Description:
For some children with impairments, playing on a playground with other children, is seldom or never experienced. Accessible playgrounds have features which can give children with disabilities the opportunity to gain access to play so that they can be included in play with other children, including peers who do not have impairments. In this paper, qualitative data drawn from the views and perceptions of children is explored. Interpretation through reflection on this data attempts to make sense of the lived experience of participants in school and community playgrounds as they try to engage with supposedly accessible play equipment that can facilitate participation, yet also create unintentional barriers to play. The social model of disability, which suggests that disability is created by an unequal social relationship, together with the 'new' sociology of childhood is adopted as a way of viewing the relationship between children, disability and the playground environment. An argument is advanced for broader implications that affect children who use school and community playgrounds which need to be considered to enhance inclusion of children with disabilities in play.
Description:
For some children with impairments, playing on a playground with other children, is seldom or never experienced. Accessible playgrounds have features which can give children with disabilities the opportunity to gain access to play so that they can be included in play with other children, including peers who do not have impairments. In this paper, qualitative data drawn from the views and perceptions of children is explored. Interpretation through reflection on this data attempts to make sense of the lived experience of participants in school and community playgrounds as they try to engage with supposedly accessible play equipment that can facilitate participation, yet also create unintentional barriers to play. The social model of disability, which suggests that disability is created by an unequal social relationship, together with the 'new' sociology of childhood is adopted as a way of viewing the relationship between children, disability and the playground environment. An argument is advanced for broader implications that affect children who use school and community playgrounds which need to be considered to enhance inclusion of children with disabilities in play.
Description:
This thesis investigates accessible playgrounds as spaces that offer children with impairments the opportunity to be included in play with children who do not have impairments. It presents an examination of play on the Swanmere Accessible Community Playground and several other children's playground sites.
Description:
This thesis investigates accessible playgrounds as spaces that offer children with impairments the opportunity to be included in play with children who do not have impairments. It presents an examination of play on the Swanmere Accessible Community Playground and several other children's playground sites.
Description:
Play, as a major social institution, influences the shaping of society. By gathering in playground environments, children who do not necessarily know each other learn about others, social values and the communities in which they live. In this paper, the playground is examined as a place that can offer opportunities for children with impairments to play freely and creatively, or alternatively, to experience restrictions through structural oppression. The qualitative study reported on in this paper is drawn from an Australian Research Council Linkages Project. Data were collected from 72 participant children, who compiled personal photographic scrapbooks and were observed at play in playgrounds. Data were also obtained from a series of focus group discussions with parents of children with impairments and adults with impairments. In this paper, evidence is presented to demonstrate that children, through the spatiality of a purposed-provided play space, as a microcosm of society, come to understand disability and, therefore, those who are considered disabled. The presentation concludes that taken-for-granted and exclusive practices around playground configuration can have powerful repercussions upon the way difference attributed to impairment is socially constructed by children.
Description:
This paper describes an innovative cross-institutional learning partnership that was designed to foster the learning of both Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) and students and teachers from a local regional Secondary College. Around 150 Grade Nine (13-14 year old) students took part in a purpose-designed activity day at the university that was organised and conducted by 34 second year PSTs as part of their teacher education program. This project was designed as an authentic teaching experience for PSTs that would enable them to translate theory from their teacher education course into teaching practice. At the same time the secondary students were offered a range of learning experiences informed by school-derived curriculum. These specifically focused activities contributed to the students’ school based learning programs whilst also encouraging them to think of university as a future option. In this paper reflections, utilizing a self-study methodology, are provided by the lecturers who developed and implemented the program. The lecturers describe and discuss what they observed about the learning of the PSTs. Many of the PSTs indicated strongly that they were able to engage in a scaffolded, authentic teaching experience as preparation for their initial school placements. Overall, the evidence suggests that the initiative offered a powerful learning experience that enabled PSTs to connect theory with teaching practice.
