Inclusive education Essay Example for Free

Inclusive education Essay The concept of inclusion has been adopted as a response to the mandate of Public Law 94-142 or the Education of the Handicapped Act of 1975 which aims to place disabled and mentally-challenged students in non-restricted environments where they have access to equal opportunities in education. Inclusive education is an academic program where children of varying abilities are placed in one class or group and allowed to interact together to facilitate learning. It aims to provide all types of students with equality and exposure to the same learning stimulus that is bound to create various learning experiences to different types of children. And although many educators recognize that this is a breakthrough scheme for integration and intellectual freedom (Porter, 2001), in some cultures, this is the traditional way of teaching preschool children since special classes for attending to disabled children have not yet been developed at that time (Duncan, 2001). The scheme may involve only partial inclusion where special or disabled students can be pulled out anytime from class as the need for it arises. Oftentimes, for this category, another teacher who caters to the specific needs of the disabled students is also present. Full inclusion, on the other hand, is usually applied for disabled or special cases of students with high levels of learning capacities. Similarly, George and Alexander (2003) noted that in cases where tracking or ability grouping could not be totally excluded, partial de-tracking is also a good alternative. Inclusive education is a form of recognition (Friendly and Lero, 2002) and value that goes beyond human rights and equality and is a contributing step to eliminating social exclusion in the community. It promotes active and meaningful participation to all members of a group or class and offer different prospects for the students who experience the different class activities in their own light. They are able to socially interact, treated equally despite cognitive, physical or financial levels and, most importantly, achieve happiness and security. These are the essential elements and goals of inclusive education (Sen, 1999). As the Laidlaw Foundation puts its, it requires an active change in current policies and programs and build community-based foundations that will benefit and develop equal opportunities for both children and families (Friendly and Lero, 2002). On the other hand, early descriptions of inclusive education provide less drastic measures for improvement. Kamps et al.(1994) note that the strategies employed in inclusive learning are cheap measures designed to center on techniques that are less invasive but improves both the academic and social learning of the children (Kamps et al. , 1994). They also add that despite an inclusive program, change will not be truly instituted if the techniques cannot be adapted to current educational classroom systems that are at in place (Kamps Carta, 1989). The members of the Inclusion InterAmericana (2000) also agree that Inclusive education is a cheaper alternative to provide disabled students access to education as evidence by their limited resources and provision. Cooperative learning is one aspect of inclusive education, where students are classified into smaller learning groups created for the purpose of maximizing learning and development (Johnson et al. , 1990). This type of grouping, also referred to as a heterogeneous classification has aimed to ensure that each student receives the same high class standards of instruction and education. The access of all types of students to these educational practices will allow them to benefit in the same way that others students do (Daniel, 2007). This type of scheme not only follows a mandate to provide children with the equal opportunities in education but also aims to improve the skills of the students relative to the learning levels each child possesses (Yonezawa and Jones, 2006). The children in an inclusive class who, in an ideal situation, are helping each other learn also do not need to be in the same age levels as other students as in the case of a learning strategy in an inclusive set up called cross age tutoring (Barbetta et al., 1991). In contrast to inclusive education, a scheme called homogeneous grouping, or ability grouping or tracking, is a case where students are grouped according to similar cognitive levels. The grouping is done by determining abilities of students through studies on their previous test and activity scores and those with similar abilities are group accordingly (Daniel, 2007). Gamoran and Weinstein (1998), George (1988) and Slavin (1993) all note a lack of evidence that ability grouping is effective. In addition, Vang (2005) discusses the disadvantages of this scheme to students with poor learning abilities, those from the minority and even financially challenged children. As Friendly and Lero (2002) note, exclusion in any form results in not only vulnerability and inability to voice out to the proper forum but also reduces quality and limited capabilities of life experiences. They also stress that a changed path from exclusion will enable social cohesion and improve life prospects. This also applies not only to communities but also to students in classrooms as well.

