SPHE By Lily Dyson

The topic which I have chosen to discuss in this assignment is the idea of inclusion from our very first week of SPHE. I thought that the topic of inclusion was very important to analyze and discuss because it is a fundamental part of teaching now and days. We must make sure every child feels included in order to build a child’s self-confidence. The reading I chose to look at and discuss is by Lily Dyson and it deals with the strategies that schools in Canada and China used in order to promote social integration at primary school level. It also looks at the success that certain schools had in introducing strategies to aid inclusion. The article also gets first hand comments from teachers on why certain strategies worked and why they didn’t

Whereas Canada allowed for more categories of disabilities such as behavioral and emotional disorders which in turn would affect the results as China may over look trying to include some children as their needs are not considered a disability or that they infringe on their learning. Compared to Canada with a wider understanding of what a disability is. I liked the way there was a wide range of strategies used for social integration within these classrooms. The use of inclusiveness and acceptance within a class was regarded by teachers as ‘the fundamental step toward promoting social integration in the everyday class environment’ (Dyson, 2012). I agree with this 100 percent if a child feels as though the classroom climate is welcoming then this straight away makes a child feel more at ease. I agree with the responses of the teachers from both countries but with one in particular who talks about creating an environment where the child ‘will not feel inferior’ (Dyson, 2012).This is vital as you want every child to feel on the same level and not be made to feel different in any shape or form. I also thought the strategy of educating non-disabled students about disabilities was a good way for children to learn about what disabilities may affect their peers. I think the

It would also build the self-esteem of disabled children as the circle creates a safe place for each child to talk. I think this method would have worked well alongside the Canadian program called ‘Second Step’ that teaches positive behavior. A Canadian teacher summed it up by saying it showed the non-disabled child ‘what it would be like to be hard-of-hearing’ (Dyson, 2012). That is what we hope to achieve a sense of compassion for our peers in the class room, and it seemed to work well with 20.9% using this strategy in Canada. While this report was very in depth on social integration in two countries I wonder what they results would have been like if more countries had taken part. Although the report says that the results contrast from mainly negative ones in the US I believe if more countries had been involved you would get a greater sense of what strategies worked well, and a greater sense of where inclusion fitted into countries Primary School curriculum. I don’t agree with the Chinese way of thinking that ‘academic and skill competencies are highly valued by the Chinese society’ (Dyson, 2001). This has the highest percentage of 24.8% out of all the themes for social integration in China. Although these skills are important for working life we need to build well-rounded children within schools and I believe that the Chinese need