Inclusive Education in Canada: Issues in Teacher Preparation

Adam W. McCrimmon
In this article the author Adam McCrimmon discusses the ideas of inclusive
education in Canada and how Canadian universities are failing to properly prepare
teachers for inclusive education. McCrimmon defines inclusive education as the
process of educating children with disabilities in the regular education classrooms of
their neighbourhood schoolsthe schools they would attend if they did not have a
disabilityand providing them with the necessary services and support (Rafferty,
Boettcher, & Griffin, 2001, p. 266). By this definition inclusive education focuses on the
relocation of children from specialized schools into the mainstream education system.
There are many benefits to inclusive education such as reduced discrimination
and enhanced social and behavioural growth. But there are still many teachers who feel
resistant to adopt inclusive education in their classroom. McCrimmon references the
large amount of work teachers now have and how this may be the reason for some
resistance. Canadian educators experience multiple challenges in their classrooms,
including increasing class sizes, longer working hours, reduction of funding to support
learning initiatives, and demands by administration and/or parents to meet or exceed
curricular demands (Council of Ministers of Education of Canada, 2008). In addition,
teachers must adapt their educational practices to meet the needs of an increasingly
diverse student population, particularly students with exceptional learning needs (Forlin,
2004, 2005). I think that the amount of work which leads to high burnout rates will only
continue to grow with the introduction of inclusive education. The author also mentions
multiple studies that suggest that separate schooling has been shown to be beneficial to
many students with disabilities. Though not right for everyone I think separate schooling
is extremely valuable for some students. The Canadian government is now moving
away from separated schooling and going towards inclusive education. Though Canada
has different departments of education in each province, the universal demand for
inclusive education can been seen across the country.
McCrimmon fears that with this change in policy many of the practices in the
classroom are not reflecting inclusive education. He states that this may have to do with
the lack of preparation student teachers have at university. The four largest universities
in Canada only offer a single course on inclusive education each, none of which are
required courses (McCrimmon). This does seem difficult to believe considering we have
several required courses here at Acadia on inclusive education but the push towards
inclusive education has not reached all universities. Bachelor of education programs
prepare teachers for the majority of students and dont pay enough attention to the
students found around the outskirts of the average (McCrimmon). Though new teachers
are shown to be more accepting of inclusive education our university programs still do
not fully prepare us for inclusive education in the classroom.

McCrimmon offers several solutions to properly educating teachers about

inclusive education. He recognizes that bachelor of education programs are already a
lot of work in a short time and that more courses may not be realistic. He suggests that
we implement a second program focused exclusively on inclusive education.
Specifically, programs that provide teachers with targeted knowledge and training
regarding the primary features of childhood disorders, the impact of those features on
childrens learning, and best practices regarding educating children with specific
exceptional learning needs would be beneficial (McCrimmon). The author also
suggests online courses so that many teachers around the country can have an
opportunity to upgrade their skills.
I think that inclusive education is an extremely important topic and agree with the
authors opinion of needing more preparation to be able to fully embrace it in the class.
Though I think that Acadia is doing a great job at preparing us for the new education
system, the idea of a secondary degree or program that specializes on inclusive
education would be a terrific idea.

Questioning Secondary Inclusive Education: Are Inclusive Classrooms

Always Best for Students?
Ruth Elizabeth Tkachyk
Ruth Tkachyk is a teacher in Alberta who has worked with elementary children
and jr high students with special educational needs. This article expresses her opinion
on inclusive education and if it is the best route to help students with special educational
needs. Alberta Education said for inclusive education all students will have equitable
opportunity to be included in the typical learning environment or program of choice
(Alberta Education 2009, p. 5). This definition of inclusive education does not mean
forcing interaction between students but rather that we must understand what is best for
each student. One problem with the amount of legislature being put in place is that it
can be made by bureaucrats who may have never been in a classroom (Tkachyk). This
push for inclusive education has been most present in western governments who want
to push to create an inclusive society.
The support for inclusive education comes from governments, parents and
teachers. The number of studies showing the benefits of inclusive education are vast
and hard to argue with. By having students with behavioural problems or other special
learning needs in the class they can learn from peers about how to properly act and the
peers can learn about tolerance and acceptance. Tkachyk argues that it is actually the
peer group that get the most out of inclusive education. There is also the fear that social
isolation can occur if students are separated from their classmates. This idea of social
isolation is often an argument parents use to support inclusive education. But when
asked most parents just want programming to meet their childs capacity to learn
(Tkachyk). Parents want their children to be successful and this sometimes means less
inclusive programs.
Tkachyk explains the important difference between students with learning
disabilities (LD) and students with mental cognitive impairments (MCI). At first I thought
they were the same thing but now understand that while a student with an LD has
normal intelligence but has difficulty reaching the outcomes, a student with MCI has low
intelligence and is not able to handle the curriculum. The students with an LD can easily
be included in a class with few adaptations to help them meet the curriculum. For
students with MCI it is much more difficult for them to be in a classroom and may look to
pullout programs or specialized schools. If they are in a class they may feel socially
isolated, something inclusive education is supposed to prevent (Tkachyk). While
elementary school may be a better place for inclusive education, when entering into
secondary the curriculum focuses a lot more on content and not as much on social
development. This increased focus on content assumes students will start to take
responsibility for their own learning but that is not always possible for students with MCI.