Carmen and Gypsy Culture :: essays research papers

The fascination with exoticism was more and more prevalent within romantic compositions as there was an increased yearning for far off lands within the composer’s imagination. ‘Composers of such works were not terribly interested in authenticity; their primary concern was to create a picturesque atmosphere that would appeal to audiences.’(Machlis p.190) Bizet romanticized gypsy culture in his opera and through the character, ‘Carmen’. The libretto gives off ideas in relation to the emerging theme of ‘naturalism’, where much focus was given to the working class and their suffering. Carmen and the other gypsies don’t have that middle class virtue. ‘But they are seen against the exotic allure of Spain and Bizet’s music invests them with a human dignity.’ (Machlis192) In much of the art, music and literature of the 19th century the female gypsy, in particular was characterized and stereotyped as free-spirited, stron g, deviant, demanding, sexually arousing, alluring and dismissive. This romantic construct of the Gypsy woman may be viewed as completely opposite to the proper, controlled and chaste, submissive woman held as the Victorian, European ideal. These descriptions are likened to the characters of Carmen in contrast to Micaela. ‘Carmen’ is all about women, especially women with exotic qualities who challenge the traditional morale. The women in ‘Carmen’ are seen not as passive but as active players in the social game. Carmen forever sings about freedom and love with no limits. ‘The freedom to travel, the freedom to exist – Carmen fights for the right to live.’(Feminist endings) The oriental fascination with the forbidden and taboo world of the gypsy other in music is characterized by the spontaneous dance-like rhythms, melodies and orchestration. Carmen’s most famous aria, ‘Habanera’ in which she tells of her conception of love, is a borrowed Cuban dance form, from Havana exhibiting Spanish flounces and likened to the ‘Tango’ dance style. The duple metre slow dance, lined with graceful dotted rhythms involves a lot of body movement and expression, characteristic of the gypsy. ‘Seguidilla’ also demonstrates the importance of dance to the gypsy culture, set in a typical  ¾ rhythm and sung to a poetic verse form. The combination of guitar-like accompaniment, pizzicato on the strings laced with ornaments and triplets, gives the piece character and cheek, as Carmen taunts Don Jose to fall for her charms. The accelerating gypsy dance opening Act 2 uses dissonances and sliding harmonies, creating that colour and richness typical of the exotic influence. Carmen and Gypsy Culture :: essays research papers The fascination with exoticism was more and more prevalent within romantic compositions as there was an increased yearning for far off lands within the composer’s imagination. ‘Composers of such works were not terribly interested in authenticity; their primary concern was to create a picturesque atmosphere that would appeal to audiences.’(Machlis p.190) Bizet romanticized gypsy culture in his opera and through the character, ‘Carmen’. The libretto gives off ideas in relation to the emerging theme of ‘naturalism’, where much focus was given to the working class and their suffering. Carmen and the other gypsies don’t have that middle class virtue. ‘But they are seen against the exotic allure of Spain and Bizet’s music invests them with a human dignity.’ (Machlis192) In much of the art, music and literature of the 19th century the female gypsy, in particular was characterized and stereotyped as free-spirited, stron g, deviant, demanding, sexually arousing, alluring and dismissive. This romantic construct of the Gypsy woman may be viewed as completely opposite to the proper, controlled and chaste, submissive woman held as the Victorian, European ideal. These descriptions are likened to the characters of Carmen in contrast to Micaela. ‘Carmen’ is all about women, especially women with exotic qualities who challenge the traditional morale. The women in ‘Carmen’ are seen not as passive but as active players in the social game. Carmen forever sings about freedom and love with no limits. ‘The freedom to travel, the freedom to exist – Carmen fights for the right to live.’(Feminist endings) The oriental fascination with the forbidden and taboo world of the gypsy other in music is characterized by the spontaneous dance-like rhythms, melodies and orchestration. Carmen’s most famous aria, ‘Habanera’ in which she tells of her conception of love, is a borrowed Cuban dance form, from Havana exhibiting Spanish flounces and likened to the ‘Tango’ dance style. The duple metre slow dance, lined with graceful dotted rhythms involves a lot of body movement and expression, characteristic of the gypsy. ‘Seguidilla’ also demonstrates the importance of dance to the gypsy culture, set in a typical  ¾ rhythm and sung to a poetic verse form. The combination of guitar-like accompaniment, pizzicato on the strings laced with ornaments and triplets, gives the piece character and cheek, as Carmen taunts Don Jose to fall for her charms. The accelerating gypsy dance opening Act 2 uses dissonances and sliding harmonies, creating that colour and richness typical of the exotic influence.

