Hello. I'm Susan Douglas and I'm going to talk to you about what makes an inclusive
teacher.
I will talk about two key themes, an inclusive teacher's beliefs and the way
they put these beliefs into action. Firstly, let's explore three beliefs that
inclusive teachers share.
Number one. Inclusive teachers believe that every child has the right to and can
learn and that therefore every child is worth teaching. In school, as an inclusive
teacher, you would take no notice of a colleague who might tell you that a
particular child is unteachable, or that it's a waste of time for you to try to
help them learn.
Number two. Inclusive teachers also believe in particular values, which can be
thought of as roots that underpin how they think schools and classrooms should work
as communities. Some common inclusive values include collaboration, cooperation,
participation, affirming diversity, trust, honesty, respect, thoughtfulness,
compassion, empathy, creativity, perseverance and hope. That's not a full
list and there will be others that you can think of to add to it.
Number three. Inclusive teachers share certain beliefs in themselves as teachers. An inclusive
teacher believes that they are able to teach and that they can make a positive
difference with every child. So, if a learner is struggling, an inclusive
teacher thinks about this as a problem with teaching and learning, not as a
problem with the learner.
A second key part of what makes an inclusive teacher is that they think about
how to put their beliefs into action in their classroom and around school, and
they just do it.
The most important part of putting these beliefs into action is making sure you
really get to know your learners. An inclusive teacher will be genuinely
interested in their learners and will show this by listening to them, asking them
questions, observing them in action, reading any notes about them, respecting
their home language and their experiences of language learning, and noticing their
characteristics, both what they are already good at and what needs attention.
Of course, things won't always go brilliantly in the classroom. That's just
the nature of being human and accepting that we are all lifelong learners. When
this happens, an inclusive teacher will remember that inclusion is a step-by-step
journey. They will reflect on what happened, talk to learners and make a plan
about how to do things differently next time. They forgive their own mistakes,
learn from them and keep persevering.
Finally, as well as putting beliefs into action themselves, an inclusive teacher
will model inclusive values for their learners. For example, if you want your
learners to work together collaboratively, you need to show that you can collaborate
with them. If you want them to respect and affirm diversity, you need to look for
ways that you can show this through your teaching and your conversations with them.
Another effective way to model values is through the ways you talk and work with
your colleagues. Your learners see this all the time and they don’t miss a
thing. The next time a colleague visits your classroom, even if only for a few
minutes, keep this idea of modelling in your mind.
To summarise, inclusive teachers believe (a) that all children can learn and are
worth teaching, (b) that they can make a difference to every child and (c) that
inclusive behaviours come from inclusive values. Inclusive teachers think about and
put into action ways of showing and modelling these beliefs and behaviours
every day in classrooms and schools.
And to end, here is my top tip. Get to know your learners. Notice what they can
do and start from here, aiming high for all of them. Above all, keep persevering.