Inclusive practice

INTRODUCTION
All mainstream practice needs to
change in order to ensure fairer
opportunity for all. Understanding
inclusive practice is fundamental to
the good practice development
within any organisation. Furthermore,
an inclusive environment is a right to
which we are all entitled, and one
that we all have a responsibility to
make happen.
Intentional Welcome and Active
Listening
• Practitioners need to encourage
diversity to come through door,
and have a multitude of
strategies on offer to suit all
types of individuals.
• Get the welcome right and then
really listen!
• Safety and belonging are
everything!
• What do we need to feel both
conﬁdent and competent in
delivering our service.
• We can all participate when we
get what we need, in order to be
catered for, we need to be
listened to.
Celebrating diversity
• It is about being valued for who
we are, and not been treated
the same.
• Being equal is being treated as
individuals, this individuality
needs to be respected and
celebrated.
• As humans, our basic needs are
similar, but the way we get them
satisﬁed will be different.
• If we feel safe, secure and
included, we can be ourselves,
and be honest about what our
needs are, so that these can be
met.
• All individuals need to feel in
control about what happens to
them, both physically and
emotionally.
• It is about recognising choice
(or its lack as an abuse of
power), and also recognising
that there are some demands
on our lives where we cannot
always make a choice, but
being aware, particularly as
providers, of the difference
between the two.
Inclusive Practice

Definitions of ‘inclusion’ vary
widely according to context,
and many existing definitions
are highly contradictory. To
reflect a never-ending process
in this document ‘inclusive
practice’ has been chosen, in
preference to ‘inclusion’, to
reflect the understanding that it
is not a state but a way of
working. Furthermore, it
reinforces the idea that both
practice and ideas are subject
to change. The emphasis is on
practice, which means to do
something repeatedly in order
to adapt to changing
circumstances, and implies
development and
transformation. Development is
ongoing and this needs to be
clearly articulated in the way
people work.
Inclusive practice is an
emergent process: rather than
offering an alternative to
existing habits, it builds on
existing best practice and
develops different action that
eventually transforms culture. It
is vital that inclusive practice is
not understood as a tool to
‘mainstream’ the difficult or the
needy. Crucially, practice needs
to become flexible and person-
centred so that it respects and
responds to individual needs.
Consistent steps towards
greater equity through inclusive
practice, engages all
participants, by creating an
environment that fosters
belonging. The development of
inclusive practice articulates the
underpinning philosophies of
equality and diversity. It builds
on existing success by
changing practice and policies
in mainstream settings, and
ultimately strengthens
relationships improving the lives
of whole communities.
Everyone Matters
The development of
inclusive practice fundamentally
tackles the issue of equity -
equal outcomes. Changes in
practice made to address
culture will ultimately secure a
better entitlement for all
children and ensure an
increasing quality and better
standards across all provision.
The principle of equality has
to be reinforced and extended
by the practice of equity. On the
basis of the discussion so far
three broad principles about the
nature of inclusive practice will
inform the rest of this
document:
Equality: every human being has an
absolute and equal right to common
dignity and parity of esteem and
entitlement to access the benefits of
society on equal terms.
Equity: every human being has a
right to benefit from the outcomes of
society on the basis of fairness and
according to need.
Social justice: justice requires
deliberate and specific intervention to
secure equality and equity.

(Chapman & West-Burnham 2009)
Inclusive practice is an important
component of a wider move towards
enabling environments and positive
relationships, one which will ensure all
children can reach and exceed
expectation, fulfil early promise and
develop latent potential. At the heart of
inclusive practice is the expectation of
participation, fulfilment and success.
(NCSL West-Burnham 2008).
On the most basic level
belonging is nurtured when the
culture is accepting and allows
each individual to be honest
about his or her needs. Getting
it right can often be
straightforward, if the strategies
put in place help people feel
they belong. However things go
wrong when practice and
language do not support
acceptance, and people are
expected to fit in.
It is the ‘shared and
common agreement’ that often
is not expressed in language
and behaviour, and further
reinforced by rigid systems. All
too often decisions are made
without enough thought as to
who holds power in decision
making. It is all too tempting for
adults to take charge and
organise activities in ways that
suit them and not the wishes of
the child.
Defining Terms

