Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity

Transcription

1 Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity Volume 1 Series Editor Lani Florian School of Education, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Advisory Board Mel Ainscow Emeritus Professor, School of Education, University of Manchester, UK Petra Engelbrecht Senior Research Fellow, North-West University, South Africa Emeritus Professor, Canterbury Christ Church University, England Humberto J. Rodríguez Principal, Escuela Normal Especialización, Monterrey, México Roger Slee Professor, School of Education, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

2 This book series reflects on the challenges of inclusive education as a strategy for improving educational equity, and includes in-depth analyses of disparities in education and the mechanisms by which they operate. It studies the development of educational processes and pedagogical interventions that respond to the tensions between education policies that promote competition and those designed to promote inclusion at individual, classroom, school, district, national, and international levels. Finally, it presents research and development activities in teacher education that respond to the challenges of preparing teachers for the changing demographic of schooling. Increasingly throughout the world, a broad concept of inclusive education has begun to emerge as a strategy for achieving basic education for all learners regardless of cultural, developmental or linguistic differences. Although considered an important aspect of a global human rights agenda supported by the multilateral Global Partnership for Education, basic education is a complex endeavour that is subject to the forces of globalization, and the exclusionary pressures associated with migration, mobility, language, ethnicity, disability, and intergenerational poverty. The reciprocal links between these factors and educational underachievement has led to an increasing interest in the development of inclusive education as a strategy for improving educational equity. By addressing these and related issues, this series contributes important advances in knowledge about the enactment of inclusive education. This series: Offers a critical perspective on current practice Stimulates and challenges further developments for the field Explores global disparities in educational provision and compares developments Provides a welcome addition to the literature on inclusive education. More information about this series at

3 Jennifer Spratt Wellbeing, Equity and Education A Critical Analysis of Policy Discourses of Wellbeing in Schools 123

4 Jennifer Spratt School of Education University of Aberdeen Aberdeen, UK Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Library of Congress Control Number: Springer International Publishing AG 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

5 Series Editor s Preface The idea that every child has a good experience of schooling is central to the inclusion agenda because a good experience of schooling is associated with positive outcomes. But claiming that a school is inclusive because it enrols a diverse student population, or a high proportion of students with additional support needs, is insufficient to ensure that all students have a good experience of schooling or learning or that good outcomes will follow. Indeed, the underachievement of certain groups of students has led to a renewed focus on interventions that aim to close the gap between the lowest and highest achievers as an issue of fairness and social justice in education. But concepts such as inclusion, achievement, fairness and social justice are abstract and contentious and some would argue incompatible and too closely aligned with a focus on academic outcomes only. In response, the idea of wellbeing has come to be seen as both an important condition and outcome of learning. This book provides a welcome addition to the literature on inclusive education that does not shy away from the complexities of simultaneous and contrasting wellbeing discourses that range from producing economically useful citizens to considerations of the role of the school in enhancing one s capacity to lead what one considers to be a good life. Through an exploration of these potential outcomes and the role that schools and teachers play in influencing them, Wellbeing, Equity and Education: A Critical Analysis of Policy Discourses of Wellbeing in Schools offers a broad conceptual engagement with concepts of inclusion, achievement, fairness and social justice which help to address the challenges of inclusive education as a strategy for improving equity outcomes. The ideals of inclusive education make promises that many schools struggle to fulfil. For many years, approaches to policy practice and research about inclusion and equity have been dominated by the needs of individuals and groups who might be excluded or marginalised from schooling. This book helps to reframe debates about inclusive education through a deepening understanding of the role that schools and those who work in them play in the wellbeing of children and young people. By v

6 vi Series Editor s Preface focusing on the what rather than the who of inclusive education, the book offers a critical perspective on the wellbeing agenda in education that not only inaugurates this new series on inclusive learning and educational equity but sets a course for advances in knowledge about the enactment of inclusive education. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Lani Florian

