UNICEF
ToT Modules on Inclusive Education
Module 1: Inclusive Education – Vision,
Theory and Concepts
Draft Version March 2015
Not for circulation, Version for Workshop in Zurich
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Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................ 3
Broad statement of the purpose ......................................................................................................................... 3
Overview ............................................................................................................................................................. 3
Participants ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Enabling Environment ......................................................................................................................................... 4
How to approach the module ............................................................................................................................. 4
Unit 1.1: Introduction to Inclusive Education ......................................................................................................... 5
Overview Unit 1.1 ............................................................................................................................................... 5
Activity 1.1.1: River of Life – Bringing participants’ thoughts to the training ..................................................... 5
Activity 1.1.2: Person and System approach to implementing human rights ..................................................... 7
Activity 1.1.3: Circles of inclusion to reflect situation of the child ...................................................................... 8
Activity 1.1.4: Inclusion and Exclusion in institutions to reflect situation of schools........................................ 10
Activity 1.1.5: Reflection on Influence of teacher (leading to Unit 2) ............................................................... 11
Unit 1.2: Personal Professional Development ...................................................................................................... 13
Overview Unit 1.2 ............................................................................................................................................. 13
Activity 1.2.1: Looking behind teacher action ................................................................................................... 13
Activity 1.2.2: Experiencing and reflecting on bias ........................................................................................... 15
Activity 1.2.3: Professional life-cycle approach Trajectory ............................................................................... 17
Unit 1.3: Valuing Student Diversity ....................................................................................................................... 20
Overview Unit 1.3 ............................................................................................................................................. 20
Activity 1.3.1: Understanding social identities ................................................................................................. 20
Activity 1.3.2: Reflect on the cycle of oppression ............................................................................................. 21
Activity 1.3.3.: Reflecting on consequences of a human rights based approach .............................................. 23
Unit 1.4: Supporting all Learners .......................................................................................................................... 25
Overview Unit 1.4 ............................................................................................................................................. 25
Activity 1.4.1: Thinking in Activities rather than Tasks ..................................................................................... 25
Activity 1.4.2: Developing a deeper understanding of participation ................................................................ 27
Activity 1.4.3: Develop a deeper understanding of learning environments ..................................................... 29
Activity 1.4.4: Reflection of Support for all Learners in participant’s schools .................................................. 31
Unit 1.5: Working with others ............................................................................................................................... 32
Overview Unit 1.5 ............................................................................................................................................. 32
Activity 1.5.1: Working with Families and the Community ............................................................................... 32
Activity 1.5.2: Working together in schools ...................................................................................................... 33
Activity 1.5.3: Creating a shared vision of “Inclusive Education in your School” .............................................. 34
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Introduction
Broad statement of the purpose
Module 1 seeks to lay the foundation and provide an overview of concepts relevant to inclusive education. It
takes an activity-based approach based on the premise that participants have to be actively involved in order to
learn. It not only teaches the principles of inclusive education, it also follows and enacts these principles.
Participants should not only gain knowledge, but also be introduced to concepts and models that they can
themselves use in their everyday practice.
The module seeks to provide opportunities to reflect on one’s own practice, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes.
These are the building blocks of teacher competencies. Competencies relevant to inclusive education will be
introduced and used as the underlying structure of the module.
Overview
Module 1 provides an overview of inclusive education with a focus on teachers and other professionals who work
in formal educational settings (e.g. schools, kindergarten). It looks at the impact of persons and systems on
processes of inclusion and exclusion within the framework of a rights-based approach.
Inclusive education is understood as a process to ensure participation and learning of all students. The concept
is introduced using a rights-based approach. Realisation of rights is about respecting individual rights of persons
and about progressive implementation of a rights-based approach in institutions or organisations. Teachers have
to be able to ensure rights with both approaches by respecting the rights of every child and by making their
school and classroom more inclusive. The principle is introduced in this module and expanded in module 2 and
module 3. To learn more about UNICEF conceptual framework of inclusive education, please see the publication
The Right of Children with Disabilities to Education: A Rights-Based Approach to Inclusive Education.
To be able to work with both, the person and system approach, it is important to understand systems, both in
society in general and in institutions in particular. Participants have to develop basic skills in system thinking to
become agents for inclusive education in their environment. Therefore, models are introduced to understand
social inclusion of the child (family, community, society) and inclusive institutions (classroom, school, education
system).
If teachers are to become agents for inclusive education, they have to be willing to develop not only their
knowledge, but also skills and attitudes. Module 1 highlights the importance of teachers, their knowledge, skills
and attitudes. Using the profile of an inclusive teacher developed by the European Agency for Special Needs and
Inclusive Education, it seeks to illustrate and highlight the competencies involved. The four areas (personal
professional development, valuing student diversity, supporting all learners and working with others) are
introduced.
Module 1 also introduces some of the over-arching organising principles and models that will serve them as tools
in their own practice:
System’s approach from Uri Bronfenbrenner with a focus on micro, meso and macro systems.
Matrix representing the levels (classroom, school, policies) and process of education (input, process,
outcome)
Profile of Inclusive Teacher
Actions cycle or problem-solving cycle
Activity model
Concept of Participation
http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/UNICEF_Right_Children_Disabilities_En_Web.pdf
https://www.european-agency.org/agency-projects/Teacher-Education-for-Inclusion/profile
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Participants
The training is only successful if it manages to touch the knowledge, experiences and beliefs that the participants
bring to the training. The module should enable the participants to become agents for inclusive education in their
own work. This requires opportun