Many teachers are also hesitant about the adoption of a fully inclusive classroom.
Though many do not want to seem like they are discriminating, it is a lot of work to help
students with special educational needs in a large class. Even teachers who want to
implement inclusive education in their class feel they do not have the proper knowledge
or resources to do so without burning out (Tkachyk). The author of this article offers
some insight to what might help inclusive education work. Tkachyk references Alberta
Education saying, differentiated instruction supports and strengthens the curriculum; it
does not replace it (Alberta Education 2010, p. 4). Differentiation is a term that gets
tossed around a lot but is essential to helping students succeed in an inclusive
education setting. The author also points out that because there is no consensus as to
how inclusive education should be implemented into the class it can be difficult to judge
what is working for students. Her final solution is that we should not put all our eggs in
one basket and that inclusive education is not a universal answer for all students, we
should explore many different avenues of solutions.

Different Strategies for Embracing Inclusive Education: A Snap Shot of

Individual Cases from Three Countries
Lee Lay Wah
This article was written by a professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia investigating
inclusive practices of three school around the world. She references Sebba and
Aniscows (1996) definition of inclusive education as a process by which a school
attempts to respond to all students as individuals by reconsidering its curricular
organization and provision and through this process, the school builds its capacity to
accept all students from the local community who wish to attend and, in so doing,
reduces the need to exclude pupils (p.9). By this definition physical location is not the
only aspect of inclusive education, it focuses more on equality for all students. Wah
says that we should move away from the idea that inclusion is just forcing students to fit
into the mainstream but rather look at a childs right to participate and our willingness to
accept them (Wah).
The first school the article examined was a primary school in southern London.
The UK has been implementing inclusive education laws since the 90s, with specific
strategies focusing on four key areas; early intervention, removing barriers to learning,
raising expectations and achievement, and delivering improvement on partnership
(Wah). Through these legislations there has been a lot of focus put on supplying
resources and programs to help school implement inclusive education. The primary
school in London utilizes these programs and many other private outside programs to
better include a variety of students. Their staff knowledge of inclusive education is
strong and the school has made several changes to the building and classrooms to help
include students with visual and aural disabilities. Teachers at this school find adult help
in the classroom in the form of an EA or other support the most valuable tool to help
implement inclusive education. Though the school is doing a lot to be an inclusive
school many of the practices are still based on a child specific model.
In the Netherlands there were 14 different school systems until 20 years ago
(Wah). In the 1990s the government started to implement laws to bring students with
mild mental disabilities together with mainstream students. This led to policies such as
the back-pack policy which allows students to bring their funding to any school they
desire. (Wah). This allowance for separate schools caused the author explore three
different school in the Netherlands. The first being a high achieving school that focused
heavily on curriculum. This school had teachers who were resistant to inclusive
education until a support expert came in and gave them specific strategies to work with.
At the Christian Montessori school specific teachers were consulted as to how to
improve their inclusive practices. And in the final school, a primary Muslim school, a
panel of experts worked together to help teachers develop strategies to help students

with special educational needs. Tough there were still some teachers hoping that some
of these students would be taken off their hands. It is apparent that there are still many
negative feelings towards inclusive education in the Netherlands. The country is trying
to focus their efforts on providing expert support and changing the beliefs of their
teachers about inclusive education.
Finally the author talks about a primary school in her own country of Malaysia. In
Malaysia the legislation focuses primarily on compulsory education and not on inclusive
education (Wah). Through the work of ministries in the country there are many pull-out
programs for students with special needs. In the primary school observed there was a
separate class for students with special educational needs who worked solely with the
resource teachers. It was the job of the resource teacher to prepare the students as
best they could to fit into a regular classroom. When a student made the transition to the
regular class it would then be the classroom teachers responsibility to help that student
(Wah). Though students with special educational needs are involved in school wide
events they are isolated during class time.
Each of these countries chose to take different steps to implement inclusive
education in their schools. The UK focuses mainly on resources from the government
and adult help in the class but this is costly and would not work for countries who could
not afford it. The Netherlands made big changes in a short time which has led to a
difference in policy and practice. The country is trying to change many citizens views of
inclusive education. Finally in Malaysia there has not been a wide implementation of
some of the practices of inclusive education but there is an effort by the ministry of
education to start to make more of a change. Overall this article reflects on how what
may work for some countries, will not work for all when it comes to implementing
inclusive education but it is still an important idea to understand.