7 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professors Lani Florian and Martyn Rouse for their support throughout this project. Their knowledge and wisdom, patience and humour have contributed immeasurably to my work. I am also grateful to colleagues in the University of Aberdeen School of Education for their encouragement of this endeavour. I am indebted to each of the 25 interviewees for generously sharing their time and their thoughts with me. Without their participation, this project would not have been possible. Special thanks to Roderick Scott, for creating the fantastic set of linocuts of wellbeing specially for this publication. Information about the Artworks by Roderick Scott Each chapter starts with a linocut print in which kite-flying images in different environments are used as a symbol of wellbeing. The kite images have different designs and are at different stages of flight to represent diversity. The symbol of wellbeing is printed in different environments, urban, rural, on and around school buildings and outside classes and examination rooms. One print, in Chap. 7, does not contain kites. Entitled 6 Hours After Mindfulness, this represents situations where the personal is manipulated to serve the functional. vii

8 Contents 1 Introduction The Research Study The Structure of the Book Discourse and Policy What Is Discourse? How Discourse Works: Discourse and Ideology Different Schools of Thought in Studies of Discourse Discourse and Policy Discourse Analysis The Role of the Researcher in Discourse Analysis Summary Equity, Schooling and Wellbeing Equality of What? Liberal Ideologies in Education Classical Liberalism Welfare Liberalism Neo-liberalism Ideologies of Welfare Liberalism and Neo-liberalism Summary International Influences on Policy The Multiple Purposes of Schooling Equality of What? The Capability Approach Summary Conceptualising Wellbeing Wellbeing An Ill-Defined Term Identifying Discourses of Wellbeing Used in Education Discursive Theme 1: Physical Health Promotion Discursive Theme 2: Psychological Discourses of Social and Emotional Literacy ix

9 x Contents 4.5 Discursive Theme 3: Discourse of Care Discursive Theme 4: Philosophical Discourse of Flourishing Aristotle s Notion of Happiness Contemporary Understandings of Flourishing Discursive Theme 5: The Emergent Theme of Sustainability Summary Conceptualising Relationships Between Learning and Wellbeing Introduction Fielding s Typology of Schooling Using Fielding s Typology to Examine the Discursive Relationships Between Learning and Wellbeing Wellbeing for Learning in the High Performance Learning Organisation Learning for Wellbeing in the Person Centred Learning Organisation Using Fielding s Typology in Discourse Analysis Summary Discourses of Wellbeing in Scottish Policy Introduction Health and Wellbeing in Curriculum for Excellence Use of Language in the Policy Texts The Discursive Representation of Wellbeing in Scottish Policy Individualised Discourses of Wellbeing in Policy Discourse of Wellbeing as Care in the Interagency Policies Links Between Discourse of Care and the Discourse of Social and Emotional Literacy The Quieter Themes Sustainability and Flourishing Conclusions Summary Interactions Between Wellbeing and Other Purposes of Schooling in Scottish Policy The Purpose of the Scottish Curriculum The Four Capacities Economic Strategy Discursive Links Between Wellbeing and Learning Wellbeing Serving Learning Learning for Wellbeing Summary The Discursive Gap: Interpretation of Policy by Professionals The Study Participants Evidence of Patterns in the Data

10 Contents xi 8.3 Findings from the Interviews Naturalisation of Policy Discourses Wellbeing as a Prerequisite of Learning Conflating Learning with Wellbeing Health and Wellbeing as a Solution to Other Problems Tensions Between Learning and Health and Wellbeing Alternatives to Policy Discourses- Wellbeing as Flourishing Learning for Flourishing Summary Towards a More Comprehensive Understanding of Wellbeing and Equity in Education Problematizing Wellbeing Discourses in Schools Wellbeing, Equity and Education Towards a More Comprehensive Understanding Through the Capability Approach A Final Note Appendix Research Methods Data Collection Identification of Policy Texts Sampling The Sample Interviews Using Critical Discourse Analysis References