Welcome to this month's edition of Researching education: Five further readings. In this series, we take a look at some further readings available on a particular topic, including open access research papers from various online databases, and Teacher archive content you might not have come across yet.
As a teacher, what adjustments can you make to your own practice to better meet the learning and wellbeing needs of students living with a disability? As a school leader, how are you ensuring students with a disability are able to fully participate in school life? In this edition, we are looking at five resources which have been released recently on the topic of disability and inclusive education.
- Not even remotely fair: Experiences of students with disability during COVID-19. In this report from Children and Young People with Disability Australia, the authors discuss the findings of a recent survey into how students with disability were affected by the educational changes implemented due to COVID-19. ‘We found that social support had the strongest association with students feeling supported, part of a learning community, engaged in learning, and feeling less socially isolated,' the report reads.
This paper is featured in the Cunningham Library Catalogue, an open access resource filled with references and links to Australian education research material including journals, government reports and books. You can access the resources on disability and inclusive education in this catalogue here. The link will be updated as new resources are added.
- New Approaches to Literacy Problems: Multiliteracies and Inclusive Pedagogies. Murdoch University have conducted a study on ways to facilitate meaningful literacy learning for students experiencing challenges in print-based learning activities in the classroom, and in this paper they present their findings on how literary experiences at home and in the classroom differed for these students.
You can find this paper through EdResearch Online which contains hundreds of articles from Australian education journals, some of which are open access. At , you can browse the relevant resources related to disability and inclusive education. This customised link will also be updated as new resources are added.
- Supporting Students with Autism: Strategies that Really Work in the Classroom. Here, Dr Roselyn Dixon from the University of Wollongong outlines some practical strategies that can be implemented in the classroom to accommodate students with autism. She looks at ways to manage the physical environment of the classroom, the use of visual elements in teaching, and how to support students through a change in classroom routine.
- 2020 Review of the Disability Standards: Discussion paper. Until 25 September 2020, the Australian Government are inviting the community to give feedback on the Disability Standards for Education 2005. In this discussion paper, guiding questions are posed to assist the community in having their say, and the Disability Standards are explained in detail.
- Assessing learning of students with disability. In this article, Amit Kaushik and Anannya Chakraborty from ACER India discuss their review on inclusive learning assessments for children living with disabilities in the Asia-Pacific region. ‘The review calls for consolidated efforts to ensure that the learning progress of children with disabilities is reported in both high-stakes examinations and large scale assessments so that education systems provide a complete picture of educational achievement,' the authors write in the article. They also discuss their recommendations for system-level assessment programs to improve learning for every child.
