A simple start - A potential use of simplified english materials in the inclusive classroom

This paper examines issues surrounding simplified English materials (SEMs) and their usage. It considers their value in light of widespread support for authentic materials, the communicative approach and bilingual support and learning, contrasting this with the call for language simplification for children with Down syndrome. It sets these conflicting messages against a discussion of differentiated materials and current classroom practices. Drawing on these two different strands it suggests that SEMs could serve a very effective strategic role with all pupils as the starting point of lessons

Access and comprehension - Teachers use of simplified language materials

This paper examines the current use of simplified language materials (SLMs) by primary and secondary teachers across England. Drawing on a survey of 33 schools the paper examines the degree to which teachers and support teachers currently use simplified language materials and the reasons they give for their usage. It discusses both the contradictions and similarities between teachers' perceptions of the value of SLMs and the existing research base. It focuses on current national guidance, the role of SLMs for people with learning difficulties and research that encourages the use of complex materials and bilingual support, contrasting this with teachers perception that SLMs increase both access and comprehension. The paper suggests that we should not expect teachers to abandon SLMs but should find ways to use this skill base to enhance the education of all

Ongoing exclusion within universal education: why education for all is not inclusive

In this chapter we acknowledge that the marketisation of education has impacted on both the Education for all and Inclusive education for all agendas but we also recognize that the specific cultural context within different nations and localities will also shape how universal education is interpreted and developed (Miles and Singal 2010). We will therefore look at three countries in order to consider not only the wider constraints imposed by neo-liberal educational ideology but also the particular legacy of previous policies, practices and provision within each state. In doing so we hope to explore recurrent trends, contradictions and tensions in their development of inclusion within an Education for all agenda and discuss how widening participation in established education systems often simply reconstitutes the exclusion of those who are perpetually marginalised. Our discussions will underline why, despite the declaration at Jomtien, meeting at Salamanca was a necessity to provide a blueprint to reconstitute traditional education systems and how following that blueprint encounters frequent obstructions and diversions

What pedagogical approaches can effectively include children with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms? The interactions of peers, teachers and support staff

This paper addresses issues raised by the systematic literature review process. The authors are currently examining the literature on the pedagogy of mainstream teachers and support staff that effectively include children with special educational needs, with a view to assessing the interactions of peers, teachers and support staff. This paper sets out the methods of the systematic review, how we defined our terms and narrowed our focus. It explores the tensions that we confronted as part of this process. It explores in particular how we built on a previous review, and dealt with the criteria used to include and exclude studies and to carry out keywording. The paper concludes by highlighting some limitations of the systematic review process, and their impact on the ways in which we frame the reviews we create

Without foundation: the EYFS framework and its creation of needs

This chapter examines the language and underpinning ideas of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and its supporting documents. It explores how notions of diversity and difference emerge, in particular the construction of special educational needs and disability. It considers the underlying contradictions which arise, including links to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The chapter examines the claims that the framework is not about a staged notion of development, and relates this to its vision of what education is for and how parents should be involved. As well as challenging the norm based notions of development and assessment underpinning the EYFS, the chapter questions why difference is not threaded through the document but emerges as an occasional add on. It also highlights the challenges which emerge in relation to equitable access to support at a time when there is a shift away from centralised systems towards an increasing diversification of provision. It questions whether the processes the framework encourages practitioners to undertake will result in more effective practice which is genuinely responsive to the learning needs of children and relevant to practitioners

The Milky Way's Stellar Disk

A suite of vast stellar surveys mapping the Milky Way, culminating in the Gaia mission, is revolutionizing the empirical information about the distribution and properties of stars in the Galactic stellar disk. We review and lay out what analysis and modeling machinery needs to be in place to test mechanisms of disk galaxy evolution and to stringently constrain the Galactic gravitational potential, using such Galactic star-by-star measurements. We stress the crucial role of stellar survey selection functions in any such modeling; and we advocate the utility of viewing the Galactic stellar disk as made up from `mono-abundance populations' (MAPs), both for dynamical modeling and for constraining the Milky Way's evolutionary processes. We review recent work on the spatial and kinematical distribution of MAPs, and lay out how further study of MAPs in the Gaia era should lead to a decisively clearer picture of the Milky Way's dark matter distribution and formation history.Comment: Astron. Astrophys. Rev., in pres

Developing Point of Learning : an innovative approach to enhancing professional learning

In this paper we: * expand upon some of the issues with current approaches used in the development and assessment of professional practice, * outline the current emphasis upon a life of learning and why we need a new approach to assessment that enhances the development of professional practice, * introduce and provide a brief overview of Point of Learning (PoL) – a new approach that builds upon our growing understanding of learning and takes advantage of the power of digital technology, * explain how PoL overcomes problems with existing approaches, * develop the theoretical underpinning for this new approach and * present the overarching structure in which this new model can be developed. This is illustrated with an example from the schools sector – though it is important to remember that PoL is applicable to any professional development context