Initial teacher education 2024: why inclusion matters?

Abstract

Graphical abstract

Citation

Blandford, S. (2024), "Initial teacher education 2024: why inclusion matters?", Quality Education for All, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 129-141. https://doi.org/10.1108/QEA-01-2024-0011

Introduction

Crisis in teacher recruitment and retention

The National Foundation of Educational Research 2023 annual report on the teacher labour market in England (McLean et al., 2023) states that the teacher recruitment and retention challenge has significantly intensified since the pandemic:

Recruitment to initial teacher training (ITT) was considerably below target last year across a wide range of subjects. Our forecast from ITT applications up to February 2023 suggests that recruitment is likely to be little better this year. ………The latest data on teacher leaving rates shows that fewer teachers left during the pandemic, but no data on the post-pandemic situation is yet available. However, data on teacher vacancies from TeachVac shows that schools posted significantly more jobs last year compared to the year before the pandemic. The number of vacancies schools have posted so far this year is even higher – nearly double the pre-pandemic level. More job openings chasing fewer new teachers means that we have a worsening crisis.

The impact of a lack of teachers in schools in England is summarised by Teacher Tapp (Allen et al., 2023).

Changes to teachers standards (DfE, 2021) placed emphasis on the importance of values, alluding to but not defining inclusive practices. Within initial teacher training there has also been a growing emphasis on professional development for transforming learning in formal and non-formal settings – including innovative environments and the creation of learning eco systems.

In this context, all providers of initial teacher education should share an inclusive vision of teaching as a well-qualified, continually developing profession engaged in reflective practice. The way forward for initial teacher training qualifications can be found in the pan-European study Improving the Quality of Teacher Education (Eur-Lex, 2016), based on research by leading academics, including myself, in the early 2000s. This study produced Common Principles for Teacher Competences and Qualifications for all European ITE programme (European Commission, 2010), a body of knowledge recognised in Norway but ignored in the UK. The Common Principles advise the following:

• It is well-qualified profession: All teachers are graduates from higher education institutions (and those working in the field of initial vocational education are highly qualified in their professional area and have a suitable pedagogical qualification). Every teacher has extensive subject knowledge, a good knowledge of pedagogy, the skills and competences required to guide and support learners, and an understanding of the social and cultural dimension of education.

• It is a profession of lifelong learners: Teachers are supported to continue their professional development throughout their careers. They and their employers recognise the importance of acquiring new knowledge and are able to innovate and use evidence to inform their work.

• It is a mobile profession: Mobility is a central component of initial and continuing teacher education programmes. Teachers are encouraged to work or study in other European countries for professional development purposes.

• It is a profession based on partnership: Teacher education institutions organise their work collaboratively in partnership with schools, local work environments, work-based training providers and other stakeholders.

Since 2010, education policy has mitigated against such a vision. Consolidation within the Department for Education has contributed to the diminished status of initial teacher training, continuing professional development programmes and degree awards. Thus, diminishing the status of the profession itself across all phases. In the reductionist world inhabited by educational leaders the notion that initial teacher training can be anything more than how to interpret work sheets is lost. Is the reason for this change that the government and others in power do not want critical thinking practitioners teaching the next generation that there is a choice; that they should ask questions rather than just accept what is fed to them, from the top down? Critical thinking practitioners would know, understand and have the skills to meet the needs of all pupils through inclusion, thus addressing issues of attendance, behaviour and exclusion.

Why inclusion is important – missing children

Since the start of the COVID pandemic in England, March 2020, there has been a significant increase in the number of vulnerable and disadvantaged children attending school. In addition, we cannot begin to estimate the number of displaced children arriving in England from Ukraine and other war and famine zones across the world.

Sadly, these events are set within a context of a shocking report delivered by the Children’s Commissioner on Missing Children in Schools (de Souza, 2022). The report contained two alarming findings:

1. no one knows how many children there are in England, there are hundreds that have never been tracked by local authorities; and

2. of the known children – those registered to attend schools – 1.7 million did not attend regularly in the Autumn Term 2021, 22% are persistently absent.

