Abstract
This article explores the possible influence of past practices of institutionalization on discussions involving groups of beginning teachers who are exploring how to include all disabled children in regular classes in New Zealand. As part of a principal lecture about institutionalization, social norms, inclusion and disability rights, beginning teachers were asked to provide feedback about their knowledge of a large local institution – Tokanui Hospital. Two thirds of those responding, many aged under 25 years, reported no knowledge about the institution. However, one third indicated varying amounts of information about Tokanui and those who lived and worked in it. Comments made by the participants indicate that the legacy of institutional practice may influence at least some beginning teachers’ beliefs about inclusion in ways that need more consideration. Some narratives about institutionalisation are generally available but many stories about this period remain hidden. More concerted efforts to find and disseminate these stories are needed.
Highlights
As O’Neill, Bourke & Kearney (2009) have pointed out, the practice of inclusive education “involves itself in identifying and minimising the interactive sociocultural factors that influence the idea of disability and difficulty” (p. 589)
While this review found that 50% of the 299 schools evaluated “demonstrated mostly inclusive practice” (ERO, 2010, p. 1) related to including children with a disability in the life of their school, a variety of undesirable ‘dispositions and values’ inherent in teaching approaches and staff attitudes were found in the lack of inclusive practices of the remaining 50%
Tensions surfaced within Developing Inclusive Practices (DIP) courses as groups of beginning teachers engaged with changes made to curriculum material
Summary
As O’Neill, Bourke & Kearney (2009) have pointed out, the practice of inclusive education “involves itself in identifying and minimising the interactive sociocultural factors that influence the idea of disability and difficulty” (p. 589). The investigation into the question posed above was further inspired by the Foucaultian idea that contextualizing and historicizing aspects of a lived experience can reveal how the effects of past structures of thought might be influential in contemporary material outcomes (Foucault, 1977) This idea provides a counterpoint to more liberal humanist/modernist views of inclusion - as a set of ideas and practices fixed in a temporal timeline of developmental progression, with earlier ideas about exclusion discarded as more socially desirable ideas about how to include people with a disability in educational and community life are offered and taken up. Working with the idea of inclusion ‘as of right’ as a dominant force for social change, without factoring in the necessity for ensuring social consensus at times when rights-based interventions are sought, can make it harder to uncover and reconcile the powerful and complex thoughts and feelings through which damaging social practices are proposed and re-enacted (Van Houten & Jacobs, 2005) This point was exemplified in the strong feelings emerging during some tutorial discussions in the DIP course. The third part of the paper outlines how data about knowledge were gained and a brief analysis of comments offered by 32% [n=23] of participants who handed in feedback sheets about their recollections of Tokanui
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