Charles Dickens’ Satire of Victorian Culture in Oliver Twist

In the novel Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens ridicules Victorian society; he focuses on the Poor Law system, orphans, workhouses, and the characterization of Oliver and Nancy, using sarcasm, and the comparison between the real world and the world of Oliver. When Dickens was just a child, a lot of traumatic things happened to him. At twelve, his father went to prison. He then had to work in a shoe blacking factory. He knew poverty and that’s why he was aware of social problems and had deep feeling of social commitment. Dickens was one of the most important social writers of history.He criticized moral, social, and economic problems in the Victorian era through his fiction works (â€Å"Charles† 1. ) The emotional and symbolizing power that Oliver Twist has is he value in Dickens life (Linsay 172. ) While writing the book, Victorian themes like poverty, injustice, mean characters, and punishment were all live issues in the world. Dickens didn’t like the 1834 New Poor Act, which criminalized the poor. He didn’t like the harsh utilitarian ethics of it. The Poor Law Board thought that people that could do work didn’t get anything better than the poorest worker.Due to the emergence of trade unions, the Poor Law system fell into decline. There were liberal welfare reforms during the twentieth century; it wasn’t until 1948 when it was officially abolished. Illustrated in Olive Twist, Dickens showed the reading society the harsh symbol of realities in the Victorian era. In the novel, there are a lot of orphans. Dickens depicts them as poor, underfed, oppressed, and severely punished (â€Å"Charles† 1. ) The fear of destitution and poverty was always present in the minds of adults, and children alike in Victorian society.There were many orphans, and one in fourteen of many towns population of children were classified as paupers in 1863. Most of the needy population relied on the parish system through the Poor Law. A Board of Directors was elected, and in many occurrences, Dickens doesn’t put them across as the â€Å"best fit†, even though the goal in the Acts was to help these paupers. Dickens uses sarcasm to write about the Board. It was once a Poor Law system that encouraged work ethic (â€Å"Poverty† 1. ) He describes them in the novel as â€Å"very sage, deep philosophical men† (Dickens 11.)Dickens talks how two orphans, Oliver and Rose, are tried with adversity which teaches them the virtues for others and love. It’s the life of pain and alienation that help them become pure characters, contrasting the fact of the stealing, wild paupers of the Victorian era (Baldridge. ) In the novel, Charles based the character of Oliver on eighteenth century characteristics. Charles’s daydreams of childhood were at bay, and it gave him an emotionally true picture of the exploited children of his own time (Linsay 179. ) In the workhouses that orphans were sent to, there wa s strict discipline.They were given just barely enough food to survive, and were punished harshly if they didn’t follow strict rules. In the novel, Dickens explains what happens to Oliver when he asks for more food. ‘Please, sir, I want some more. ’ The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralyzed with wonder; the boys with fear. Dickens shows the reader through Oliver’s hunger how bad it was for him.Everyone around the food master thought surely Oliver was to be hung for asking such an explicit question. Instead, Oliver is sent to immediate confinement, awaiting a new master. Laborers had tasks like stone breaking, oakum-picking, sack-making, and corn-grinding. Work conditions were tough, even though they were required to be moderately clean. Patricia Pulham and Brad Beaven explain in their article enti tled â€Å"Poverty and the Poor† how in his journal, Workhouse Words, Dickens investigates the conditions of the workhouse conditions.When he went to the workhouse debate in the 1850s, he witnessed poverty, misery, starvation, and all around death these defined the lack of the workhouse system. Dickens achieves the simplicity of the characters because the way he presents them and describes them doesn’t contain any indistinctness. To some, Oliver might seem sentimental, and Nancy a prostitute with unsure feelings, but these depictions are conventional, and are the marks and representations of a tragedy. Oliver is looked at as an â€Å"item of mortality† who will be a new responsibility for the parish and is only worth selling to the general public when he misbehaves for 5 pounds.Society views Oliver, with its money ethic, as a liability, for he really doesn’t portray a soul or spirit in the Board’s eyes. Oliver’s characteristic development mi ght seem pompous, because he doesn’t really act or talks like the other children. Dickens removes him from the natural speech of all other characters, and gives him the emblem of susceptible innocence and exposure. Oliver is managed by anyone who comes in contact with him. He’s like a puppet, influenced beyond his view. Actually, through most of the novel, Oliver often doesn’t know where he is or who he is.Social order is shown through the rough unimportance of Oliver’s concealed humanity (Duffy 5. ) Oliver never learns how to juxtapose the alabaster and pitch social vocabularies in his story in any way that he might earn about the realities of Victorian culture (Baldridge. ) Dickens depicts Nancy as forced into prostitution by poverty, her peers, and her corrupt environment. Dickens knew of the victimization of Victorian women and wanted to show that Nancy’s sweet character was corrupted by this and that she didn’t deserve her fate (Charles 1.)Even at the cost of her life, Nancy feels change in her heart. She is loyal to her friends, and she goes to save Oliver and Rose. Dickens isn’t emotionalizing iniquity and crime. The truth of life is being represented (Al- Mahdi 3-4. ) Charles Dickens successfully takes the harsh realities of the Victorian era and employs them into the novel Oliver Twist. Through his satire and characterization, he creates a negative image of the cruel things that happened to people in workhouses, orphans, and children. Charles Dickens will always be remembered as one of the best social commentators in history.

Professional Development And Social Work - 3413 Words

P.KARNAN DR.M.GOVINDARAJU Research Scholar (Education) PRINCIPAL Bharathiyar University MUTHUKUMARAN COLLEGE OF EDUCATION johnjalu@gmail.com Professional Development and Reforming Social Work in Best Practice Abstract Social workers play an essential in the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our society. For individuals and families who come into contact with them, the services and guidance they provide can be essential, providing guidance, support, and access to vital services. The goal of this report is to highlight ways in which the social work profession can be reformed in the face of significant challenges to effect improvement in the lives of the most vulnerable. As part of this programme of work, we launched a call for evidence asking social work students, current social workers, and past social workers for their thoughts on the challenges facing the profession. Alongside this we spoke in depth with over 20 social workers and managers about their day-to-day experiences and how they thought training, practice and other elements of the profession should change. We also consulted professional organisations, charities, and practitioners involved in the social work profession. In ad dition we sent out 173 Freedom of Information requests to Local Authorities asking for details of their staffing arrangements, vacancy rates, turnover rates, and pay scales.Show MoreRelatedCommunity Learning Center Practicum : My Internship At Neighborhood House1216 Words   |  5 Pagesinternship at Neighborhood House provided me the opportunity to gain experience and expanded my knowledge working with the diverse population. Neighborhood House has prepared me to work with all population such as race, gender, age, and all culture. I had the opportunity to be in three different programs during my journey as social work student in Neighborhood House. 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