Redefining Inclusive Education

Alyssa Morrin
When given this assignment I decided to choose the overarching theme of
inclusive education because it seems to be where education is heading. When I quickly
glanced at some articles there were many that seemed negative and against inclusive
education like Tkachyks article. But after researching and reading the articles most are
not against inclusive education but the idea of forced interaction. I think the first thing to
do is to have a proper definition of inclusive education. As a combination of all three
articles definitions I think that inclusive education should be defined as equal
opportunity for children to receive the education they want and for the school and
teachers to be willing to accept and accommodate for their needs. With this definition
we avoid the debate of deciding whether separate schooling should be allowed or if we
are pushing students into mainstream education before they are ready. As highlighted in
all three articles students with behavior and social problems may not benefit from being
in a mainstream class and will need to seek out other resources.
The way teachers and schools feel about inclusive education was another central
topic in all three articles. Many teachers want to do their best to include students but
feel they are not prepared or educated enough to do so on their own (Wah). As
McCrimmon stated many teachers are undereducated about how to properly include all
students past a case by case method. Though we are on the right track in most BEd
programs to provide more education around the subject, I fully agree with McCrimmons
suggestion to provide secondary programming focusing solely on inclusive education. I
also understand that to fully embrace inclusive education it takes a lot of work, this I
think is why so many teachers are resistant to implement it in their class. There is
already so much work for teachers to do and the thought of adding another layer seems
to make people worry.
Each of these articles highlight potential solutions we may use going forward to
better implement inclusive education into the class. Ideally we could have smaller class
sizes to allow more individualized attention and less work for teachers but this isnt a
feasible solution. McCrimmons idea of gaining more education around the subject of
inclusive education and childhood disorders was a great start to challenging the views
of those who are opposed to inclusive education. This extra education will also help
teachers and schools develop resources to be more inclusive. Inclusive education
cannot just be happening in the class but must be a school wide movement. Tkachyks
views of inclusive education in elementary working better than at the secondary level
reflects more upon the change in curriculum than the social structure of the class. As
quoted by Wah, inclusion is still just about relocating and having students meet the
mainstream curriculum. We need instead to have curriculum meet the needs of diversity

(Lloyd). This is the true problem of implementing inclusive education, the curriculum is
not built for it. When the curriculum changes we as teachers will be more easily able to
embrace inclusive education. Until that time I think the most important step is to keep an
open mind and be ready to embrace all students and their individual needs.

Sources:
Alberta Education. (2009). Setting the direction framework. Edmonton: Alberta
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Council of Ministers of Education of Canada. (2008). Inclusive education in Canada:
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Forlin, C. (2004). Promoting inclusivity in western Australian schools. International
Journal of Inclusive Education, 8, 185202.
Forlin, C. (2005). Sustaining inclusive practices in primary school communities. In C.
Newell (Ed.) Disability in education: Context, curriculum and culture (pp. 1321).
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Lloyd, C. (2008). Removing barriers to achievement: A strategy for inclusion or
exclusion? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 12(2), 221-236.
McCrimmon, Adam W. "Inclusive Education in Canada: Issues in Teacher Preparation."
Intervention in School and Clinic (2015): 234-237. Article. 08 March 2015.
Rafferty, Y., Boettcher, C., & Griffin, K. W. (2001). Benefits and risks of reverse inclusion
for preschoolers with and without disabilities: Parents perspectives. Journal of Early
Intervention, 24(4), 266286
Sebba, J. & Ainscow, M. (1996). International developments in inclusive schooling:
Mapping the issues. Cambridge Journal of Education, 26(1), 5-19.
Tkachyk, Ruth Elizabeth. "Questioning Secondary Inclusive Education: Are Inclusive
Classrooms Always Best for Students?" Interchange 44.1/2 (2010): 15-24.
Wah, Lee Lay. "Different Strategies For Embracing Inclusive Education: A Snap Shot of
Individual Cases From Three Countries." International Journal of Special
Education25.No 3 (2010): 98-109. Web. 8 Mar. 2015.
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ909040.pdf