Equity means all children getting
equal levels of satisfaction and
beneﬁt from shared activities.
Having an opportunity to share in
all setting activities enables the
personal development that
supports increasing levels of life
satisfaction, physical and mental
health. When children enjoy an
equal experience, inclusive
practice is working well. That is
why equity is an unpinning aim of
recent strategy and legislation -
Every Child Matters and the
Children’s Plan.
Strategies for change also need
to be developed in accordance
with the principles of the Children’s
Plan. As is clearly articulated in
local government strategy
The Children’s Plan:
• Government does not bring
up children – parents do – so
government needs to do more
to back parents and families.
• All children have the potential
to succeed and should go as
far as their talents can take
them;
• Children and young people
need to enjoy their childhood
as well as grow up prepared
for adult life
• Services need to be shaped
by and responsive to children,
young people and families,
not designed around
professional boundaries.
• It is always better to prevent
failure than tackle a crisis later
(DCSF 2007 pp5-6)
The principles serve to help
workers to plan new provision and
achieve the outcomes that address
every child’s wellbeing.
(Every Child Matters, The Children’s Plan
and The Workforce Strategy documents
are all available in full through the Every
Child Matters and Council websites.)
Every Child Matters and the Children’s Plan

Every
Child
Ma.ers
Five
Outcomes:

THE
PRINCIPLES

THE
PRACTICE
Every
Child
Ma.ers
Five
Outcomes:

THE
PRINCIPLES

THE
PRACTICE
Every
Child
Ma.ers
Five
Outcomes:

THE
PRINCIPLES

THE
PRACTICE
Be
healthy

Be
healthy

Be
healthy

Enjoying
good
physical
and
mental

health
and
living
a
healthy
lifestyle

Enjoying
good
physical
and
mental

health
and
living
a
healthy
lifestyle

Understanding
personal
health
Making
healthy
choices
about
diet
and
lifestyle
Strategies
to
enhance
mental
and
emoFonal
health
Awareness
of
issues
relaFng
to
sexual
health
and
drug

abuse
Developing
a
posiFve
self
image

Stay
safe
Stay
safe
Stay
safe

Being
protected
from
harm
and

neglect

Being
protected
from
harm
and

neglect

Strategies
for
personal
safety

Freedom
from
bullying,
inFmidaFon
and
abuse
Freedom
from
discriminaFon

Access
to
appropriate
support
and
intervenFon
Living
and
learning
through
secure
relaFonships

Enjoy
and
achieve
Enjoy
and
achieve
Enjoy
and
achieve

GeMng
the
most
out
of
life
and

developing
skills
for
adulthood
GeMng
the
most
out
of
life
and

developing
skills
for
adulthood
Access
to
balanced
and
relevant
learning
experiences
Support
in
learning
how
to
learn
A
culture
of
high
aspiraFons
and
expectaFons
Opportunity
for
success
and
achievement
An
integrated
and
developmental
curriculum
Make
a
posiFve
contribuFonMake
a
posiFve
contribuFonMake
a
posiFve
contribuFon
Being
involved
with
the
community

and
society
and
not
engaging
in
anF-‐
social
or
oﬀending
behaviour

Being
involved
with
the
community

and
society
and
not
engaging
in
anF-‐
social
or
oﬀending
behaviour

ParFcipate
and
contribute
to
all
aspects
of
life
Share
in
social
learning,
acFviFes
and
projects
Volunteer
and
provide
to
the
wider
community

