​Literacy is an essential skill that children need to succeed in their everyday lives.  As a parent or carer, and your child’s first teacher, you have the opportunity to make a significant contribution to supporting your child’s learning — from the time they are an infant through to adulthood.
 
 
 
When your child starts school, it is critical for you to continue to play an active role in helping to develop your child’s literacy so they can achieve the best possible outcomes.
 
 
 
Your vital role as a parent or carer
 
You might not realise it, but you are already contributing to your child’s understanding of literacy from an early age.  For example, having books in the home and reading these with your child; taking your child on trips to the grocery store; reading the signs and labels on products; and having your child help you prepare meals by reading out the recipe and instructions can familiarise them with reading and writing.
 
 
 
Ensuring that your child feels confident talking to you and their teacher about school work will enhance their opportunity to thrive in the 21st century.
 
 
 
What literacy skills will your child learn at school?
 
In the first years of school, children learn through hands-on activities. Your child’s teacher will identify what they already know and can do, and will extend their knowledge and skills through new and challenging situations.
 
 
 
An important aim of the Preparatory Year is to build on your child’s previous experiences with new and different learning opportunities at school. Teachers help children to connect their home language with spoken and written English used in the classroom and other environments.
 
 
 
Children will learn how to speak in different situations, for example, in play, telling a story, or telling what happened on a picnic or on visits to friends or a library.  They will learn to understand that printed words have meaning and together words can describe ideas and events and tell a story.
 
 
 
In Prep classrooms, children see a lot of written language and pictures to help them learn about labels, sentences, directions and routines. Materials for writing, painting and drawing are available to encourage children to use their literacy skills.
 
 
 
In Years 1 to 3, children use language in increasingly complex and unfamiliar situations. They learn to use the language necessary for different purposes such as reading and writing stories, lists, recipes and reports, and understanding charts and diagrams.
 
 
 
Children will speak and write about real-life and imagined events and experiences and learn ways to improve their written work through drafting and editing.  If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s progress please contact your child’s teacher.
 
 
 
Activities to do with your child
 
Here are some simple yet effective activities you can do with your child to help them apply the literacy skills they learn at school:
 
• keep blank paper and pencils handy at home for writing activities
 
• read with and to your child every day
 
• have your child collect and sort the mail — who are the letters for and who are  they from?
 
• create a collage using junk mail, old magazines or your child’s drawings with a particular focus — this could include pictures of things beginning with an ‘s’ sound or all pictures showing a particular colour
 
• make a scrapbook — this could be about a holiday or special event, and have your child write captions for the photos and pictures
 
• make your kitchen a ‘cooking’ zone and a ‘reading’ zone — use fridge magnets to make new words and short sentences, or have your child write the weekly shopping list and read names on packages
 
• play word games and do crosswords to help develop spelling and vocabulary
 
• keep a dictionary in an easily accessible place — show your child how it can be used for a variety of purposes and accessed while word processing on a computer
 
• make the writing of letters, notes, cards or emails a daily family activity — you can write notes to your child and encourage them to write notes back to you.
 

​Is this a belief you hold about your child?  Common responses from parents I meet include:
 
“Why can’t he do his homework by himself?”

or
 
“We were in tears finishing his homework last night because he just can’t get it!”
 
or
 
“A lot of the other mothers I speak to say that their child does their homework by themselves, so there must be something wrong with my child.”
 
The truth is, I rarely meet a child who does not get some form of assistance from their parents. In fact, many of the “A” students I have taught at school and at ALA have parents who take a very active role in helping their child/children with daily homework. Surprising? Not really.
 
Here’s why:
 
The pace at which teachers are required to deliver the curriculum to their students is alarmingly fast. They don’t have the luxury of spending weeks on any one skill as the content they must cover is vast. The result is something of a skimming, summary over a given topic before it is hastily changed and sometimes not revisited for months at a time.  Combine this with the daily interruptions of guitar lessons, assemblies, speeches, the school musical and the swimming carnival (just to name a few) and it is nearly impossible to get anything done!
 
So, what does this mean for your child? It means that doing their homework is VERY important and it means that your child will most likely need your instruction on the matter as well as the opportunity to make mistakes and to practise in front of you in order to accomplish the skill successfully.
 
It is possible that the brief instruction they were given at school was not enough to understand the subject at all; and you may have to explain it from the start. You may need extra lessons at home to get on top of it or you may need to get outside help.
 
There may be other factors which contribute to the unattainment of a skill too, such as the way the information is offered by the teacher (it may be confusing) or the classroom dynamics (too hard to hear instruction because of elevated classroom noise).
 
The point is, I want you all to know, just because you spend an hour with your child of an evening to help them with their homework does not mean anything is wrong. In fact, I strongly recommend it.
 
