1st Edition

Partnerships for Inclusive Education A Critical Approach to Collaborative Working

By Liz Todd Copyright 2007
    200 Pages
    by Routledge

    200 Pages
    by Routledge

    Shortlisted for the NASEN/TES 2007 Book Award

    Increased partnership between professionals, particularly through the integration of services, indicates a major opportunity for child and parent participation, but one that seems in danger of being side-stepped. Drawing on substantial research evidence, this book looks at reasons for this situation; what is happening now, what developments and initiatives have been tried and what can be done to develop a culture of participation?

    Some of the main threats to participation are discussed in this book including:

    • Has ‘partnership’ ever been?
    • Who is excluded from 'partnership'?
    • Which discourses have made participation illusive and what are the implications – theoretical and practical - for how we move forward?

    Partnerships for Inclusive Education includes a helpful framework map which guides critical thinking towards the development of a culture of collaboration and presents original and stimulating ideas to open up the complex processes that can frustrate participative practice. Combining socio-cultural ideas with post-structural thinking gives this book a strong yet accessible theoretical basis, making it a valuable resource to both an academic and a professional educational audience.

    Chapter 1 What Partnerships for what kind of Inclusive Education? 
    1.1 Introduction 
    1.2 Professional… practitioner?  Multi-agency… multi- professional? A note on terms 
    1.3 Inclusion: a broad inclusive concept 
    1.4 No inclusion without participation 
    1.5 Some ideas that are assumed by this exploration of partnership… 
    Chapter 2    Being Seen and Heard and making a Difference:  How Children Participate 
    2.1 What Partnership is Going On? 
    2.1.1 Child consultation on policy 
    2.1.3  Research on and with children and young people 
    2.1.2 Child participation in schools and other organisations 
    2.2 Why Consult – Why Develop Participation: what are the benefits? 
    2.3 What are the Best Methods of Consultation and Participation to use? 
    2.4 What are the Key Issues? 
    2.4.1 consultation vs participation? 
    2.4.2 its difficult 
    2.4.3 some are consulted more than others… 
    2.4.4 ideas about childhood constrain participation… 
    2.5  Conclusion 
    Chapter 3 
    The Absent Special Guest: Children as Service Users 
    3.1 Introduction 
    3.2 Policy Context 
    3.3 To what extent do professionals involve children and young people? 
    3.4 What Children and Young People make of the Services they Use 
    3.4.1 ‘They had a funny name I cannot pronounce’ – What children know about professional role 
    3.4.2 Child views about their experience of professional involvement 
    3.5 Conclusion: Why does it seem to be so difficult for professionals to involve children and young people in decision-making? 
    Chapter 4: Parent Partnership: The need for a richer story 
    4.1 Introduction 
    4.2 Initiatives in Parent Partnership: Is this inclusive education? 
    4.3 Has partnership been happening? 
    4.4 Is ‘partnership’ open to all? 
    4.5 Deficit notions of ‘parent’ and ‘family’ 
    4.6 Conclusion 
    Chapter 5  Integrated Services:  an invitation to inclusion… or exclusion? 
    5.1 Introduction 
    5.1.1 ‘Integrated Services’ may mean more multi-agency working – but is it inclusion? 
    5.2 too much to achieve and inclusion a low priority? 
    5.3 Systemic Medical Model 
    5.3.1Joint Action Teams: An activity system 
    5.4 What kind of Multi-agency working IS good for inclusion? 
    5.4.1 The context vs individualisation: two examples of practice 
    5.4.2 Paying attention to the individual 
    5.4.3 Falling into the trap of the dichotomy 
    5.4.4 Participation – the Defining Issue 
    5.5 Concluding Thoughts 
    Chapter 6   Participation for Inclusion:  towards critical practice and community psychology 
    6.1 Introduction 
    6.2The Good and Bad News about Participation 
    6.3The PPC Model: PEOPLE-PRACTICE-CONTEXT 
    Different strands of influence on our attempts to participate 
    6.4PRACTICE - Conceptualisations of practice 
    6.5 PEOPLE –The assumptions we have of the children and families with whom we work 
    6.6 CONTEXT – The meaning given to the context 
    6.7 CONCLUSION 
    Chapter 7 Towards Authentic Participation: Examples of Practice 
    7.1 Introduction 
    7.2Narrative Practices 
    7.3 Solution-Orientated Working 
    7.4 CASE STUDY 1: 
    Transforming Learning in Schools: DEMOCRATIC RE 
    7.5 CASE STUDY 2 
    Involving Children and young People in Decision-making and in the Development of Services: ‘Investing in Children’ 
    7.6 CASE STUDY 3: 
    Family Group Conferences 
    7.7 CASE STUDY 4: Extended Schools 
    APPENDIX 1 
    What Kind of Services do Children and Young People Want? 
    A1.1 Clear information about who they are dealing with and a choice about who to see: ‘Can you change that name?’ 
    A1.2 What happens during a consultation to have certain qualities 
    A1.3 Confidentiality and Control over use of information about them 
    A1.4 Inclusivity 
    BIBLIOGRAPHY
    INDEX

    Biography

    Liz Todd is senior lecturer and Director of Educational Psychology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.