Develop
tolerance
and
respect
Engage
in
social,
cultural
and
sporFng
acFviFes
Achieve
economic
well-‐beingAchieve
economic
well-‐beingAchieve
economic
well-‐being
Not
being
prevented
by
economic

disadvantage
from
achieving
their

full
potenFal
in
life
Opportunity
to
develop
skills,
abiliFes
and
interests
Awareness
of
career
and
employment
possibiliFes
Awareness
of
economic
and
social
opFons
Opportunity
to
develop
skills,
abiliFes
and
interests
Awareness
of
career
and
employment
possibiliFes
Awareness
of
economic
and
social
opFons

The next challenge is to listen to
people, starting with those among us
who already experience discrimination.
• How does the perception of
fairness differ across our communities
and organisations?
• Have we learnt from past
injustices?
• Have we really listened?
• Have we changed our behaviours?
• Who writes the new rules?
• Who decides who is heard?
Establishing the balance of power
fairly and safely should be a priority and
benefits all parties. Our life histories,
social culture and systems will inevitably
influence the outcome of any meeting. If
we are not aware of how we are
influenced we may fail to consider the
truly important issues leads us to assess
clothes, accents and appearances and
to make judgements corrupted by our
own prejudices. This in turn will influence
our thoughts, direct our actions, and
hinder openness and acceptance in each
new encounter.
We need to be clear in our
understanding of stereotype and
prejudice. Whilst stereotypes are
essential in our ability to process
difference and enable a fine-slicing
based on experience and instinct.
Prejudice means being lead by our
stereotypes into making assumptions;
we need to be careful to challenge and
re-evaluate these assumptions, and hold
them up to scrutiny at every opportunity.
It is one thing to hold a set of ideas on a
subject we know a lot about, through
both experience and expertise. It is quite
another to jump to an initial reaction to
something or someone, based on a
lifetime’s accumulation of negative media
and biased information.
“Our first impressions are generated by our
experiences and our environment, which means
that we can change our first impressions - we
can alter the way we thinslice - by changing the
experiences that comprise those impressions....
It requires that you change your life so that you
are exposed to minorities on a regular basis and
become comfortable with them and familiar with
the best of their culture, so that when you want
to meet, hire, date, or talk with a member of a
minority, you aren't betrayed by your hesitation
and discomfort. ”
Malcolm Gladwell, (2005) Blink The power of
thinking without thinking. Penguin.
There are still too many people who
have been subjected to rigid, exclusive
systems and negative attitudes and who
fear the additional burden they might
face when joining a new group. Every
one will quickly pick up on even the
subtlest signals given out by those
around them. Attitudes translate into
behaviour and will impact on a person’s
feelings of empowerment and their
expectations. To feel welcomed enables
us to join in with a game, activity, routine,
or the life of a community group.
Every person has a right to be heard:
their strength needs recognition, their
expertise needs appreciation and their
experience must be valued. If those in
power are overly concerned with their
own position, will they have the
strength to really listen?
Stereotypes and prejudice

Positive attitudes to families, to
children and difference are
essential. It is important that:
• the child is seen as a child,
first and foremost
• the child’s needs are viewed
holistically, rather than being
defined by a diagnosis of difficulty
or disability
• the rights of children and
families and the limits on
professional involvement
professional are clearly understood
• professionals understand that
each family will have its own needs
and circumstances. No two
families will be the same
• professional interventions
should be designed to strengthen
families
• professionals need a positive
‘can-do’ attitude and a
professional disposition to
‘support’ but not to ‘rescue’
Making Inclusion Happen in North East
Lincolnshire, Sharing Good Practice (October
2006)
A feeling of belonging is crucial
to participation and engagement of
people within any community.
Because belonging is an emotion it
can only be owned and
experienced by the person, we
cannot deliver or impose it on
others. However, what we say and
do will have a serious impact on
how the people around us feel they
belong. It is through other people’s
acceptance that we get a measure
of our sense of belonging. So to
express acceptance we need to
behave in ways that say to those
around us that they are both
valued and wanted. We need to
expect levels of complexity within
our relationships when expressing
these feelings and we cannot
expect everyone we meet to
experience the same feelings in the
same way. Doing nothing and
leaving it to chance is not
acceptable, particularly if we are in
positions of power within a
relationship. We need to take
responsibility for the part we play
in each new relationship.
Expressing acceptance
successfully demands far more
than just a statement of tolerance.
Tolerance is a passive state of
acknowledgment of difference; it is
too shallow to convey meaningful
intent to work together as equals.
Tolerance fails to acknowledged
different and examine stereotypes
- it avoids engaging in interaction
that may, for some, feel raw and
uncomfortable to begin with. In the
long-term, meaningful relationships
unlock understanding that can fuel
learning.
It is all about a positive attitude