It does not mean that your child has a learning difficulty.  It is simply necessary in our current educational climate to make sure that your child is on the right track.
 
On the plus side (for all of you over-worked, tired parents, myself included), there are many benefits for learning with your child too, such as sharing the moment when things ‘click’ and when mastery is achieved.
 
It is wonderful to see a child accomplish something they thought was first difficult and for you, their one-and-only, to watch their confidence flourish.
 

 
 

The attainment of inclusion in any setting is largely reliant on how the stakeholders manage the changes required.  Looking at Ambrose’s (1987) managing complex change model, this essay will analyse what considerations would need to be made to include a child with disability, and how the relevant stakeholders could each contribute towards an outcome of motivated change in a year two classroom, in a public primary school setting.

 

According to Ambrose’s (1987) Managing Complex Change, as cited by Highsmith (2013) five essential requirements need to be met in order for motivated change to take place, successfully.  Initiating, supporting and carrying out a desired change requires leaders who are able to judge the complexity that the proposed changes may actually possess as the change relates to the status quo (Ambrose, 1987).  

 

Inclusive education should therefore be seen as an approach to improve schools’ environments, that inclusive education makes quality education available to everyone and is not just a numbers game, putting children with disabilities in classrooms and not meeting their needs (Skritic, Sailor & Gee, 1996).  This is supported by Department of Education, (2012); Dyson, Howes & Roberts, (2003); Skrtic et al. (1996) Christensen, (1996) and Shaffner & Buswell, (1996), who provide that having children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms goes way beyond just the physical placement.  That inclusive education needs to have nothing less than the changing of regular education by encouraging positive beliefs, systems and practices in the schools and classrooms (Department of Education, 2012; Dyson, Howes & Roberts, 2003; Skritic et al., 1996; Christensen, 1996 & Shaffner & Buswell, 1996).  Howes & Roberts, (2003) and Shaffner & Buswell, (1996), provide that when instigating inclusive education, there are three levels that need attention, they are: the local community, the education system, the schools and the classrooms. 

 

At the local community and education system level, three areas of influence were identified as being pivotal to embracing diversity they were: (a) the policy perspective of the community, (b) collaboration amongst non-government and government agencies, and (c) the partnerships amongst all stakeholders - educators, parents, peers, all school staff, and community agencies (Dyson, et al. 2003; Department of Education, 2012 & King-Sears, 1997). 

 

Oliver (1996) provides that changes must be made at every level of society.  The changes needed are; positively valuing inclusion, support and promotion for all children to be part of one education system coming from the education system, having welcoming environments in schools, educators being dedicated to the positive education of all children and the curriculum modified to include differentiation (Oliver, 1996).

 

At schools, the most significant question is, what proof is available to show that schools can perform in ways that empower all student body participate? (Oliver, 1996).  Dyson, et al. (2003) only found six studies that related to this question and gave reliable and trustworthy evidence.  From these studies they found that, the degree to which schools enable or in some instances prevent inclusion, had two important, prominent themes a) the morals and beliefs held by the schools b) policymaking and leadership.  The latter was also highlighted by Stanovich & Jordan (1998), Schaffner & Buswell (1996) and Ainscow (1995).  Stanovich & Jordan (1998) looked at the education system in Canada, they discovered that the strongest forecaster of successful inclusive was the adoption by principals’ that inclusive education was the norm, that their attitudes towards heterogeneous classrooms allowed for success across the whole school setting.  Aniscow, (1995); Shaffner & Buswell, (1996) & Skritic et al., (1996) all looked at the development of strong school support networks as a high priority for successful inclusion in education, as well as building positive collaborative relationships between professionals, paraprofessionals and parents.  Dettmer, Thurston & Dyck, (2003) provide an overview of the characteristics of an inclusive school, they provide that six aspects are essential if inclusion is to succeed, they are:

• Positive Leadership, 
• Collaboration,
• Changed assessment,
• Supports and
• Building Collaborative Relationships with Families.  

In classrooms, the success or failure of inclusion depends highly on what happens in this environment.  Inclusive education is not about separate programmes for different students, rather, it entails using differentiation and multisensory teaching approaches for all students (McDonnell, 1998; UNESCO, 1994).  To make these changes educators should start by prioritizing objectives and establishing the most important ones to address first (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2010).  Adapt environments, programming, planning and strategies to meet the needs of individual learners (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2010).  Use effective teaching approaches, that are designed to accomodate the needs of all learners that are clear, appropriately paced, delivered with enthusiasm and flexible to maximise engagement (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2010).  

