1) Critically discuss how the concept of inclusion has been constructed and how this notion has been put to work in education. Discuss with reference to academic literature and specific policies, including the latest SEND policy.
2) Critically evaluate the notion of ‘difference’ and how it has been conceptualized in education by discussing the various perspectives on disability and special educational needs. Discuss with reference to academic literature and policies.
3) Provide a critical analysis of how education and schooling have been utilised as a way to tackle social problems? Discuss with reference to academic literature, specific social problems and the policies and/or educational initiatives created to tackle them.
The essay is designed to address and assess your learning around theory and policy within the context of inclusion and inclusive education. Make sure that your essay is adhering to the following criteria as best as possible.
1. Structure:
All essays should have a clear structure with key introductory thoughts, the main body which addresses and responds to the selected question and concluding remarks.
1.1 On Introductions:
Most introductions tend to just develop the structure of the essay, basically the order in which things are going to be discussed. Think about extending your introductions; key terms to be discussed and key arguments should also be presented. For example a section of the introduction could include the following statements:
4) Critically discuss how the concept of inclusion has been constructed and how this notion has been put to work in education. Discuss with reference to academic literature and specific policies, including the latest SEND policy.
In order to make sense of the notion of inclusion I will be using Campbell’s (2002) and Frederickson and Cline’s (2009) work to discuss the notion of inclusion within the context of schooling. As part of my analysis I will also be discussing the ways in which politics has influenced the ways in which inclusion has been implemented within education; to present these points I will also use Hodkinson’s (2011) work on Labour policy on inclusion and education. With reference to the policies to be discussed in this essay, I will be focusing on the new SEND policies, to elaborate on how the new inclusion policies affect the responsiveness of schools and the new emphasis on family and individuals.
1.2 On the main sections:
The work in your main section should be explained in clear and well structured paragraphs, Every paragraph should be doing something in particular that helps you address the question. Do not forget that the essay question/proposition is the focus of your work. If you do not plan think about how to address the question you could write an essay that is not answering or responding to some of the key sections presented in your question/ proposition. The paragraphs are also supposed to be developing ideas in good detail, so your paragraphs are not supposed to be short or fragmented. Also avoid using bullet points, discuss your ideas discursively instead. Use literature to explain some of your points and to extend your ideas, for example, if there is a critical angle that helps you to think about something more critically point to it, this is what demonstrates critical understanding, not just the use of a quote.
This is an example:
When thinking about inclusion and education it is important to consider how within the reality of schooling the notion of inclusion becomes interpreted in different ways. To begin to look into how these interpretations play out in school I will use Hodkinson’s (2012, p. 7) ideas around ‘inclusion as the noun of the many’. Within his analysis inclusion in education seems to be achieved by repressing the individuality of the child with SEN in order for the child to be considered as being included. Hodkinson explains these dynamics in schools by looking at teachers’ comments on how they saw the inclusion of children with SEN could be achieved. One of the extracts sees a teacher talking about a child with SEN in class, ‘when he came here...he did everything on his own terms...I wrote a report about him fairly recently I said he had learnt to conform’ (Hodkinson, 2012, p. 8). This extract portrays how within inclusive education a focus is still placed on the child’s adapting to the school environment as quickly and as swiftly as possible, emphasising the need for the child to experience his own inclusion within the already established routines and was of the school. With reference to inclusive education, this is arguably one of the way in which inclusion has been happening in schools; yet, it still emphasis the school environment over children’s needs.
Let’s look at paragraphing:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8578.2012.00532.x/abstract
1.3 On concluding:
The conclusion is to bring your key points to a close and to offer some insight into what you have discussed and found out throughout your research on the particular topic.
2. Elaborating on the question:
When writing essays there is a tendency to overelaborate on a point which we might have read more about or which seems interesting, however, you must make sure that you address the essay question to the best of your ability. Each question for this assessment has a different focus and so your planning needs to be designed around each particular question.
2.1 Critically discuss how the concept of inclusion has been constructed and how this notion has been put to work in education. Discuss with reference to academic literature and specific policies, including the latest SEND policy.
The focus:
This question requires you to have a discussion around the notion of inclusion, perhaps starting out more broadly and then explaining in more detail how we can talk of inclusive education. The ways in which you discuss inclusive education should also be made relevant to selected policies. The question is asking you pick a particular policy/ies which can help you discuss how inclusive education happens; this should also be explained with the help of academic literature. The best essays will try to interlink literature, policies and understandings of inclusion, instead of developing separate sections focusing on each of these. This is not an essay on just defining inclusion, or just talking about policies, you must attempt to interlink and address the essay question.
2.2 Critically evaluate the notion of ‘difference’ and how it has been conceptualized in education by discussing the various perspectives on disability and special educational needs. Discuss with reference to academic literature and policies.
The focus:
This proposition asks you to look into the notion of difference within disability and need. You will be expected to use Lorella Terzi’s paper which is one of our key readings (week 6 - Terzi, L. (2005) Beyond the Dilemma of Difference: The Capability Approach to Disability and Special Educational Needs, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp, 443-459. Online link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2005.00447.x/full). You are expected to offer a critical summary of the key models of disability and difference and discuss how these models interact with education using other academic literature and policies. As with the previous proposition, the best essays will interlink literature, ideas of difference and selected policies in order to elaborate on the essay proposition. The work is not supposed to be just an essay on models of difference, the proposition is also asking you to consider how these models or perspectives interact with education.
2.3 Provide a critical analysis of how education and schooling have been utilised as a way to tackle social problems? Discuss with reference to academic literature, specific social problems and the policies and/or educational initiatives created to tackle them.
The focus:
This question has a very specific topic to discuss, the notion of social problems is central to understanding inclusion. This is not an essay about social problems but rather, on how social problems are addressed in schooling, and how this is a way in which inclusion happens. Therefore, if you are discussing inclusion as a notion you should think about interlinking an understanding of social problems as an attempt to understand and inform inclusive practices, with a strong reference to schooling. The best essays will have selected a particular social problem or problems to discuss in the essay and provide a discursive and critical account of how selected policies and initiatives are designed to address social problems in schools, and then explain how this might be an attempt to include and possibly, prevent exclusion. Try to be critical of the effectiveness of these initiatives and policies. You need to then consult academic literature to investigate how particular social problems continue to be seen in education and continue to affect educational success, achievements or outcomes. For example, if you focus on poverty try not to jump to early conclusions and say that poverty has been addressed in schools and therefore does not affect children’s schooling, instead seek academic literature which offers a critical account of how poverty might continue to affect the education of people.
3. Presentation:
Your text should be very well presented, proof read and the spacing should be at 1.5 or 2.0, also use the justified option in word to align your text. The paragraphs should be clear and the work needs to be well punctuated, cited and referenced.