Description:
This paper describes an innovative cross-institutional learning partnership that was designed to foster the learning of both Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) and students and teachers from a local regional Secondary College. Around 150 Grade Nine (13-14 year old) students took part in a purpose-designed activity day at the university that was organised and conducted by 34 second year PSTs as part of their teacher education program. This project was designed as an authentic teaching experience for PSTs that would enable them to translate theory from their teacher education course into teaching practice. At the same time the secondary students were offered a range of learning experiences informed by school-derived curriculum. These specifically focused activities contributed to the students’ school based learning programs whilst also encouraging them to think of university as a future option. In this paper reflections, utilizing a self-study methodology, are provided by the lecturers who developed and implemented the program. The lecturers describe and discuss what they observed about the learning of the PSTs. Many of the PSTs indicated strongly that they were able to engage in a scaffolded, authentic teaching experience as preparation for their initial school placements. Overall, the evidence suggests that the initiative offered a powerful learning experience that enabled PSTs to connect theory with teaching practice.
Description:
This paper will examine Pre-Service Teachers’ (PSTs) perspectives on their learning through their involvement in one of three workplace-based initiatives undertaken as part of their teacher education program. Research conducted by Darling-Hammond and colleagues (2008) confirms that highly effective teachers support meaningful learning in a number of ways, including ‘creating ambitious and meaningful tasks’ that reflect how knowledge is used in the field, by engaging students in active learning and by encouraging the type of thinking that enables students to learn to evaluate and guide their own learning (p. 5). The three school-based initiatives selected for this research project have been designed accordingly in an attempt to promote meaningful learning for PSTs. The initiatives that are examined are The Youth Festival, undertaken as part of the Graduate Diploma of Education Secondary (GDE Sec); Pathways to the Adult World (PAW); and, several Small Group Learning Projects in the Bachelor of Education (Physical Education). The study has been conducted as a University of Ballarat Institute of Professional and Organisational Learning (IPOL) teaching and learning fellowship. While the researchers employed a qualitative, self-study methodology in the research, this paper focuses on the PSTs self-study on their learning through their involvement in the various initiatives. Data were derived from an assessment task that was completed by the PSTs after their involvement in one of the work-place based initiatives and subjected to thematic analysis by the researchers. The research attempts to interrogate and reveal what students say that they are learning through their authentic experience in a professional education setting as part of their teacher education coursework.
Description:
This paper will examine Pre-Service Teachers’ (PSTs) perspectives on their learning through their involvement in one of three workplace-based initiatives undertaken as part of their teacher education program. Research conducted by Darling-Hammond and colleagues (2008) confirms that highly effective teachers support meaningful learning in a number of ways, including ‘creating ambitious and meaningful tasks’ that reflect how knowledge is used in the field, by engaging students in active learning and by encouraging the type of thinking that enables students to learn to evaluate and guide their own learning (p. 5). The three school-based initiatives selected for this research project have been designed accordingly in an attempt to promote meaningful learning for PSTs. The initiatives that are examined are The Youth Festival, undertaken as part of the Graduate Diploma of Education Secondary (GDE Sec); Pathways to the Adult World (PAW); and, several Small Group Learning Projects in the Bachelor of Education (Physical Education). The study has been conducted as a University of Ballarat Institute of Professional and Organisational Learning (IPOL) teaching and learning fellowship. While the researchers employed a qualitative, self-study methodology in the research, this paper focuses on the PSTs self-study on their learning through their involvement in the various initiatives. Data were derived from an assessment task that was completed by the PSTs after their involvement in one of the work-place based initiatives and subjected to thematic analysis by the researchers. The research attempts to interrogate and reveal what students say that they are learning through their authentic experience in a professional education setting as part of their teacher education coursework.
