ABSTRACT

This book presents and discusses an approach to action research to help reverse discriminatory and exclusionary practices in education. Insider accounts of action research will help challenge assumptions about the limits of inclusive education, and offer examples of how change can be realistically achieved through processes of collaboration and participation.
Written by a team of practitioner researchers drawn from a wide range of schools and services, this book addresses a wide range of real-life situations by exploring ways in which teachers have tackled inequalities in the school environment through action research based on principles of equality and democracy. These include:

* the co-ordination of services for minority ethnic groups, including refugee and asylum seeking children
* young children with autism working with peers in the literacy hour
* action research and the inclusion of gay students
* developing the role of learning support assistants in inclusion
* reducing exclusion of children with challenging behaviour
* listening to the voices of young people with  severe learning difficulties
* developing links between special and mainstream schools
* challenging marginalising practices in Further Education.

chapter 1|16 pages

Action research

Developing inclusive practice and transforming cultures

chapter 2|15 pages

Disability and empowerment

Personal integrity in further education research

chapter 3|16 pages

From confusion to collaboration: can special schools contribute to developing inclusive practices in mainstream schools? PAULINE ZELAIETA

Can special schools contribute to developing inclusive practices in mainstream schools?

chapter 4|15 pages

Forging and strengthening alliances

Learning support staff and the challenge of inclusion

chapter 5|14 pages

Students who challenge

Reducing barriers to inclusion

chapter 6|15 pages

‘We like to talk and we like someone to listen’

Cultural difference and minority voices as agents of change

chapter |13 pages

Ordinary teachers, ordinary struggles

Including children with social and communication difficulties in everyday

chapter 8|18 pages

‘What about me? I live here too!’

Raising voices and changing minds through participatory research

chapter 9|15 pages

Out of the closet, into the classroom

Gay students, teachers and research action

chapter |2 pages

Action research spiral