Search

Background The trial will study the effects of the Whole School SEND Review on secondary school pupils in English mainstream education, to understand the impact of the intervention on academic attainment, wellbeing, and school attendance. The Review is designed to facilitate whole-school change through providing enhanced, intensive and sustained support and training in inclusive education for school special educational needs coordinators and leadership teams. The trial will have a specific focus on pupils designated as having special educational needs or disabilities. Methods We recruited 160 English secondary schools (approx. 58,000 pupils across two cohorts) to a two-arm pragmatic parallel cluster randomised controlled trial, with allocation at the school level. Randomisation will be stratified by school region. The primary outcome is attainment in English language (using standardised national test results at 16 years) for pupils designated as having a special educational need (approx. 4000 pupils). Secondary outcomes will be measured for pupils both with and without a special educational need designation and include pupil wellbeing (measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), absences and exclusions, and attainment in Mathematics and English language at 16 years. The intervention will be implemented from July 2021 and analysis of outcomes (for the year 9 cohort) will take place in September 2023, with further analysis (for the year 8 cohort) in September 2024 if the evaluation shows that acceptable implementation fidelity has been achieved. Discussion Pupils with special educational needs represent a significant and often vulnerable part of the secondary school population, are disproportionately likely to be excluded from school, eligible for free school meals, or supported by children’s social care. Despite these multiple important areas of need, school leaders report substantial challenges in making additional provision for this group. Previous research has highlighted the development of inclusive school cultures (rather focusing primarily on targeted individualised approaches) as being important. This trial will investigate how an intervention designed to drive whole school change may lead to outcomes for pupils with and without a special educational needs designation. As such, this trial is expected to make an important contribution to research evidence and to UK educational policy. Trial registration ISRCTN registry ISRCTN11339306. Registered on 12 March 2020 (retrospectively registered).

There is little empirical attention in the literature to how beginning teacher perceptions in relation to inclusion change as they progress from the pre-service to novice teacher year. This paper reports on a panel study of a cohort of pre-service teachers in the Republic of Ireland, which tracks their transition to the novice teacher year using a new scale. Analysis of the data indicates that this transition results in a significant drop in attitude, perceived knowledge and self-efficacy in relation to inclusion.