Tolerance is only part of the
answer, people are entitled to an
unconditional acceptance of their
presence within our communities.
Furthermore, by being honest and
open in our intent to actively
understand each other we can
behave in a manner that
exemplifies this unconditional
acceptance. At the heart of
acceptance and belonging we
need to find the meaning of
respect for each other.
Respect also means honouring people’s
boundaries to the point of protecting them. If
you respect someone, you do not intrude. At
the same time, if you respect someone, you
do not withhold yourself or distance yourself
from them. I have heard many people claim
that they were respecting someone by
leaving them alone, when in fact they were
simply distancing themselves from
something they did not want to deal with.
When we respect someone, we accept that
they have things to teach us.
William Issacs (1999) Dialogue
and the art of thinking together
To feel respected as people we
need to be understood as
complex individuals with a
multitude of facets. Unfortunately,
all too often we draw conclusions
from a single perspective, more
alarmingly if it is only from our
own. As humans, our basic needs
are similar, but the way we get
them met will be diverse. Some
will say that it is unfair if certain
people get different treatment.
However, if your definition of fair
is: everyone gets the same, then
the experience for each person is
likely to be unfair. If we are to
create respectful environments
then we will need to expand our
definition of ‘fair’ to mean
‘everyone gets what they need to
participate fully’ (not necessarily
what they want) and using this
definition in our practice we are
much more likely to accommodate
diversity and respect difference.
Many, sadly, still perceive
inclusion as a “disability” issue.
And that a solution will be
achieved by changing practice to
accommodate this ‘other’ group
of young people; or by finding
these ‘others’ separate provision
more suited to their access
requirements. Unfortunately, if we
separate groups by order of
perceived potential we are
denying their basic human right to
growth. We also run the risk of
behaving in a way that says that
our values, principles, and
practice are only relevant to
typical children and can be
ignored for those perceived as too
different.
Developing Respect

Children’s Wellbeing
Wellbeing has always been
of great concern to all those
involved with children; they
know it promotes children’s
participation, social interaction
and ultimately gets results.
However, with wider pressures
arising from a culture of testing,
there is a fear that new priorities
will negatively affect teachers,
parents and children. In view of
recent research children’s
happiness need to be taken
more seriously to enable a
better learning experience.
Happiness
Having a positive approach
to life and finding pleasure in
developing personal skills does
a lot more than make the
activity enjoyable. Happiness
literally unlocks creativity,
enables flexibility of thought
and allows openness to new
information, all vital to
motivation and making
meaning.
Ensuring that children’s
happiness takes top priority
necessitates a wider choice and
flexibility in practice. The
practitioner’s relationship with
the child is all-important to this,
as they have to know the child
well in order to know their
strengths, weaknesses, likes
and dislikes.
Defining happiness
Happiness in the learning
context needs to be defined
more clearly than by common
and vague notions of
heightened pleasure or a
neutral state in the absence of
pain. It needs to be understood
as having quite specific
implications for performance,
and long-term implications for
achievement.
Research shows that
‘subjective well-being’
measures correlate closely to
feelings of happiness, so
settings can determine levels of
wellbeing with accuracy by
asking children how happy they
are. This is essential knowledge
in view of recent legislation, as
from now settings will need to
assess and evaluate the
effectiveness practice, policies,
and strategies are having on
children’s wellbeing.
Vision - Wellbeing for All