There are several other school-based factors as to why children are not attending mainstream schools, which continue to occur post-pandemic:

• Off-rolling: Schools remove children from their register to home schooling on either a part- or full-time basis – coinciding with public examinations (league tables) and caused by attendance or behaviour issues (House of Commons Library, 2020; Rowe et al., 2019). According to a House of Commons, these numbers are difficult to measure (House of Commons Library, 2020).

• Permanent or fixed period exclusions: reported pre-pandemic 2018/2019 (HMG, 2020) as 7,894 permanent, 438,265 fixed period exclusions; the main reason being behaviour.

• Managed moves: Children are moved from one school to another, normally alternative provision, in 2016/17, there were 9,000 such moves (Thomson, 2019), 2,300 did not remain in school.

There are also societal issues as to why children are missing or at risk of not attending school:

• Refugees: Over half the refugees in the world are children (Separated Child Foundation, 2022) the highest number being in England where there is c. 4,000 children separated from their parents who are seeking asylum.

• Run-aways: In 2021, the Children’s Society found that over 10,000 children run away each year, 144 each day, 2 in 3 are not reported to the police (Children’s Society, 2022).

• Children looked after: Numbers have increased every year since 2010, with over 102,000 currently in care (HMG, 2021b), of which only 3,000 are likely to be adopted, taking over a year for each placement. Children regularly change placement, school and social worker.

• Domestic violence: Over 14% of children aged 18 and under are impacted by domestic violence (Women’s Aid, 2022).

• Special educational needs and disability (House of Commons Education Committee, 2019): Over half a million children are identified with limited identification for children living in poorer homes, provision is limited in these areas (Hutchinson, 2021).

• Poverty: Currently 4.3 million children live in poverty in the UK, three in 10, 107% increase in 2020 (Children’s Society, 2022).

Reporting on these issues is not new.

In 2012, a report on missing children received a response from the then Children’s Commissioner (Office of the Children’s Commissioner, 2012) who cited many of the above factors impacting on children’s education. In 2014, Impetus published a study focusing on 14- to 24-year-olds (Impetus, 2014). They stated that according to Department for Education figures 6,610 16-year-olds would have fallen out of education. Worse still in 2014 there were 120,188 Millennium Kids at risk of becoming Not in Education, Employment or Training.

Many of the children featured in these reports will remain “missing”.

There is an evident need to decrease the number of all missing children, beginning with enhancing an understanding of inclusion within initial teacher training.

Framing inclusion in education

All children across the world have a right to be educated (Hammarberg, 1998), they also have a right to belong to their community. If teachers, leaders, parents and carers are to develop a sense of belonging for every child, inclusion needs to be defined and understood. The increasing need to place the learner at the centre in an Artificial Intelligence world emphasises the need for innovative learning environments and provide partnerships serving formal and non-formal learning. The politics of education need to promote enable and broker inclusion.

The following is a summary of research by a team from Plymouth Marjon, University of Plymouth and Monash University (Achtaridou et al., 2022a), which considers how children and young people are included in education regardless of their background, challenge or need.

To be included

As a starting point, inclusion is a term that infers that we all must have equal access to opportunities or resources. Inclusion is much more than just placement of a pupil in a class. When a pupil is “included”, the pupil attends regular classroom; participates in all activities offered to other pupils; is accepted by the rest of the school community; achieves in all learning domains; has a strong sense of belongingness; and feels happy to be part of the school community. In inclusive schools, educators invest heavily in systematically identifying barriers that a pupil may face to fully participate in schooling activities and work collectively to addressing the barriers. Put simply, “we are included”, whether that be through participation or observation, we have the chance or choice (Blandford, 2019) to be equal to others. Inclusive schools care about the voices of all pupils but more specifically about the voices of those pupils who could be frequently excluded because of their diversity and differences. These schools care about listening to parents’ voices and change schooling practices to ensure that all pupils are fully included.

