Adapt, Include, Don’t Oppress
In my opinion, The Faculty of Education (specifically the Business Education Department) at the University of Regina does a wonderful job of preparing its students for the very complex job of being an educator. Within the Business Education Department (many thanks to Dr. C. Kesten, Helen, and Tracy) students become very familiar with areas of the Saskatchewan Curriculum that are both general to education and specific to Business Education.
One aspect of education that is emphasized, discussed, reflected on, and the topic of many written reports is the concept of The Adaptive Dimension (a core component of Saskatchewan Curriculum) /inclusive education/anti-oppressive education. It is expected that The Adaptive Dimension/inclusive/anti-oppressive education will be given its proper consideration within each lesson plan, instructional strategy and classroom. From what I understand (and I would enjoy some more conversation on this) is that The Adaptive Dimension focuses on instructional strategies, altering curriculum, and adjusting teaching styles. Inclusive and anti-oppressive education also support these goals but go further and propose changes to the culture of schools. While the terms vary in their meaning, I found that they are often overlapping and at times the terms were interchanged by professors and seminar instructors.
Saskatchewan Curriculum delienates the conceptual framework for The Adaptive Dimension as:
The Adaptive Dimension has been defined as the concept of making adjustments in approved educational programs to accommodate diversity in student learning. Rather than being viewed as an “add-on”, the Adaptive Dimension must be viewed as an essential ingredient that permeates curriculum and instruction in all regular, modified, and alternative education programs in Saskatchewan schools.
The Adaptive Dimension is not necessarily synonymous with individualized instruction but is synonymous with meeting individual student needs and maximizing student learning. In some instances a student’s needs may best be met through individualized instruction where the teacher works one-to-one with the student; however, in other situations, some form of group instruction may be more appropriate for the student.
The Adaptive Dimension addresses the needs of a wide variety of students. Because each teacher, each learner, and the dynamics of each classroom are unique, the adaptations required may vary from student to student. For example, adaptations may be in the form of a modification of content to compensate for an informational deficit or may be in the form of an individual or small group enrichment activity to nurture demonstrated knowledge and interest in a particular topic.
A particular student may be able to achieve some curricular objectives through general instructional approaches, while requiring adaptation to curriculum content, instructional practices, and/or the learning environment to reach other objectives. Another student may require some form of adaptation in order to achieve curricular objectives in all content areas. Furthermore, the length of time that an individual student may require curricular, instructional, and/or environmental adaptations to learn efficiently may vary from a few lessons to being an integral part of an entire educational program.
The use of the Adaptive Dimension in Core Curriculum is guided by a set of general principles. (Click here to see the principles) Retrieved from the World Wide Web:Saskatchewan Education.The Adaptive Dimension: In Core CurriculumRegina, SK:Saskatchewan Education.
As I mentioned, I feel that the Faculty of Education does a more than sufficent job of teaching future educators about these educational concepts. What the faculty can not do is tell teachers how to use these concepts in their classrooms. The differences among learners, classrooms, schools, school boards and administrators will all help teachers determine how best to do this.
One failing that I think the Faculty of Education has in terms of these concepts is that they do little to help teachers recognize that these concepts must be given consideration not only in regards to learners, instructional strategies and curriculum, but also in regards to resources such as guest speakers, movies and most importantly textbooks. Being a Social Studies minor, I did gain some exposure to the failing of some resources to properly reflect society or the history of certain groups such as women and other minorities. For teachers to be able to truely achieve success with The Adaptive Dimension/inclusive education/ anti-oppressive education they need to be aware of how chosen resources can actually work against these policies. I was recently reading through the Psychology 30 curriculum guide. Similar to other Social Studies curriculums there is a section that discusses Aboriginal, multicultural and persons with disabilities perspectives. One comment gave me pause and reminded me just how much thought and consideration must go into every minute of teaching.
Often, in fiction, a character with a disability is used as a vehicle for the growth of another character who is “normal”. The “normal” character gains sensitivity or awareness as a result of his or her relationship with the character with a disability. The character with a disability does not grow or change. This treatment is troubling because the character with a disability is relegated to a passive role; the character is not treated as an unique, whole individual (Saskatchewan Education).
NOTE: Below are two papers that focus on Inclusive Education and Anti-Oppressive Education. Both were written within the past two years, however some of my views may have changed since the time they were written.
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