 

Inclusive education also necessitates building collaboration between all stakeholders such as regular class teachers, specialist teachers, teaching assistants, therapists, and parents.  Williams, Williams & Ullman (2002) and Davis & Hopwood (2002) provide that the main components of successful consultation models include (a) the general educator having the main accountability for students’ overall programmes, (b) equal status of professionalism of general educators and special educators, (c) collaboration with families in planning and programming, (d) teachers’ aides working with teachers to provide additional support and (e) additional support being given in the classroom, where appropriate, rather than through withdrawal .

Waldron & McLesky (1998); Salend & Duhaney (1999) and Hobbs & Westling (1998) all support the need for effective inclusion and state that schools who successfully apply inclusion highlight the importance of learning for all students.  This involves teachers and all other stakeholder working in collaboration to foster an environment where all students can succeed.  They go on to state that the best measure for judging successful inclusion the progress students with disabilities make.  Salend & Duhaney (1999) highlight that students without disabilities did not indicate that their learning was hindered in any way and that the educators saw many social benefits for all students.  Hobbs & Westling (1998) also support this finding, they found that children with disabilities coped better than students in special classes, and the inclusion did not have any disadvantageous effect on other students.  

 

Every school who adopts inclusive education looks different, but the characteristics of belonging to their community, high expectations, teamwork and collaboration, flexible roles, varied support services, collaborative relationships with parents, learning environments that are flexible, research based strategies, accountability for learning, and continued professional development are all the common threads that bind these schools.   What has been shown is that the attainment of inclusion in any setting is largely reliant on how all the stakeholders manage the changes required, how they each contribute towards an outcome of motivated change.

 

Bibliography

Ainscow, M.  (1995).  Education for all: making it all happen.  Support for Learning 10 (4) 147-155.

Ambrose, D. (1987).  In Highsmith, J. (2013).  Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems ebook -  http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CVcUAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=ambrose+1987+managing+complex+change

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Christensen, C. (1996). Disabled, handicapped or disordered: What’s in a name?  In C. Christensen and F. Rizvi (eds.), Disability and the dilemmas of education and justice (pp.63-78). Buckingham: Open University Press.

Davis, P. & Hopwood, V. (2002). Including children with a visual impairment in the mainstream primary school classroom. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 2(3), 139-147.

Dettmer, P., Thurston, L., & Dyck, N. (2005).  Foundations and Frameworks for Collaborative School Consultation (pp. 30-45).  Consultation, Collaboration and Teamwork for Students with Special Needs.  New York: Pearson.

Department for Education and Skills (2007). Every parent matters. Nottingham: Author.

Dyson, D.A., Howes, A. & Roberts, B. (2003). What do we really know about inclusive schools? A systematic review of the research evidence. Paper presented at the AERA Meeting, Chicago.

Evans, P. (2004). Educating students with special needs: a comparison of inclusion practices in OECD countries.  Education Canada, 44(1).

Hobbs, T., & Westling, D.L. (1998). Inclusion promoting successful inclusion. Teaching Exceptional Children, 31, 12-19.

King-Sears, M. E., & Mooney, J. F. (2004). Teaching content in an academically diverse classroom. In B. K. Lenz, D. D. Deshler, & B. R. Kissam (Eds.), Teaching content to all: Evidence-based inclusive practices in middle and secondary schools (pp. 221-257). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Lipsky, D.K. & Gartner, A. (1999).  Inclusive education: a requirement of a democratic society. In H. Daniels & P. Garner (eds.) World yearbook of education 1999: Inclusive education (pp.12-23). London: Kogan Page.

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E.  (2010).  Career and technical education and transitions.  In The inclusive classroom:  Strategies for effective instruction (4th ed., pp. 391-414).  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. 

McDonnell, J. (1998). Instruction for students with severe disabilities in general education settings. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 33(3), 199-215.

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Shaffner, C.B. & Buswell, B.E. (1996).  Ten critical elements for creating inclusive and effective school communities.  In S. Stainback and W. Stainback (eds), Inclusion: A guide for educators (pp.49-65). Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks.

Skrtic, T.M., Sailor, W. & Gee, K. (1996). Voice, collaboration, and inclusion: democratic themes in educational and social reform initiatives. Remedial and Special Education, 17(3), 142-157.

Stanovich, P.J. & Jordan, A. (1998). Canadian teachers’ and principals’ beliefs about inclusive education as predictors of effective teaching in heterogeneous classrooms. Elementary School Journal, 98(3), 221-238.

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Waldron, N., & McLeskey, J. (1998). The impact of a full-time Inclusive School Program (ISP) on the academic achievement of students with mild and severe learning disabilities. Exceptional Children, 64, 395–405.

Williams, B., Williams, J., & Ullman, A. (2002).  Parental Involvement in Education.  London: Department of Education and Skills.

 

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