Who should be involved in peer acceptance strategy implementation?

In the spirit of inclusiveness, the “who” context of peer acceptance strategies includes everyone in the learning environment. Legislators, state and district leaders, school leaders, teachers, other school-wide staff, students, parents and community organizations, such as after school programs all play a role in promoting peer acceptance of diverse learners.

What is the scope of the peer acceptance strategy implementation?

Educators should consider selecting all strategies for overcoming barriers to peer acceptance that they are feasibly able to implement. Given the diversity of inclusive classrooms, not ever strategy will be effective for all learners. Therefore, a combination of strategies is more likely to reach the entire learning environment. Educators should analyze each strategy and evaluate methods of strategy integration into the learning community. If implementation of the strategy is disruptive or may present further barriers, then that strategy needs placed out of scope until a mechanism of non-disruptive implementation is feasible.

When should peer acceptance strategy implementation take place?

The “when” element has three components: timing, pace and sequence. In regards to timing, employing strategies for peer acceptance throughout the school day and throughout the school year yields the best success because diverse students and their peers are always together in inclusive learning communities. Teachers should facilitate strategies gradually to enable students to learn some basic social abilities, practice communicating with others, and solving interpersonal problems, before working together toward academic goals (Capodieci, Rivetti, & Cornoldi, 2019). Finally, iterative sequencing allows acceptance strategy learning to develop and adapt over time.

Where should peer acceptance strategy implementation occur?

Tonnsen and Hann (2016) note that successful inclusive practices rely on contextual factors, such as the social environment in which inclusion occurs. Since the primary environment for learner social interactions is the classroom, the classroom should the main setting for social interventions associated with peer acceptance of diverse learners (Capodieci, Rivetti, & Cornoldi, 2019). Other locations within the school and greater community are also potential places to work on peer acceptance strategies, but care should be taken to avoid inequitable locations.

Why implement peer acceptance strategies?

Fostering social relationships among all members of the school community is necessary to “strengthen ties, feelings of security, acceptance and equality and equal abilities in students" (Lorger et al., 2015, p. 181). Peer acceptance of diverse learners is essential to effective learning experiences for all learners in an inclusive classroom. By overcoming barriers, the classroom becomes a more relaxed and cooperative learning environment. When one or more students feel unwelcome in the classroom, the negative feelings permeate throughout the class and impede active and engaged learning. A class of students gets the most out of learning when they feel comfortable sharing their ideas because hearing other’s ideas sparks new ideas in oneself and leads to enhanced creativity and deeper, more meaningful learning.

How should educators implement peer acceptance strategies?

Everyone should strive to develop intercultural competence (Gruczkun, 2018) and educators should employ culturally responsive and inclusive instructional strategies. Through applying the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework and applying culturally responsive pedagogy, implementation of these peer acceptance strategies will also be inclusive. The UDL guidelines “offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities” (CAST, Inc., 2019). In a narrative study about the application of UDL to inclusive learning environments, teachers’ stories suggest that the inclusion of diverse learners brings new ways of learning to the classroom, fosters peer relations, and provides rich learning and engagement opportunities (Lowrey, Hollingshead, Howery, & Bishop, 2017).