Exploring Inclusive Educational Practices Through Professional Inquiry

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Gordon L. Porter, Déirdre Smith

   Pages 1-13

3. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

   • Gordon L. Porter, Diane Richler

   Pages 15-30

4. Commitment to Inclusion

   • Gordon L. Porter, Déirdre Smith

   Pages 31-69

5. Professional Knowledge and Practice

   • Gordon L. Porter, Déirdre Smith

   Pages 71-103

6. School Level Planning and Practices

   • Gordon L. Porter, Déirdre Smith

   Pages 105-139

7. Challenges and Barriers to Inclusion

   • Gordon L. Porter, Déirdre Smith

   Pages 141-172

8. The Voice of Parents

   • Gordon L. Porter, Déirdre Smith

   Pages 173-247

9. Back Matter

   Pages 249-279

   PDF

Practitioners, scholars, and teacher education students alike can celebrate reading Exploring Inclusive Educational Practices through Professional Inquiry. This rich array of case scenarios both illuminates and elaborates the meaning of inclusion in today’s schools and tomorrow’s visions. Twenty-five stories from parents, teachers, school principals, and specialists highlight the kind of experiential knowledge that won’t be found in typical research reports and district documents about inclusive education. What happens to real people—students and their families—doesn’t always resemble policies that can look so good on paper. This book makes a wonderful contribution to better understandings of the challenges of inclusion as well as the commitments positioned alongside values in order to meet those challenges. There are brave and spirited people in these pages—not the least of whom are the children themselves.Professor Luanna H. Meyer, PhD Director, Jessie Hetherington Centre for Educational Research Victoria University, New Zealand This is a book on inclusive education that leaves you with hope and ideas for action. It takes a very difficult and highly charged topic and demonstrates that it is possible to see both the trees and the forest. Michael Fullan Professor Emeritus OISE/University of Toronto We are reminded in the commentaries parents share in this book of how their passionate commitment to good education and their ideas make inclusion work.  The case-study approach reveals the critical importance of their, and many other perspectives in finding solutions to what are so often dismissed as irresolveable dilemmas.  They aren’t, and this book models exactly the kinds of conversations we need in schools across the country to challenge all of us to stay the course.  It’s a must-read for anyone who wants to make diversity and inclusion a reality in public education today. Michael Bach Executive Vice-President Canadian Association forCommunity Living

• The Education Training Group, Inclusive Education Canada, Canada

  Gordon L. Porter

• Ontario College of Teachers, Canada

  Déirdre Smith

Policies and ethics