To be excluded

Exclusion has been a feature of global education since schools and schooling began. Look back to Victorian times in England and we will see social segregation driven by class, socio-economic status or poverty, race and special educational needs and disability, themes prevalent today (Quesne, 1993; Children’s Alliance, 2021; Oppenheim and Milton, 2021; Department for Education, 2022a, 2022b, 2022c). Add to these gender identity, domestic violence, and disadvantage placed within the context of a global pandemic, levelling up, attendance, homelessness and children in care; there are significant issues that require attention if children and young people are to participate in inclusive schooling in England in the 2020s.

When speaking about exclusion or considering those groups within society who experience regular forms of exclusion, we can engage with the concept – intersectionality. Intersectionality refers to the various components that make up our identity, who we are – whether that be our “race”, gender, social class, age, disability, etc. Unpacking this further, certain intersections are linked more readily to the experience of disadvantage and exclusion resulting in those particular groups experiencing life in socially and economically challenging circumstances, with less security (housing, health), food, clothing, social, educational, post 16 and cultural opportunities than their more advantaged peers. We can link this to those families, increasing in number, who find themselves living in poverty. Also, many in our Black and Minority Ethnic population, Special Educational Needs and Disability, those subject to domestic violence, those missed off the local authority or school registers and or electing to home educate without effective inclusive support, homelessness and those excluded from school.

An example of the way in which exclusion impacts upon these intersections can be seen in the mismanagement of social care and how many children or young people are provided with an Education, Health and Care Plan (Department for Education, 2014). For example, in 2021, the Commission on Young Lives (2021) reported that children were being moved from their local areas to live in unregulated accommodation now targeted by criminals. It said the system was “unfit for purpose” and was letting down the rising number of over 16 s in care.

As shown, the number of disadvantaged children and young people in the UK have been compounded by COVID-19, which began as a global pandemic in December 2019. The impact of the pandemic in the UK since the initial lockdown in March 2020 has been reported in Department for Education commissioned research (Achtaridou et al, 2022b) as:

large differences in progress among pupils […] Disparities in pupils’ social, emotional and academic progress increased, with pupils having increasingly complex and variable needs […] Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds who did not attend school and/or engage well online during home-schooling seem to have been most profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is self-evident that ongoing exclusions and suspension from schooling will impact educational outcomes for all excluded and suspended pupils, with the most vulnerable children being further disadvantaged. Yet the number of suspensions and exclusions continue to rise (Bibby and Thomson, 2024) with inevitable consequences.

Understanding the importance of inclusive policies

Since the Second World War, UK Government policy and subsequently mainstream schooling structures and practises have emphasised two core priorities: firstly to rebuild and enhance the economy making the UK a market leader on the global stage and second to achieve social equality via welfare reform rooted in the development of an education offer that enables all to succeed and flourish. The challenge that the UK faces, and which is also experienced in other countries is that policies only articulate what needs to be done; they remain unclear about how it should be done, hence, the need to understand the relevance to initial teacher training.

When referring to Inclusion we are representing those intersections of human identity where “failure” and “exclusion” are regular occurrences. We argue these occurrences happen due to ingrained social and educational practices alongside established cultural norms, which serve to reinforce the exclusion of minority groups and benefit those already ahead. Our work engages with the following minority groups or intersections: Children identified with special educational needs, disability, poverty (Free School Meals, Ever 6, Children with no recourse to public funds), Ethnic Minority (BAME), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, homelessness, children looked after, adopted children, young carers, travellers, armed forces, in sum those distinctive identities that are currently linked to the label “diversity” in education. The most significant and recent UK policy and statutory initiative working to establish a more inclusive society is the 2010-Equality Act (Legislation.Gov.UK, 2010), which resulted in many subsequent policies and gave statutory recognition to a list of nine protected characteristics including:

1. age;

2. disability;

3. gender reassignment;

4. marriage and civil partnership;

5. pregnancy and maternity;

6. race;

7. religion or belief;

8. sex; and

9. sexual orientation.

