Lifelong Learning

Inclusive learning is about ensuring all your learners have the opportunity to be involved and included in the learning process. It’s also about treating all learners equally and fairly, without directly or indirectly excluding anyone. Inclusion is about attitudes as well as behaviour, as learners can be affected by

Inclusive practice is about adapting what is being delivered to make learning accessible to everyone regardless of ability, special education need (SEN) or any other barrier that might exist. When planning to meet the needs of everyone in the group it is essential that the teacher has as much information about everyone as possible. (The City and Guilds textbook level 3 Award in Education and Training). Features of inclusive teaching and learning starts with knowing which learning styles your learners prefer, to do this you can use VARK (visual, aural, read/write and kinetic) test which was designed by Neil Fleming to help learners and teachers know what learning methods they are best suited to e.g. in the first lesson my tutor asked for us

When teaching you would need to consider the venue, rooms and resources but also your attitude and support as this can also have an impact on the students in which they will learn.

As a teacher when delivering any lessons planned we have to make sure that each students individual needs are met, so they will feel included in the lesson. “Inclusion is about creating interesting, varied and inspiring learning opportunities for all learners, ensuring all learners contribute and are never disadvantaged by methods, language or resources” Wilson (2008).

From the very beginning of the course, teachers should begin to analyse their learners through initial assessment methods. The assessments best suited to guide improvements in student learning are quizzes, tests, writing assignments, and other assessments such as a group activity. These can easily give the teacher/tutor an insight into the learning needs of the learners. Also

Our process for internal quality assurance involves planning the units that will be sampled for each student. This is planned on an internal verification sampling plan (Evidence index 5) and we use the alphabetical listings and diagonal lines that cross the units to be sampled. If however, the units are infrequently selected then I will ensure that they are sampled and also with the new NVQ specification that has recently taken place then I would carry out a 100% check. We also like to carry out formative assessment as this is good practice and aids to our standardisation process in supporting all our assessors. Regarding support I always liaise with our more senior assessors and the external verifier to ensure I am continually meeting the quality standards required and they are always available to offer their assistance and advice. If we have a very inexperienced assessor or new assessor then the NVQ’s they assess would be sampled far deeper and more support would be given to them. I would ensure that I assess a variety of evidence ranging from Observations, Recorded discussions, Reflective accounts, Witness statements and Work products to list a few. I ensure that the levels and quantities of these are consistent, authentic, valid, and reliable especially regarding new standards.

You can find out what learner style each learner is by conducting a simple test in the form of a handout, count the ticks in each column and it will give a rough idea of the best way they learn. You will need to make sure each lesson is delivered to facilitate each of the learner styles so each learner is catered for, so progressive leaning takes place which is being professional incorporating equality and diversity. Different resources what are available can be used to deliver the lesson to engage learners and make their learning experience one that they remember and learn from.

To make a purposeful, inclusive learning and teaching environment in my sessions I use a variety of creative and innovative approaches, for example I would

“Assessments should be a regular process; it might not always be formalised, but you should be observing what your learners are doing, asking questions and reviewing their progress throughout their time with you”.

Students have their own best way in effectively learning the lesson. With the diversity of students, the problem is each student has a preferred learning style. It becomes undeniably one of the reasons that make it difficult to achieve the best expected outcome out of teachers’ effort. However, teachers try to incorporate various teaching techniques to make every learning opportunity become productive, meaningful, and relevant for the learners.

The learner must have sufficient time to prepare for an assessment. Learners must have clear instructions, dates, times and be aware of what treatments that they will be doing.

When setting up an inclusive learning environment we need to focus on individual differences. Francis and Gould (2013: p65) explain, that “it is important to recognise the differences in the learners we teach, as these influence how we interact with them.” Francis and Gould (2013) list few typical differences, like age, physical disability, mental health issues, ethnicity, etc.

Inclusive learning is about making sure that every learner in the classroom has their needs identified and met. It is about realising that every learner will have specific individual needs and it is the job of the teacher to accommodate the needs of all of their learners. Booth et al. (2000) state ‘Inclusion is seen to involve the identification and minimising of barriers to learning and participation’ (Booth et al., 2000: 13).

When planing assessments you need to be aware of some key factors so you're assessment is relevant and fair to your students. Be aware of what your assessing weather final assessment or ongoing assessment, details which have to be perfect verses details that are not as important, be fully aware of what your looking for the students to achieve throughout assessment. Conformation of relevant policies, requirements and qualifications for your particular subject. You will need the knowledge of the topic you are assessing, you will also need knowledge of assessment procedures. This is so assessments are fair and there is consistency across all students which hold said qualification.

I believe it’s important to be aware of each student’s unique learning style and what they are capable of