Pedagogy and regulations

What is inclusivity? And how does technology support students with disability?

It expects some sort of technological presence and expectation or ability that learners are able to use it also provides opportunities for learners with disabilities.

Technology has advanced extremely quickly in recent years allowing educational institutions to support students with autism; deaf people and hard of hearing; visually impaired and those with learning disabilities. Students with autism find it difficult to develop communication skills taking them years to develop simple language. Previously picture cards were used as a tool to develop non-verbal communication and now apps have allowed them to express any thought or feeling by simply pointing and clicking. This is useful for parents and counsellors as they can support them with and identify any psychological problems otherwise not addressed. With Deaf people it has given them the confidence to communicate without relying on parents or teachers – the computer reads the sign and offers responses allowing them to practice conversational skills. The visually impaired face academic challenges and tools such as talking calculators allows them to carry out and perform mathematical functions without using paper as well as having optical character recognition products. A vast number of students now have a variety of learning difficulties ranging from dyslexia to dyspraxia etc. The technology provides assistance particularly when they get confused while writing, giving them word choices they might want to consider.

Using digital technologies to promote inclusive practices in education

This addresses key issues such as:

1.       Personalisation

2.       Every Child Matters

3.       Extended Schools and the Childrens Plan

It widens the access to learning and makes possible new learning to take place.

Accessibility is about making materials and sessions more accessible to the learner where inclusive activities can be developed providing a directory of resources.

As the demands of the changing learner profile increases such as those with emotional and behavioural difficulties and moderate to severe learning difficulties, the need to create inclusion teams grows. It also takes into account personalisation and the learners’ right to have a ‘voice’ so student forums have been set up both at course level and departmental level and management level. The contents/sites should be easy to navigate; be careful of the language used. The culture of the classroom can be changed by flipped learning which can be the nom of any learning environment but must be set up right at the beginning of the year

For every learner who fails to demonstrate their potential or fails to make progress then the institution puts in place ALS support and other services. FE also offers flexible programmes for 14 – 19 year olds; allows learners to meet their aspirations by setting SMART targets’ and monitoring progress. They must have an inclusive learner experience.

Ofsted has helped learning providers evaluate standards in provision for students with LDD and SEN in post -16 so colleges must provide appropriate provision under the Learning and Skills Act and promote inclusive learning and individual programmes for these learners as well those that may suffer with learning difficulties mental health issues lack of motivation etc.

Teachers and learners can create effective, engaging and accessible learning materials and reasonable adjustments made will depend on the nature of the learner, their impairment, the resource, the learning objectives and the context of use.