The specific duties of the 2010 Equality Act aim to create an inclusive environment in the workplace, education and society at large. It replaced former equality legislation such as the Race Relations Act (Legislation.Gov.UK, 2000), Disability Discrimination Act (Legislation.Gov.UK, 1995), Equality Act (Legislation.Gov.UK, 1995) and Sex Discrimination Bill (Hansard, 1975), creating changes that education institutions, including schools, needed to engage with and incorporate into related policies, e.g. SEND, pupil behaviour and anti-bullying safeguarding.

The related Equality Strategy (HMG, 2010) was published in 2010 setting out a vision for a strong, modern and fair Britain. Thereafter, with a change in government, the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2018–2025 (Home Office, 2018) was published. Key emphasis in these policies and strategies is to achieve an equal space, to enable all to thrive, developing practices that create, represent and maintain a modern UK. This can be reflected in the 2014 SEND Code of Practice (Home Office, 2018), which made clear that education providers had a statutory duty to implement the Equality Act 2010 (Home Office, 2018) alongside the Children and Families Act Part 3 (Legislation.Gov.UK, 2014). However, research has shown that for many school communities – that link and combination of policy drivers has not occurred, resulting in many families being locked out from choice in effective inclusive education, contributing to the current crisis in UK SEND provision.

There is hope with the SEND Green Paper (Legislation.Gov.UK, 2014) and review (Legislation.Gov.UK, 2014) this new directive (through a revised code of practice) will engage with a more social model view/definition of disability, incorporating the language and progressive practice of reasonable adjustments thus enabling mainstream schools to be fully inclusive of vulnerable and disabled children and young people.

The contemporary UK space sees education communities and schools emerging from a pandemic, with many national and local directives plus significant funding emphasising Building Back Better (HM Treasury, 2021) and Levelling Up (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, 2022). The alternative is a continuing growth in the divide between rich and poor, further regression regarding social mobility and the stalling of social and educational inclusion. As published by the Nuffield Foundation (Oppenheim and Milton, 2021) More than one in three (36%) children in families with a child under five in the UK are living in poverty, amounting to 2.2 million children. For children in families with three or more children, this figure rises to more than half (52%). Writing a critique on how the SEND review might achieve the SEND reforms original aims of 2014, Lamb (2022) maked the case for a systemic change in culture:

There is a large overlap between SEND and disadvantage […] While additional funding and training are crucial this is also about a change in the culture of the system so that parents and CYP voices are heard, aspirations are increased, and provision wraps around the individual child to achieve their potential. This is still the challenge for the SEND system and for the SEND review 10 years after Support and Aspiration was published.

We would add to Lamb’s case the word “leadership, i.e. there is now a clear need for a systemic change in culture and in leadership – leadership’s origin, style plus practise”.

Understanding inclusion in practice

Research carried out by Blandford et al (2023) found that four “pillars” underpinned inclusive practice:

• Pillar 1: Parents’ and carers’ engagement in a child’s learning is an important factor in improving pupil outcomes and achievements.

• Pillar 2: Provision for closing the gap by developing quality-first teaching through well-differentiated planning, personalised provision and interventions.

• Pillar 3: Building core strength and resilience for all by helping pupils re-establish their goals and ambitions and by creating a clear visible curriculum narrative that enables them to be partners in their learning.

• Pillar 4: Digital skills: technology is opening new frontiers in terms of accelerating learning and personalising the education. These four pillars will factor into and inform the work of the authors as they move forward with their international project: Are We Included?

An issue for all teacher educators is understanding inclusion in practice. Are We Included? is set within the context of an international project (currently 18 countries), involving grass roots engagement with parents, carers, pupils, school leaders and teachers that explores what it means today to be included:

Pedagogy: leading inclusion in the classroom

High-quality teaching and learning enables teachers, leaders and other educationalists to improve the attainment and progress of all pupils.

For schools it means:

• strong whole-school assessment systems in place;

• having good policies for marking and feedback; and

• good monitoring and evaluation approaches to processes and practices.