Description:
This paper describes an initiative that was designed to forge strong connections between Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) at the University of Ballarat, a regional university in Victoria, Australia and students and teachers at a local regional Secondary College (students aged 12-18). A group of around 150 year nine (13-14 year old) students took part in a day of learning activities at the university that were organised and conducted by second year PSTs as part of their teacher education program. This initiative aimed to provide the secondary students with a range of learning experiences at the university, thus allowing them to consider University study as a future option while contributing to their school-based learning program. At the same time, the PSTs were able to engage in an authentic teaching experience and to put theory from their teacher education course into practice. In this paper, some of the reflections from the PSTs, that describe what they learnt from the experience, are discussed. Most of the PSTs valued the opportunity to engage in a scaffolded, authentic teaching experience as preparation for their initial school placements. Overall, the initiative seemed to have contributed to the learning of the PSTs in powerful ways.
Description:
There seems to be growing interest worldwide in the concept of purpose-built public playground facilities that are intended specifically to provide play experiences for all children, regardless of their abilities. As this article will reveal, the complex principle of inclusion underpins the concept of shared play in inclusive playgrounds. However, despite generally being identified as important, inclusion, particularly for children with impairments within play environments, seems to be often poorly understood and sometimes overlooked in existing literature about children’s play in playgrounds. This article draws attention to the current situation surrounding public playground accessibility and teases out two discernible ways of approaching playground provision for people with impairments. The first is technically driven and mandated by guidelines and legislation. The other is child-centred or community-focused, in which participation in play in a playground is supported as a desirable social activity within a connected, inclusive community. Furthermore, this article will provide an outline of legislation and policies in Australia that are relevant to inclusive playground provision, along with some approaches that have been adopted in some other countries (notably, the United States and the United Kingdom) to provide playground access for children with impairments.
Description:
There seems to be growing interest worldwide in the concept of purpose-built public playground facilities that are intended specifically to provide play experiences for all children, regardless of their abilities. As this article will reveal, the complex principle of inclusion underpins the concept of shared play in inclusive playgrounds. However, despite generally being identified as important, inclusion, particularly for children with impairments within play environments, seems to be often poorly understood and sometimes overlooked in existing literature about children’s play in playgrounds. This article draws attention to the current situation surrounding public playground accessibility and teases out two discernible ways of approaching playground provision for people with impairments. The first is technically driven and mandated by guidelines and legislation. The other is child-centred or community-focused, in which participation in play in a playground is supported as a desirable social activity within a connected, inclusive community. Furthermore, this article will provide an outline of legislation and policies in Australia that are relevant to inclusive playground provision, along with some approaches that have been adopted in some other countries (notably, the United States and the United Kingdom) to provide playground access for children with impairments.
Description:
In uncertain contemporary times, Initial Teacher Education (ITE) educators are under considerable pressure from political, social and institutional sources to ensure that PSTs are “classroom ready”; fully equipped to prepare diverse student cohorts to lead fulfilling post-school lives in an increasingly complex and changing world. To achieve this goal, current research and policy is increasingly focusing on foregrounding inclusive teaching practice. A great deal of education literature focuses on notions of diversity and inclusion with regard to student education in schools (Blackmore, 2009, Campbell & Whitty, 2002, Nieto, 1999, Smyth & McInerney, 2007, and Smyth & McInerney, 2009). Much has also been written about the difficulties inherent in educating PSTs regarding the complexities of inclusive teaching (Blackmore, 2009, Shor, 1992, Sleeter, 2001, Smyth & McInerney, 2007, and 2018 ATEA & TEFANZ Conference: Teacher Education in and for Uncertain Times Smyth & McInerney, 2009). In addition, leading education organizations and accrediting institutions, such as the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) and the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) promote inclusion as a mandated teaching approach. While inclusion is the approach mandated in Australia for catering for diversity, the authors argue that current notions of inclusive teaching are still haunted by ghosts of integration