Inclusive Practice
Considerations for creating inclusive and resilient classrooms.
Supporting Inclusive Practices with Children and Young People
This Sway has been developed to provide a range of ways in which practitioners can enhance their inclusive practice across all levels of the Career Long Professional Learning framework within ACC. It covers a range of additional support needs and also explores wellbeing topics, to enhance practitioner understanding from skilled through to expert levels. Access the sway here.
Emotional Wellbeing
You may have heard the phrase 'put your own oxygen mask on first' being used, and this refers to the need to consider our own wellbeing and emotional safety before being able to attend to the needs of others'. This will be especially important during the return to school and we have created a separate page on staff wellbeing.
Supporting our pupils' emotional literacy is key to a resilient classroom. Children process and make sense of what has happened by creating a coherent narrative, and this is only possible if they are supported to talk about their thoughts and feelings. We know some pupils find this harder than others and this may be especially true depending upon individual circumstances. What we can do is make discussions about feelings a regular part of the school day. We can use regular emotional check-ins, and normalise emotions through discussing our own feelings or linking with stories we are reading. Classroom displays or topic work based around emotions are also useful ways to increase opportunities for emotional literacy. Consider ways to support children to talk about their experiences during lockdown such as memory books or wall displays. Provide opportunities to normalise the emotions experienced during lockdown such as creating a class Corona-Coaster . See our page on Emotion Coaching for more information/ideas.
Promoting Safety
Safe spaces or calm down areas may not be a possibility with new rules or restrictions in place, and actually, we should consider how to make the whole class a safe space:
Academic tasks may be overwhelming for children after such a long period away from school, consider soft-start activities and regular check-ins.
Clear routine and structure will promote a sense of safety and predictability for pupils. Use clear and consistent rules, visual timetables to prepare them for the day, and give them clear explanations. Involve them in (or at least seek their views on) rules and decisions where you can.
Tasks should be broken up with regular movement or activity breaks (even if just a jumping jack or relaxation activity at our desk) and have these as a normal part of our day. Explain to children why you are doing this - the more we talk to children about their brains and bodies and how they work, the better! The EPS Mindfulness for Children Booklet has some simple activities that can help achieve this.
When children do need a 'safe' or 'break out' space, can we use outdoor areas?
Attitudes of Resilience
Resilience is complex and multi-faceted. We often think that we have to use a specific intervention, such as Bounceback to develop resilience in learners. But we can teach the skills or attitudes of resilience in our everyday interactions with learners.
It is important to remember that Resilience is made up of the three elements. Some the individual has control over in the life and some they do not. If you reflect on your own life, your own ability to bounce back from difficult times or cope with stress, you will see it varies on the mixture of factors in the illustration below.
Interventions and programmes can teach the skill sets below. Free school meals and the daily mile can help with lifestyle facets. But good teaching, and positive interactions with learners can help them develop the attitudes of resilience. Just by good modelling, language and interactions with learners, teaching staff can impact and develop their resilience. At any point in the school year and during a learners education, from nursery to sixth year!
Considerations for Returning to School:
Returning to school will be strange for staff and learners alike, focusing on the attitudes that build resilience is a positive and easy way to support the wellbeing of both staff and learners:
Do simple gratitude exercises, make learners (and modelled by the adults) gratitude trees, notes, postcards, diaries etc. For example what are they grateful for about returning to school, what were they grateful for during lockdown, who are they grateful to see again? (obviously use discretion around individual circumstances for any activities like these)
Model responding to things that go wrong or are stressful with humour. Show learners when you make a mistake or something goes wrong that humour helps you cope with it.
Talk openly about change and the positive aspects of any changes during the recovery phase and return to school. Spending more time with family, being able to be outside more or anything else relevant to your cohort of learners. By talking openly about accepting change and the positive benefits of change, encouraging learners to consider positives, you help them embrace change in their own lives.
References:
Clarke, J., Nicholson, D. (2010). Resilience: Bounce Back from Whatever Life Throws at You. Crimson Publishing, Richmond, Surrey.
Goleman, D. (1996). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Bloomsbury, London.
Seligman, M. (2007). Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realise Your Potential for Deep Fulfillment, Nicholas Brealey, London.
The Resilience Alphabet
The Resilience Alphabet is a resource that Aberdeen City Council Education Team collaborated on and includes ideas and activities to help your child build inner strength and wellbeing. For each letter there is a definition, something to think about, something positive to say and some suggestions of things to Make, Do or Write.
Promoting a Growth Mindset
A mindset can be defined as a person's way of thinking and their opinions. In her ground breaking psychological research, Carol Dweck uses two opposing terms to categorise mindsets. The first is a fixed mindset, in which people believe that their talent, intelligence and capabilities are determined and unchangeable. If they fail at something, they take it as a sign of their lack of talent and avoid the task at all cost to protect their self-esteem. The second is the growth mindset, the one which most high performers thrive on. Those with a growth mindset are open to challenges and use failures as lessons they can learn from. A growth mindset, Dweck argues, leads to people trying to be the best they can be, and therefore being more likely to fulfil their potential.
All behaviour is a form of communication
Remember Nurture Principle 5, all behaviour is a form of communication. Often all we see is the behaviour but what we do not see is all of the possible underlying things that have led to a person acting this way. If a child's behaviour is communicating to us that they are not coping, we need to support them to feel Safe, Seen, Soothed and Secure (Siegel & Payne Bryson, 2020). We have to connect with them before we correct their behaviour.
Autism Outreach have lots of online resources including this training on Behaviour as Communication
Considerations for Practice
Often there are small and subtle things we can do as practitioners to ensure our practice is inclusive to all. Staff from ACC Education teams have created a What to Look Out for in Your Pupils document to stimulate reflection on what our learners may have experienced over the lockdown period. It also includes ways in which we can use the 6 Principles of Nurture when thinking about our interactions with children and young people on the return to school.
Dr Chris Moore offers some further considerations of what pupils' may need from us:
One Stop Shop Aberdeen - Support for pupils with Autism
One Stop Shop have produced the following three packs for teachers supporting autistic pupils to come back to school. You can download all three packs here.
Transition Back to School Post Lockdown.
Meltdowns, Shutdowns and Elopement
Autism Appropriate School Checklist