For teachers it means:

• knowing your pupils and how they learn;

• having high aspirations for their learning;

• giving children a sense of ownership of learning;

• taking a more personalised approach to children’s learning; and

• keeping good records.

For pupils it means:

• being able to access the curriculum;

• having teachers who raise their aspirations and increase their achievements;

• having confidence in their own capabilities;

• high self-esteem; and

• self-mastery skills.

For parents it means:

• knowing where their child is in their learning;

• knowing how to support them in their learning; and

• having high aspirations for their learning and achievement

(Blandford and Knowles, 2013).

In practice, these are borne out differently in the classroom and across the school. Quality teaching can help pupils surmount generation – long barriers to learning, but the particular approaches and strategies need to be well embedded into the regular practice and culture of the school, constructive interaction between the four pillars is a key consideration.

Teachers values and behaviours

Teacher values – the reasons why they adopt particular practices and their theories about learning – can be a central area for reflection. By changing levels of aspiration held by pupils, teachers, parents and carers, pupils become more motivated, and teachers begin to adapt their established beliefs and behaviours raising their expectations; the result is improved pupil progress (Humphrey and Squires, 2011). Encouraging teachers to develop themselves, deepening their subject knowledge and learning to use it as effectively as possible is self-evident. What can be lacking is a focus on the constructive interaction between the other elements of quality teaching enabling teachers to “take ownership” for inclusion in their classrooms.

Such positive teacher practices include:

• taking a more active role in the assessment and monitoring of pupils;

• being more frequently involved in reviewing individual pupil targets;

• data-led discussions within teams providing opportunity to identify pupils not making the expected progress and finding appropriate interventions to help them;

• planning with other teachers for differentiation – allowing for greater focus on individual pupils;

• using the “structured conversation” model with parents of identified children – enabling teachers to change their own and parents’ expectations of pupils and recognise their potential (this framework for developing focussed discussion between the teacher, parent and their child is used in the Achievement for All programme);

• increased teacher knowledge and understanding of pupils – resulting in a more personalised approach to teaching and learning within the classroom and seeing continuing professional development and other training opportunities as helpful (adapted from Humphrey and Squires, DfE, 2011).

Professional behaviours linked to professional development are most effective when they include not only the development of teacher skills, but those of parents and carers. Parents are enabled to become “real” partners in their child’s education, contributing to accelerated progress. High standards of behaviour are achieved across classrooms when pupils feel valued and want to belong to their school. The quality of interaction between teachers and pupils as well as teacher expectation is enhanced by addressing effective communication and interaction skills across the curriculum. In helping children to develop as independent and confident learners, teachers and other staff need to give particular attention to the creation of a positive environment. A stimulating learning environment will produce stimulating results, this involves “enabling” an internal change in the child, supporting and encouraging them to develop a positive disposition to learning and achievement. Effective approaches include:

• making learning relevant and helping pupils understand the purpose of their learning;

• teachers refining their teaching strategies – especially questioning skills and other ways to engage every pupil in the class; and

• ensuring curriculum is relevant to all pupils – in many cases this may involve adjusting and reshaping the curriculum and the way it is presented and making sure that pupils see mistakes as valuable learning lessons.

Children being aware of their own learning gaps and needs is a key step in the learning journey, but it is important that all children are included and that no pupil is set up to fail.

Conclusion

As demonstrated in this paper, high-impact inclusive teacher training involves training at the highest levels developing and acquiring

• the skills and competences required to guide and support learners, and an understanding of the social and cultural dimension of education;

• new knowledge and are able to innovate and use evidence to inform their work; and

• experiences to work or study in other countries for professional development purposes.

To do so

• teacher educators organise their work collaboratively in partnership with schools, local work environments, work-based training providers and other stakeholders.

For generations educators have embraced children and young people from diverse socioeconomic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds, in addition to gender and sexual orientations, those identified with special educational needs and disabilities and looked after children. Adopting a shared vision for training incorporating an understanding of inclusion in education is the solution to the prevailing issues experienced by all teachers in schools that are impacting on teacher recruitment and retention. It is time for change in initial teacher training.