and other non-inclusive practices in approaches that hierarchical, additive and focused on deficit thinking. In this model, students are diagnosed as having a particular condition, disorder, impairment, or other difference, which is prioritized as their chief learning characteristic. The rich complexity of a learner’s strengths, preferences, challenges and goals is then narrowed down to one major ingredient – the impairment or difference – which becomes the focus of strategies and practices recommended as appropriate for that particular condition. In this presentation, the authors ask the thorny question, how do we teach PSTs to identify the complexity of learner needs and to make pedagogic decisions to enable learning to occur for all students? The presentation contributes a way forward through the authors’ examination of a range of pedagogies used in class to facilitate PSTs’ investigation of approaches and practices that encourage teaching for inclusion. In order to facilitate PSTs’ learning concerning inclusive teaching, the authors focus on creating opportunities to enable students to work with a diverse range of learners “selecting strategies on the basis of what is to be learnt rather than what is wrong with the learner” (Florian, 2008, p. 2004). As an exploration of pedagogic decisions and teaching approaches, the paper outlines a case study that makes use of a self-study methodology as well as discourse analysis. This research mode “includes elements of ongoing inquiry, respects personal experience, and emphasizes the role of knowledge construction. The collaborative component of self-study acknowledges the important role of the social construction of knowledge (Lassonde, Galman & Kosnik, 2009, p. 10). The inclusivity of a self-study approach and its multi-faceted nature encourages reflection, collaboration and on-going dialogue between educators and PSTs providing insights into teaching practices. From observations and reflective examination of their teaching practices and course development, the authors identify and analyse the pedagogies that are being used to achieve the aims of promoting teaching for inclusion in ITE courses. In addition to a self-study methodology, discourse analysis is used to examine formal literature and policy discussing diversity and inclusion."
Description:
In Australia, the notion of providing opportunities for children with impairments to access play in purpose-built spaces, and have fun alongside their peers and siblings, has gained momentum, translating into the development of some new and exciting ‘inclusive playspaces’. Previously, very little attention or importance was given to the idea that playspaces might exclude some children and carers with impairments from shared play in community spaces. Recently, in paper titled ‘Just for the fun of it’ (Burke, 2013), I advanced an argument supporting the concept of playspaces that are inclusive of all children and that provide access to the experience of shared play. This paper highlighted the vagaries that apply to various attempts to ensure accessibility and inclusion in purpose-built playspaces. I concluded that inclusion in play environments should be considered an important political objective to facilitate healthy, vibrant, fair and connected communities. The reasons why children with impairments should have access to peer play in community and school spaces, however, are much more complex than merely providing access to fun and entertainment for children with impairments and their family members. When examined through a Disability Studies lens, how children construct disability and form views of those with impairments through their experiences of using in a playspace becomes an issue that requires close attention. In this chapter I explore the concept of spatial exclusion in playgrounds, from a disability studies perspective, by drawing on ideas from Armstrong (1999, 2012), Relph (1975) and Imrie and Kumar (1998) to help explain how space can be used in a playground to convey implicit messages about impairment that highlight difference, particularly, of children who use wheelchairs for mobility.
Description:
This paper examines play as a fundamental children’s activity, giving particular attention to the inclusion of children with impairments at play and children’s shared constructions of their playworlds. Children with impairments are customarily portrayed as incompetent, unskilled or deficient in their play, thus being positioned on the margins (or, as ‘who’s out’?) of mainstream discourses. On the other hand, non-impaired children are usually regarded as competent players, who play in ‘normal’ ways (as ‘who’s in’?). Little attention is afforded to noticing skilful or proficient play by children with impairments and including their perspectives in play research. The Social Model of Childhood Disability offers a perspective for considering ‘disabled childhoods’ and framing enquiry into the culturally-constructed playworlds of children with impairments. Evidence from two ethnographic studies that examine children with impairments at play is discussed, employing vignettes that utilise data from researcher and teacher observation notes. The authors document specific play interactions related to individual experiences and interests and explore how children work together and alone to create meaningful play interactions. The notion that play for children is a mutual, shared and inclusive cultural experience is supported in this paper.
