Facilitating PLD about inclusion

Before using Inclusive Practice and the School Curriculum with a school, take some time to explore the resource. The table below shows how it can support you when leading PLD in a school. 

The guide has five modules shown in the diagram below. 

Facilitating professional learning diagram text version 

The diagram introduces the content and purpose of each of the five modules that make up the facilitators’ guide to using the resource Inclusive Practice and the School Curriculum. 

The names of the modules are placed in five rectangular boxes.  

The boxes for Modules 1 and 2 are arranged vertically. Each is linked to an oval on the right-hand side, containing an explanation of the module’s purpose. 

Module 1 is called "How Can Schools Understand Where They Are At?" and is linked to an oval with the words "Most school leaders will start here and select tools to review their school’s inclusive practice". 

Module 2 is called "Why Is Inclusion Important?" and is linked to an oval with the words "This module sets the scene and supports leaders and teachers to explore inclusion". 

The boxes for Modules 3, 4, and 5 are arranged horizontally across the page. All three of these are linked to a single oval below, containing the words "These modules focus on shifting practice". 

Module 3 is called "Challenging Assumptions and Beliefs about Inclusion", Module 4 is called "Supporting Teachers to Include All Students in the School Curriculum", and Module 5 is called "Making Learning Visible."

Each module has professional learning activities that introduce teachers and leaders to the ideas and concepts in Implementing an Inclusive Curriculum, Inclusion in Practice, and other related resources. The activities are useful starting points for facilitated learning conversations that will challenge, build on, and strengthen existing practice. 

Leaders of PLD can use Inclusive Practice and the School Curriculum with teachers and leaders in one-to-one, small group/syndicate, or whole-school learning situations. The professional learning could be a planned series of staff meetings, a specific one-off syndicate or staff meeting, or individual conversations with teachers, based on the needs of learners in their classroom. 

Some schools may have staff, such as an experienced learning support coordinator, who can facilitate PLD with their colleagues using Inclusive Practice and the School Curriculum. Other schools may prefer to draw on the skills and experience of an external leader of PLD, such as a Ministry-funded PLD facilitator or a Resource Teacher: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB). 

Inclusive Practice and the School Curriculum has been designed to: 

• support leaders of PLD by providing guidance and tools suitable for English-medium settings in New Zealand 
• provide an accessible starting point for building an understanding of inclusive practice and for recognising where expertise and inclusive practice already exist within a school 
• prompt educators to inquire into inclusive practice across their school, at both individual teacher and school-wide levels 
• show what inclusive practice can look like in the different learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum and at different year levels 
• build teachers’ ability to use differentiation and adaptation to ensure all their students can participate in the classroom curriculum. 

"I worked with a teacher and his syndicate leader to explore effective differentiation strategies to support a small group of students who have additional literacy learning needs. Together, we unpacked Example 2 (English, Writing, levels 2–3 – Haiku) from Inclusion in Practice. We transferred the learning to classroom practice by planning a couple of lessons that made use of similar strategies to those shown in the example." 

– Resource teacher: Learning and Behaviour

"As part of my work in a school providing PLD about the New Zealand Curriculum, the school identified a need to use student voice to inform curriculum design. They wanted to make sure all students’ perspectives were heard. With the leadership team, we used the Building a Rich Knowledge of the Learner section of Implementing an Inclusive Curriculum to plan a staff meeting and follow-up syndicate meetings. The teachers came up with fantastic ways to capture students’ perspectives that didn’t rely only on traditional methods such as interviews and surveys." 

– PLD facilitator 

"We carried out a self-review using the ERO questions on including students with special education needs (see Module 1). We identified the need to build teacher capability in using differentiated strategies to support all students within the classroom programme. As a team, we planned a series of staff meetings using the activities in Module 4: Supporting Teachers to Include all Students in the School Curriculum." 

– School professional learning enquiry team 

"As a department, we had never purposefully discussed the principle of inclusion, so I used the activity What does an inclusive school look like?" (Module 2, Activity 2.2) at one of our department team meetings. We specifically linked to our school’s values and what this would look like within our department. It prompted a very interesting discussion among the team – we agreed on some things we could be doing better, and a few suggestions were raised for me to take back to the leadership team." 

