity; on social justice; on values as: protection, access, equity and inclusion, quality, cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity, responsibility, tolerance, human fulfillment and sustainable development.
Inclusion is a non-negotiable reality for the current level of development of the human being and of our societies. Understanding the differences between students as a resource for learning is also an axiom of education for all (Booth, T. and Ainscow, M., 2011).
The child with ASD is unquestionably a de jure beneficiary of the inclusive school, despite the fact that the developmental profile of the child with ASD often brings inclusive school face to face with unexpected challenges, with all implications of its various organizational dimensions. All these confrontations, properly addressed, have been observed to determine reconfigurations and notable improvements in the quality of educational and therapeutic services that will ultimately benefit all children.
The pandemic context, online education and therapy, is another factor that at this moment requires rethinking the way we educate and, implicitly, prepare for life the children with special needs.
In this regard, of the changes that the pandemic has brought to the vision of what school means, it is very interesting the research report made by UCL Institute of Education and led by Professor Gemma Moss which identified eight key messages for policymakers. The first key message is that 'Schooling' is about much more than learning' because the priority of teachers was to be in communication with families providing support and advice for learning. It has proven the increased teachers' interest in the pupil’s welfare and also in how the families are coping in terms of basic needs (food, health and emotional needs) .‘The social and emotional needs of children and their families are at the forefront of teachers ’minds’). Schools in the most disadvantaged areas monitored such situations and teachers spent time on activities not traditionally thought of as ‘teaching’ because 'The duty of care fell unevenly across schools' and ‘The effects of lockdown differ according to the social circumstances of the school’. Teachers realized the importance of adapting teaching resources to the age and specificity of children, as home learning activities needed to be both appealing and enjoyable. Given the support that parents or siblings were able to offer at home, the message 'Teaching approaches took account of the novel home-learning context' emphasizes that curricula design must create fun activities for the whole family and also opportunities for children to learn differently. Teachers’ responses showed that they maintained practice in the core skills of reading, handwriting and grammar/spelling because 'Literacy activities teachers set reflected the balance of the curriculum', but in addition, more than 30% of teachers asked families to undertake activities quite different to the ‘normal’ classroom practice, such as listening to stories, podcasts or watching films. Similarly, a minority of teachers set tasks to stimulate speaking at home. In this context 'Many teachers have gained a better understanding of their community from supporting home learning' during the pandemic period. Teachers report that they felt more connected to their community than they did before and many of them gained a different perspective on family life.
The final message is 'Teachers do not want to return to ‘business as normal’ because: schools have an important role in building community resilience and education needs a broader definition of curriculum values and purposes.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Learning Environments: Contextualization of education has not been too important for schools until the last decades because, despite some ancient evidence, education took place especially in the school institution. In the modern approach, the learning environment encompasses both the educational context and the learning experience, it represents physical environments created by teachers in order to generate a meaningful learning experience for students. It can be in the school building (s) - the classrooms, studios, halls, indoor and outdoor sports facilities and other learning spaces that are created and used in school as play areas. Learning environments can be online collaboration spaces and also outdoor, away from school as local cultural venues (theater, gallery, museum), public areas in various natural or artificial living environments that do not necessarily have an extrinsic educational function.
Remote Teaching: As many specialists have pointed out, it is necessary to distinguish between online education and the remote teaching solution promoted in emergency mode (Emergency Remote Teaching - ERT) due to the pandemic. The solution described in this chapter is a variant of remote teaching tested before the pandemic and viable even post-pandemic because it allows the teacher to intervene in the personalization of educational material, significantly replacing the need for the intervention of a parent or caregiver.
Personalised Learning: Is a curriculum design approach that means to customize education to meet every child’s learning needs. Used especially for the education of children with special needs, it provides effective instruction through the implementation of which it is desired that each student be truly engaged, supported and able to succeed.
Permaculture: We can say that it is a philosophy on environmental design, but as a ecosystem approached what incorporates ethics of sustainability for all living life structure. Permaculture is not only a way to cultivate a land, but a sustainable and eco-resilient approach to the relationship between human and nature.
Barriers of Learning: Recommended in the latest version of the Inclusion Index (Booth & Ainscow, 2011), this sintagma is used to direct attention of schools towards what needs to be done to improve education for every child. Students face difficulties when dealing with barriers to learning and participation. Barriers can be found in all aspects of school, as well as in communities and local or/and national policies. Barriers also arise in the interaction of students with what they are taught and the way they are taught. Minimizing barriers to learning and participation involves mobilizing resources from schools and communities. There are always more resources to support learning and participation than are currently used, and these resources are not just about money. Like barriers, they can be found in any aspect of the school: students, parents / caregivers, communities, teachers; changing cultures, policies and practices. Student resources, their ability to direct their own learning process and to support the learning of others, the potential of teachers in supporting the development of colleagues are resources that can all be capitalized. This is the foundation of our approach for collaborative learning environments.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Is a curricular design approach that highlights ways in which educators can set learning goals and curriculum plan, assessment, teaching strategies and resources to meet individual learning needs of all diversity of children from scholar group, design learning environments and programs that are accessible to them. UDL is fundamentally about educators valuing diversity from the outset and planning to meet students’ diverse learning and social needs (Crrington et al., 2020).