Executive Summary Background to the project The context for this project is a growing international consensus on the importance of policy initiatives to both raise the quality of teaching (OECD, 2005) and to better prepare teachers to respond to increasing diversity in communities and classrooms (EADSNE, 2011). The DES and the Teaching Council of Ireland developed policies requiring higher education institutions providing Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to undergo a re-accreditation process from 2012. This involved both an extension and a reconceptualization of programmes, with mandatory additional content related to inclusive education and differentiation, together with the opportunity for a wider range of school placement experiences. All concurrent (undergraduate) programmes of initial teacher education must be of four years' duration and all consecutive (postgraduate) programmes of initial teacher education must be of two years' duration. The latter were re-accredited at Masters Level 9 on the National Framework of Qualifications. Following this major reform, the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) in Ireland commissioned a study of ‘Initial Teacher Education for Inclusion’ in 2015. NCSE’s research aim was: ‘to establish what the components of inclusive/special education are within Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes in Ireland and to explore if the recent changes prepare newly qualified teachers to be inclusive using the indicators set out in the EASNIE’s Profile of Inclusive Teachers’. The European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (EASNIE) conducted a four-year project on Teacher Education for Inclusion, involving representatives of twenty five countries. A key output was a proposed ‘Profile of Inclusive Teachers’ (EADSNE, 2012), which outlines a range of attitudes, knowledge and skills in relation to four core values and eight areas of competence, to be addressed in initial teacher education to prepare all new teachers to become more inclusive. The NCSE proposed the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers as the baseline definition of inclusive teaching for the project and it is used by the research team as the framework and starting point for analysis. The ‘Initial Teacher Education for Inclusion’ project (ITE4I), runs from 2015-2018. The research team is led by Manchester Metropolitan University in partnership with University College Cork and University College London, Institute of Education. We understand this project may be one of the first system-wide, longitudinal studies of initial teacher education for inclusive teaching in Europe. This report relates to the first year of the project in 2015/16, which analysed the content of ITE programmes and studied the experiences of the first cohort of student teachers to graduate from the extended and reconceptualised programmes, in their final year of study. This comprised two phases of data collection: in Phase 1 we analysed programme documents and surveyed teacher educators; in Phase 2 we surveyed student teachers and interviewed a sample of student teachers and teacher educators. At the same time, a literature review was developed setting out definitional debates on inclusive education and outlining the scope of the international literature on inclusive teaching. Research design The Research Questions formulated by National Council for Special Education (NCSE) were as follows: 1. What are the components of inclusive/special education within Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes in Ireland for primary and post-primary teachers? 2. Do the recent changes to ITE prepare newly qualified teachers to be inclusive as identified by European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (EASNIE) Profile of Inclusive Teachers? 3. What is the intended impact of the changes in ITE on outcomes for students with special educational needs (SEN) and do student/newly qualified teachers perceive their learning during initial teacher education makes an impact on outcomes for students with SEN? 4. What gaps are there in how current ITE programmes prepare student teachers to be inclusive as per the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers and what aspects need to be strengthened to better prepare student teachers to be inclusive? 5. What lessons can be identified from this research for initial teacher education in Ireland and subsequent phases in the continuum of teacher education? The Project Phases were planned around data collection over the three years of the project: Phase 1 (Sept. – Jan. 2016): Analysing ITE Programme Content Data collection in Phase 1 included documentary analysis and a survey of teacher educators. Documentation relating to some 30 programmes (out of 59 nationally) from 13 ITE providers (out of 19 in total) was obtained with the support of the Teaching Council. These were primarily standard proforma submitted for re-accreditation, with module outlines appended in some cases; in addition, reviews of these submissions published by the Teaching Council were analysed, together with the criteria used for re-accreditation. The documentary analysis started from a typology derived from the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers, to examine how and where inclusive teaching is represented within ITE programme documents. A survey of teacher educators was conducted at the same time, to collect initial data on the range of views expressed by teacher educators in relation to issues of inclusive teaching in ITE programmes. The survey was constructed to reflect areas of competence within the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers, and to collect free-text comments. Following piloting, 21 respondents (programme leaders, module leaders, heads of departments) provided complete or near-complete responses giving information relating to 27 programmes from 13 institutions (some survey responses related to more than one programme). Phase 2 (Feb. – Aug. 2016): Understanding the ITE Student Experience Data collection in Phase 2 included a survey of student teachers, together with interviews with student teachers and with teacher educators at five case study sites. The five ITE providers were selected to represent a range of primary, post-primary, consecutive and concurrent programmes; and to provide a geographical spread of institutions. The survey of student teachers elicited data about their experiences of initial teacher education and their understandings of inclusive teaching. The questionnaire captured demographic information, key areas of experience prior to and during the respondents’ ITE programme, and a series of statements mapped to an analysis of the attitude, knowledge and skills components of the EASNIE profile. A total of 430 valid responses were received, representing a sample of approximately 13% of the national cohort of student teachers. The interviews with student teachers aimed to elicit their views about their course and how their studies related to their school placement experiences; their understandings of inclusive teaching; their approaches to inclusive teaching in practice; and their reflections on their own professional development in relation to inclusive teaching and how their courses might be developed. A total of 47 students were interviewed in person or by Skype, with 32 recruited at the five case study sites and a further 15 recruited by survey responses from other institutions. The interviews with teacher educators sought their views on issues of inclusive teaching and ITE in Ireland, and on the impact of the extension and reconceptualization of ITE programmes; their responses to emergent themes and issues arising from the survey of teacher educators and the documentary analysis; and their reflections on aspects of the EASNIE Profile of Inclusive Teachers. A total of 11 staff interviews were conducted across the five case study sites, typically including the Head of School or a Programme Leader and a lecturer in inclusive or special education.