– Head of Department 

"We were holding a ‘maths kiosk’ in the library during parent interviews and wanted to capture parent, whānau, and student voices on attitudes and beliefs about mathematics. We used the Whatu pōkeka activity (Module 2, Activity 2.4) and created a collaborative whatu pōkeka to hang up in our hallway. We analysed the feather responses and decided on next steps to support learners and their whānau in mathematics." 

– Mathematics learning leader 

"As a school we wanted to know how inclusive we are but didn’t know where to begin. With the leadership team, we read Module 1: How Can Schools Understand Where They Are At? This gave us a good starting point to consider different approaches to review our existing practices. We’ve decided to use the Inclusive Practices Tools." 

– Principal 

"A new student with complex learning needs will be starting at our school next year. When I was thinking about meeting the student’s needs in the classroom, the Special Education Advisor from the local Ministry of Education office suggested I explore the concept of "curriculum overlapping". I had never heard of this before, so she pointed me to the Effective Pedagogy for All Students section in Implementing an Inclusive Curriculum. This has really helped my understanding of ways to support this student to participate, engage, and achieve within the classroom curriculum alongside their peers." 

– Learning Support Coordinator 

"I read the ‘Working together’ section of Implementing an Inclusive Curriculum and was really pleased to see that it reflects the way we work in many schools already. In a couple of schools, where the roles and responsibilities between team members are unclear, I used our usual meeting time to share the "Working together" section, and we completed Activity 4.5 in Module 4. It really helped clarify who is in our team, our roles, and how we can work together effectively." 

– Specialist teacher (Outreach Service)

1. Engage in some personal professional development before planning and leading professional learning opportunities. For example: 

• Explore the guides on the Inclusive Education website
• Read the ERO report about inclusion: Inclusive Practices for Students with Special Education Needs in Schools (March 2015)  
• Join the Secondary Learning Support Coordinators group on the Virtual Learning Network (VLN) 
• Familiarise yourself with the structure and content in Implementing an Inclusive Curriculum
• Explore the classroom examples in Inclusion in Practice
• Read about the Inclusive Practices Tools on the Wellbeing@School website 

2. Find out about inclusion-related PLD, projects, or initiatives. 

• If you are a leader of PLD working with several schools (for example, an RTLB or PLD provider), talk with the leadership teams in the schools you support about the PLD, projects, or initiatives related to inclusion they are currently participating in or have recently completed. Consider the inclusive practices embedded at the school and how you will make connections between what each school is already doing and the PLD you provide. 
• If you are a leader of PLD in your school, talk with your colleagues, teachers, and leaders at schools in your cluster/s, and with others in your network (for example, RTLB, staff at the local Ministry of Education office). Find out about PLD, projects, or initiatives related to inclusion that you can access or that other schools have found useful. Examples include: 
• Regional workshops on using the Inclusive Practices Tools 
• Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) initiatives, for example, Incredible Years Teachers, PB4L School-Wide, My Friends Youth, Restorative Practice 
• Specific workshop series, for example, Tilting the Seesaw for Teams – a professional learning course delivered by Autism New Zealand for teams of people who support students aged 5-12 with autism 
• RTLB professional learning support. 

3. Explore online professional learning networks, portals, and social media for groups, feeds, and communities interested in inclusion. For example, to find out more about Universal Design for Learning, try: 

• following @CAST_UDL, @UDL_center and hashtags #udlchat #udl on Twitter 

4. Consider these questions for designing effective PLD on inclusion: 

• How can we draw on existing expertise within the school?  
• Consider individual and collective staff strengths, in relation to both personal and professional experience. 
• How can we develop a team of champions to strengthen inclusive practice in the school? 
• How can we build a shared vision as a team?  
• Think about how you will involve and empower all staff and how you will identify, celebrate, and maintain progress towards the school’s goals for inclusion. 
• What facilitation strategies will be most effective in this context?  
• Refer to the following resource sheet for ideas.