CANADIAN RESEARCH CENTRE ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

1. CANADIAN RESEARCH CENTRE ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION Mission This partnership will evolve the Centre for Inclusive Education at the University of Western Ontario into the Canadian Research Centre on Inclusive Education for the purposes of understanding and building knowledge in the area of inclusive education on a national level. Community partners and post-secondary faculty will come together to discuss professional education, instructional techniques, socio-cultural aspects, and policies related to inclusion in the Canadian context, thus facilitating the multidirectional flow of information. Research in inclusive education will be synthesized into a practical framework that incorporates all of the effective, evidence-based practices in inclusive education in a way that educators from Kindergarten to Grade 12 can access and implement each day in their classrooms. This Centre will be a conduit for engagement, exchange, and dissemination of activities relative to research-based knowledge of inclusion in Canada for educators, administrators, researchers and families. Research Themes Professional Education(led by Drs. Bennett and Gallagher, ON): The ultimate goal of inclusion is to create communities in which all members are valued for their contributions and participation. Education is a protracted pursuit of transition into the community and seeks to prepare individuals for their place therein. Educators model inclusion, and support learners in an environment in which all students belong. Research has shown that educators perceive that they are well supported when they engage in job-embedded professional learning alongside colleagues with slightly more competence and confidence (Mattatall, 2010; Villeneuve & Hutchinson, submitted). This research will examine the policies, procedures and promising practises of educators that encourage the inclusion of all students. Instructional Techniques: (led by Dr. McGhie-Richmond, BC): The essence of Universal design is accessibility for all. Applied to inclusive education, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides accessibility to the curriculum, learning activities, and social life of the classroom community for all students. Increasingly, research on the use of instructional, digital, and assistive technologies has produced results indicating that these approaches can significantly enable student access, engagement, participation and independence in learning. A comprehensive, research approach is needed that pulls together each of the elements into a framework for educators. A UDL framework proposed by Katz (2010) synthesizes decades of research on inclusive educational practice into a three-block model for UDL encompassing the cornerstones of education: 1) developing community/social and emotional well-being; 2) instructional practice; and 3) systematic strategies and structures. Building on the work of Katz, this project will employ quantitative and qualitative research methods to undertake collaborative and integrated investigations that address key research questions. Socio-cultural Inclusion (led by Dr. DiGiorgio, PEI): Socio-cultural studies are interested in the communities to which individuals belong. It is very important to understand the complex lives that all humans experience. Our team brings together many facets of socio-cultural aspects of inclusion. This group intends to collaborate on a variety of research interests that they share, using qualitative and meta-analytic methods to explore deeply and compare the experiences of students and their educators and families as they move through the educational system. A pan-Canadian view of the social and cultural underpinnings of inclusion is long overdue. Canada is seen as a model of inclusion for the rest of the world yet we, as scholars, have not connected as we could to piece together and better understand how the similarities and differences across our country speak to our unique cultural landscape. This research network’s activities will inform our understanding of the complexity of inclusion as more than an issue of learning but as a part of our social fabric as a country. Policy and Practice (led by Dr. Specht, ON): Policy drives existing practice and must be revised based on empirical outcomes. The implementation of inclusion varies across the country because of the provincial nature of inclusion (CCL, 2007). In PEI, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, full inclusion is the only option; in other provinces a range of services is available. The result of this variation is that students with exceptionalities do not receive equitable access to education in Canada; some are educated in segregated settings, other in inclusive settings. With the mandate of the Centre to provide a national voice for inclusive education, cross-Canada studies will be undertaken Community Partner Affiliations Bridges Canada Inc. BC Provincial Integration Support Team BC Teachers’ Federation CanAssist, Victoria BC Edmonton Public Schools Edmonton Regional Coalition for Inclusive Education Getting Ready for Inclusion Today (GRIT) Program Alberta Inclusive Education Canada Langley BC School District #35 Learning Disabilities Association London Region Learning Disabilities Association of PEI London District Catholic School Board North Vancouver School District #44 Pembina Hills AB Regional School Division #7 School District #42, Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows BC Vancouver School District #39 Webster Centre for Teaching & Learning Post-Secondary Partner Affiliations Acadia University Brock University Concordia University of Alberta Fanshawe College Memorial University of Newfoundland Queen’s University University of British Columbia University of Manitoba University of Moncton University of Prince Edward Island University of Regina University of Victoria University of Western Ontario National Director: Dr. Jacqueline Specht University of Western Ontario Faculty of Education Visit us at www.inclusiveeducationresearch.ca