Inclusive education and cooperative learning : a proposal for the EFL classroom

Treball Final de Màster Universitari en Professor/a d'Educació Secundària Obligatòria i Batxillerat, Formació Professional i Ensenyaments d'Idiomes. Codi: SAP129. Curs: 2013/2014 The aim of this paper is twofold: (1) reflecting on the new challenges that our educational system is facing nowadays, given that it is becoming more and more diverse; and (2) reflecting on what we can do, as teachers, in order to address diversity in a positive and inclusive way. First, I have looked trough the scientific literature regarding Inclusive Education and Cooperative Learning, analyzing their main characteristics and the elements that make the latter an ideal way to address diversity in schools. And secondly, I have designed a proposal in the form of a teaching unit introducing cooperative learning activities addressed to a secondary class of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) which, due to space limitations, has been included in the form of an annex (Annex I). These are the objectives that I have contemplated: 1) To review the existing literature about Inclusive Education and Cooperative Learning to deepen in the knowledge of both concepts. 2) To address Inclusive Education with Cooperative Methodologies as an ideal way of attending students diversity. 3) To design a teaching proposal based on Cooperative Learning in the form of a teaching unit applied to Secondary Education, taking into account those educational methods which make students learning easier in diversity contexts (Annex I). In order to reach these objectives, I have done some extensive reading on the bibliography concerning both concepts and I have come to the conclusion that it is really important to reorganize and restructure ordinary schools towards the same direction: inclusion, so that this way we will have a quality school for everyone. I have also come to the conclusion that Cooperative Learning is a great way of attending students’ diversity without dividing them and making the most of this diversity.