Inclusion is a central issue for educational psychologists (EPs) today, yet they have often been portrayed as gatekeepers to special provision. One approach for EPs to promote more inclusive practices in schools is through the Index for Inclusion as a vehicle for consultation. This paper reports a study of EPs acting as “critical friends” to schools during the pilot project to develop the Index for Inclusion in 1999. The role of critical friend was investigated through interviewing EPs and others. Key themes were identified reflecting significant aspects of EPs' experiences that may be helpful to colleagues interested in developing this approach.

The Central Pilbara Railway (CPR) was constructed in 1992 by Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd to provide a transport link between Marandoo and the proposed Yandicoogina Mine in the Central Pilbara, Western Australia. The 400 km line connects to the port of Dampier to the huge iron ore resources in the central Pilbara and a section of nearly 100 km of the railway passes through the Karijini National Park. The main area of interest in this study is within this strip and in particular the section 500 metres either side of the railway centreline between Marandoo and the eastern boundary of the park near Juna Downs. This study uses multi‐temporal satellite data to determine the prior status and the impact on vegetation condition from the construction and operation of the CPR. This method was tested using one kilometre subdivisions along and 100 metre segments away from the line within a 500 metre zone around the CPR. It was found that change in vegetation condition is significantly greater closer to the railway...

The Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) was flown over parts of the Swan River, Western Australia, in February 1993 to provide data to assess uses of remote sensing for detection and monitoring of algal blooms. It was flown in both spectral (288 bands x 39 lines) and spatial (14 bands x 512 lines) modes. Some biological, physical, spectral and chemical sampling of the water column were collected as close as possible to the flight times. Analysis of the CASI Spectral‐ and Spatial‐Mode data showed a relationship with some algal types, their concentrations and other co‐varing parameters. A small number of well chosen bands were sufficient to identify some of the water quality parameters in the Swan River. A synthesized comparison was made with the optimum spectral bands that could be used in a simple airborne digital video system. The relative advantages and applicability of this approach is discussed.

The Geoscan Airborne Multi‐spectral Scanner was used to provide high‐spatial resolution maps (± 10 m) of seven major benthic marine habitat types, for an area approximately 100 x 20 km, of the coastal waters off Perth, Western Australia. Innovative techniques were applied to the image to remove sun‐glint, wave‐facet and across‐track illumination effects. The image was spatially rectified to a SPOT panchromatic image. A combination of spectral data and digital bathymetry were used to auto‐classify the major benthic habitats within panels (512 x 512 pixels) of the total image. Analysis of more than 100 ground‐truthing sites indicated that this classification technique achieved a degree of accuracy of greater than 70% for the relatively shallow inshore habitats ( 20 m). The accuracy of the classification ranged between 92 % for coarse sand and 62 % for subtidal reef. The approach used in this study suggests that airborne scanners, such...

Due to the impacts of rural and urban development on southwestern Australian estuaries, and the general isolation of these water bodies, there is a need to develop water quality monitoring systems that are both repetitive and cost-effective. The literature suggests that Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) has spectral and spatial characteristics that are suited to monitoring small coastal water bodies. This study examined the potential for the satellitebased TM sensor to serve as a regular monitoring tool. Atmospherically corrected TM digital data acquired on four dates over summer 1990 / 91 and concurrent field measurements collected at the time of the satellite overpass over the Peel-Harvey Estuarine System (32° 30'S lat. 115° 40'E long.) were used to obtain multitemporal, empirical algorithms for predicting pigment concentration, Secchi disk depth (SDD), and salinity. Highly significant, predictive algorithms were developed for these parameters. It is concluded that Landsat TM has the resolution and accuracy to be a potentially very useful monitoring tool. However, cloud cover and delays in data acquisition seriously diminish its usefulness for monitoring on anything less than a seasonal basis. Laboratory-based radiometric studies also indicated that Landsat TM was unlikely to be useful in determining the taxonomic composition of phytoplankton blooms in coastal waters.