According to Seligman (2007),
three routes to happiness enable a
‘Full Life’; these are the ‘pleasant’,
the ‘good’, and the ‘meaningful’ life.
Together they enable children to
flourish, as they prevent what he
terms an ‘Empty Life’. It is worth
noting that they all differ, some can
be changed more easily than others
through practice and training.
However, a person who can engage
through all three dimensions will
have a ‘fuller life’ than a person who
engages with one or two.
Essentially, the life satisfaction
produced by addressing the three
lives combined appears to be
greater than the sum of the parts,
and is therefore the most successful
route to flourishing.A further ‘time’
dimension also needs to be added,
as present happiness is critical to
future wellbeing. Raising aspirations
are needed to realise potential,
because imagining a positive future
is impossible when presently
unhappy.
Strategies for change:
Inclusion is a process of
identifying and breaking down
barriers which can be environmental,
attitudinal and institutional. This
process eliminates discrimination
thus providing all children and young
people with equal access to play.
(Play Partnership 2007)
In this way, ‘inclusive practice’ is
best understood as a journey
towards a barrier-free culture. This
takes time and must not be seen as
immediately achievable or an
alternative to present practice.
Settings will have to develop new
ways of working, while they move
towards a more personalised service
- one that responds to every child’s
individual needs.
Evidence from the UK shows that
irrespective of their differences all
children can be successfully
included in appropriately
accommodated mainstream
settings. However, the challenge is
to make this a consistent reality so
that all families can rely on high
quality provision across the whole of
Bradford.
The development of inclusive
practice will ultimately have a
positive impact on every child’s
wellbeing as specific strategies are
developed to change each setting’s
environment to give a richer and
more enjoyable experience. The
extent to which children’s happiness
is taken seriously and their
experience monitored will determine
life chance for all.

Core purpose:
Most sources agree that without
clear purpose people drift and
become unhappy. People are happier
when having identified their strengths,
can put them to good use in a
meaningful way.
If the skills enabling happiness are
so important to people’s lives, why are
they not seen as higher priorities?
Children’s Services are quite prepared
to teach children many skills, yet
happiness does not seem to be one
of them. As Gilbert explains, when he
compares to lack of time given to the
development of happiness to that
given to ‘potty training’:
… we also expect that with a few years,
practice and coaching will begin to have their
remedial effects, innocence will yield to
experience and education, and pooing errors will
disappear altogether. So why doesn’t this
analysis extend to errors of every kind?
(Gilbert 2006, page 196)
One of the reasons is that
happiness is viewed as deeply
personal, however to enable children
to flourish, practitioners need to
understand its subjective qualities a
lot better, in order to enable it in
children.
… if practice and coaching can teach us to
keep our pants dry, then why can’t they teach us
to predict our emotional futures? (ibid. page 196)
Human beings are very reluctant to
believe other people’s experience
when it comes to happiness, and are
more inclined to believe their own
feelings about past or future
situations. However, as past or future
thoughts are skewed by present
feelings, such as the ability to get
used to pleasure or underestimating
the impact events will have on future
feelings.
Happiness needs to be taken as a
present quantity, it is useless as a
retrospective and anticipatory
measure; and the only way to teach
children about happiness is to ensure
they are happy at any given time.
Once this is properly understood,
happiness becomes a basic skill and
a priority invaluable for future
wellbeing.
From a rights perspective,
pursuing a value based approach,
also delivers on fairness, is easier
than having to decide which children
are worthy of the label of achiever. As
Ainscow puts it, trying to define
‘social exclusion’ or ‘inclusion’ is
misleading, as some definitions imply
that there are forms of exclusion that
are not social and therefore
acceptable (2006). If the purpose of
Children’s Services is to support
young people in learning to be
happy, by which criteria is
exclusion permissible – who does
deserve to be unhappy?
Final words...
© L M Chapman - EQuality Training - 2010. For more information on any aspect please do get in touch with
us. www.equalitytraining.co.uk 01484 530 321, 0773 792 5573,

Inclusive practice

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Inclusive practice