Description:
This paper examines play as a fundamental children’s activity, giving particular attention to the inclusion of children with impairments at play and children’s shared constructions of their playworlds. Children with impairments are customarily portrayed as incompetent, unskilled or deficient in their play, thus being positioned on the margins (or, as ‘who’s out’?) of mainstream discourses. On the other hand, non-impaired children are usually regarded as competent players, who play in ‘normal’ ways (as ‘who’s in’?). Little attention is afforded to noticing skilful or proficient play by children with impairments and including their perspectives in play research. The Social Model of Childhood Disability offers a perspective for considering ‘disabled childhoods’ and framing enquiry into the culturally-constructed playworlds of children with impairments. Evidence from two ethnographic studies that examine children with impairments at play is discussed, employing vignettes that utilise data from researcher and teacher observation notes. The authors document specific play interactions related to individual experiences and interests and explore how children work together and alone to create meaningful play interactions. The notion that play for children is a mutual, shared and inclusive cultural experience is supported in this paper.
Description:
Personal narratives derived from insider accounts of schooling can illuminate our understanding of how individuals negotiate their learning; and how teachers and schools might empower or marginalise students on the basis of a specific learning disability. This chapter retrospectively examines the lived experience of one of the authors, Alanna, as a student diagnosed with dyslexia. Alanna, who is a graduate teacher, is positioned as an ‘insider’ in the recounting of her secondary schooling experiences. She negotiated her learning at secondary school in two contrasting Australian schools and reflects on how her learning was both supported and limited within these educational settings. We consider Alanna’s learning experiences through the lens of the social relational understanding of disability (Thomas, 1999) along with the principle of educational inclusion. We tease out how schools and individual teachers can create conditions for learning that contribute to the success of a student diagnosed with dyslexia in a secondary education setting, and also how a learner can ultimately take control of her own learning.
Description:
Personal narratives derived from insider accounts of schooling can illuminate our understanding of how individuals negotiate their learning; and how teachers and schools might empower or marginalise students on the basis of a specific learning disability. This chapter retrospectively examines the lived experience of one of the authors, Alanna, as a student diagnosed with dyslexia. Alanna, who is a graduate teacher, is positioned as an ‘insider’ in the recounting of her secondary schooling experiences. She negotiated her learning at secondary school in two contrasting Australian schools and reflects on how her learning was both supported and limited within these educational settings. We consider Alanna’s learning experiences through the lens of the social relational understanding of disability (Thomas, 1999) along with the principle of educational inclusion. We tease out how schools and individual teachers can create conditions for learning that contribute to the success of a student diagnosed with dyslexia in a secondary education setting, and also how a learner can ultimately take control of her own learning. Inclusive Education : Making Sense of Everyday Practice, BRILL, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ballarat/detail.action?docID=4803299.
Description:
As a vital element of continuing teacher professional learning, the development of international and global competencies in teachers, and subsequently in their students, has drawn considerable interest worldwide. In an increasingly globalised world, digital technologies now provide the potential to connect teacher educators and their students across countries and contexts to collaborate in teaching and learning projects and research.As teacher educators from two universities at opposite ends of the globe the authors set out to establish an innovative collaboration between their two institutions in Teacher Education. The literature draws from three intersecting fields: First, internationalisation and globalisation in teacher education; second, the use of online learning platforms in continuingteacher education, and third, transformational partnerships in Teacher Education. In this paper a case study is examined to consider the possibilities, potential benefits and challenges in setting up the international partnership in Master’s level teacher professional development online programs. The case study is positioned within the context of the growing global push for internationalization and globalisation of teacher education in the professional learning and preparation of teachers. The concept of “dispersions” as dimensions of virtual teams, as well as the principles of transformational partnerships, are used to describe and explain some of the challenges the teacher educators confronted in establishing their partnership. The ways in which the online environment mediates the process of transformational change is a key theme. The authors reflect on and describe the initial phase of their attempts to establish a transformational collaborative partnership. They also outline the future plans for this partnership that emerge from their work as a virtual team. The knowledge generated in this research enables us to more deeply understandthe complexities involved in such partnerships and provides insight into how teacher educators might approach international teaching collaborations.