What can psychology offer inclusive education? Traditionally, special education has looked to psychology for many of its theoretical resources and practical strategies. While those seeking to promote more inclusive education have tended to see psychology and psychologists as part of the problem by providing a rationale for segregation. However, in practice many psychologists today are developing inclusive ways of working, and are paying attention to psychological theories that underpin inclusive education. Psychology for Inclusive Education reframes the contribution of psychology in terms of its relevance to inclusion and will show how psychological theories of learning and human development are compatible with inclusive education. Part 1 explores psychological theories relevant to understanding inclusive education and Part 2 looks at how psychology can contribute to promoting more inclusive education in practice.

Psychologists from several different traditions have recently been addressing questions of inclusion. For example, a proposal for the establishment of a section of the British Psychological Society for the ‘Psychology of Inclusion’ came from the field of occupational psychology (Chamberlain and Meehan, 2003). The American Psychological Association has issued guidelines for ‘infusing’ inclusive approaches into textbooks for teaching psychology (Trimble, 2003). Abrams and Christian (2007: 215) examine social inclusion and exclusion from a social psychological perspective, proposing a ‘relational dynamics’ framework encompassing various dimensions of exclusion. Farrell and Venables (Chapter 10) and Hick (2005) consider educational psychologists’ engagement with inclusive education, whilst Goodley and Lawthom (2006) examine the potential for engaging critical psychology with disabilities studies, both of these being fields that can bring insights to bear on inclusion in education.

This four-volume set brings together seminal articles and key writings on the theme of inclusion and diversity in education. The collection takes disability and special educational need as a starting point from which to develop a broader focus on a range of themes relating to learners who may be marginalized from educational opportunities, for example, members of minority ethnic communities, students excluded from schools or who are ‘looked after’ in public care, and other dimensions of exclusion arising from social class, gender or sexuality.

A four-year project conducted from 1981 to 1985 examined the application of satellite-derived near real-time sea surface temperature data in assisting the Tuna fishing industry located along the southwestern coast of Australia. The satellite imagery employed was obtained from the NOAA series of polar orbiting satellites. Since the southern bluefin tuna is a pelagic species, it had been anticipated that a good correlation would be found between sea surface temperatures and catches. Early experimental results tended to confirm that view, but a number of anomalies existed in those results. It is now suggested that a weak correlation exists between temperature and catches, but this is due to localized factors. A theory justifying this assumption is given.

LANDSAT data are typically available for a number of overpasses during a growing season. There is currently considerable interest in modelling the so-called crop profile for such multitemporal data by a non-linear profile function of some (spectral) index for the spectral bands. The derived coefficients are used in a subsequent allocation procedure. This paper outlines some results obtained from an evaluation of the approach for crop data from the wheatbelt of Western Australia. Specifically, the degree of separation of crop classes from pasture classes, as measured by the discriminant root, is compared for analyses based on the original bands, on various spectral indices and on fitted coefficients from a crop profile function describing the temporal change in these indices. For the data considered, a marked loss of discrimination is found for analyses based on various spectral indices, when compared with those based directly on the corresponding discriminant functions (where the linear combinati...

An evaluation of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data for the routine monitoring of surface chlorophyll concentration (C) and Secchi disk depth (SOD, a measure of the water clarity) used Cockburn Sound as a study area. Multi-temporal empirical algorithms to predict these parameters have been developedfrom the atmospherically-corrected satellite-received radiance and field data collected at the time of the satellite overpass. Highly significant, predictive algorithms for the surface C (range: 0·2–2·7 μg 1−1) and SOD (range: 4–15m) were obtained using bands I and 3 of the Thematic mapper. It is shown that a high confidence may be placed on the predictions using these algorithms and therefore it offers a cost-effective tool for complementing regular monitoring programmes.