Inclusive University How to Increase Academic Excellence Focusing on the Aspects of Inclusion
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Autonomy and Responsibility Study Volumes IV. INCLUSIVE UNIVERSITY HOW TO INCREASE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE FOCUSING ON THE ASPECTS OF INCLUSION University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities, Institute of Education Pécs, 2015 Made under the sponsorship of SPOR 4.1.2.B.2-13/1-2013-0014 Further Development Of Teacher Training Networks. Series Editor: Ferenc Arató Editor: Ferenc Arató – Aranka Varga Authors: Ferenc Arató Sára Bigazzi Ildikó Bokrétás Renáta Anna Dezső Katalin Kéri Szilvia Markó Nikolett Márhoffer Pascale Mompoint-Gaillard Julianna Rayman Sára Serdült Bálint Takács Fanni Trendl Aranka Varga Lectored by: Imre Knausz, Katalin Kéri Translation: Isvtán Csertő, Ágnes Baros-Tóth Reader Editor: Nikolett Márhoffer Printed by Bolko-Print Press 7623 Pécs Rét street 47., manager: Szabó Péter ISSN: 2064-9371 ISBN: 978-963-642-910-2 Digital ISBN: 978-963-642-909-6 kometenspedagógus.hu 2 Content Theory Aranka Varga A system-based model of inclusiveness ............................................................................................ 7 Sára Bigazzi Sing-les: diversity, dialogue, knowledge ........................................................................................ 27 Ferenc Arató Deconstructing exclusion: a post-structuralist approach to inclusiveness ....................... 43 Sára Serdült To Be And To Let Be - The relationship between identity and inclusive excellence ...... 61 Renáta Anna Dezső The relationships among plural intelligence models, learning-centred pedagogical approaches, and inclusiveness .......................................................................................................... 75 Julianna Rayman A review of the Diverse Learning Environment Model ............................................................. 89 Julianna Rayman Towards Inclusive Excellence: a review of three standard works in the literature .......... 95 Practice Pascale Mompoint-Gaillard Transversal Attitudes Skills and Knowledge (TASKs) for a democratic culture and intercultural understanding ....................................................................................................................................... 105 Katalin Kéri Inclusion and/or exclusion at universities in the past (A draft study in educational history) ..................................................................................................................................................................... 115 Fanni Trendl Implementation of an “inclusive environment” in a university college ............................ 127 Bálint Takács Inclusive strategies in Hungarian higher educational institutions ..................................... 137 Ildikó Bokrétás A panorama of programs and university processes that support inclusion at the University of Pécs ..................................................................................................................................................... 147 Nikolett Márhoffer Possibilities for equal opportunities in the enrolment program of the university of Pécs ..................................................................................................................................................................... 161 Szilvia Markó Principles of cooperative structures in the UP’s courses ........................................................ 169 Strategy Ferenc Arató - Sára Bigazzi - Fanni Trendl - Aranka Varga Inclusive University - Equity as integral part of academic excellence Strategic aspects and ideas recommended for quality improvement of university services ............................... 181 3 4 THEORY 5 6 ARANKA VARGA: A SYSTEM-BASED MODEL OF INCLUSIVENESS The present paper assumes that mutual inclusion is equal to successful personal and collective progress, while continuous and targeted interventions serving it are collectively marked by the term inclusive. Inclusive model is understood in this paper as a complex system of interventions which is aimed in all its segments at a coexistence increasing individual success while it also supports planning and controlling efforts made for inclusion in different places, times and communities. The field of education is in a particularly favourable condition regarding inclusive model development as it is also highlighted by the historical examples brought in this paper. Within the field, the author focuses on higher education in which the idea of inclusion is being spread reinforced by the conception of Inclusive Excellence. According to the conception, Inclusive Excellence establishes a qualitatively new academic environment profitable for all participants by employing diversity to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Thus, an environment aiming to achieving academic excellence is able to undergo qualitative renewal if following an inclusive approach and becoming more and more inclusive. The paper creatively utilizes the author’s one- and-a-half-decade research work related to inclusion, her practical experience and the general research model she based on her experience. These are completed by a system-based overview of the models of inclusion in higher education with which the author aims to support the work of the research and development team preparing the professional proposal titled “Inclusive University” in affiliation with the University of Pécs. The author hopes that there also are more and more Hungarian higher education institutions which adopt inclusiveness as a part of their academic mission in the spirit of recognized qualitative renewal. Keywords: iInclusive university, inclusive excellence, inclusive academic excellence model Introductory notes on inclusion In recent decades, discourses on societal and educational issues have more and more frequently been addressing the approach and practice of inclusion as a desirable strategy of coexistence. Schools of the 1980s first opened their gates to disabled students that also initiated discussion about the necessary content-related interventions. The educational policy and practice of inclusion grown to a movement soon made it obvious that inclusion of other student groups is also important and that inclusive environment needs to be expanded outside the school (POTTS, 2002). Raising inclusion to a societal level expanded the areas of the equity-based approach to equal opportunity and, at the same time, it brought into the focus of attention that mutual inclusion is profitable for the entire community. Integrated education with inclusive contents continuously spread in public education and initiatives also appeared in higher education by the turn of the millennium. The conception of academic excellence is more and more harmonized with societal demands in higher education that has resulted in the emergence of Inclusive Excellence, that is, a campus environment model based on the value of diversity and aimed at a higher quality excellence. In this interpretive framework, inclusion is a collective term for continuous targeted interventions to sustain successful personal and collective progress. The countless variations of interventions outline a model developed by us whose components are aimed at achieving mutual and successful inclusion and coexistence while simultaneously maximizing the realization of individual potentials and performance. At the same time, the model supports planning and controlling efforts made for inclusion in different places, times, communities 7 and institutions by a process-based approach, a set of general principles and standard performance indicators. We have articulated the process-based inclusive model both in a shorter and longer form in order to have a framework which provides a basis for assessing the measure of inclusiveness (VARGA, 2014, 2015a). To that end, we reviewed nearly a hundred works which provided scientific data related to the theoretical approach or practical experience of inclusion in recent decades. For model development, in turn, we used existing models which were established within specific thematic areas in order to provide a framework for the continuous development of inclusiveness. We examined the following models: 1. Successful integrated education of disabled students by applying the “Inclusion Index” 2. Introduction of the Integrative Pedagogical System (IPS) in Hungarian schools for disadvantaged students 3. Quality improvement of diverse higher education in the USA based on the principles of Inclusive Excellence and the Diverse Learning Environments (DLE) model This paper creatively utilizes the author’s one-and-a-half-decade research work related to inclusion, her practical experience and the general research model she based on her experience. These are completed by details which provide focused support for elaborating the conception of Inclusive University. The University of Pécs hosts a project in 2014 and 2015 titled SROP-4.1.2.B.2- 13/1-2013-0014 Development of Education-Training Assisting Networks in the Southern Transdanubian Region. As a part of the project, a research- development team was established in May 2015 which aims to develop the conception of “Inclusive University” supported by scientific works and empirical studies. The process-based model of inclusion The reason for defining the model as process-based is the presently established scientific view that although the desirable form of inclusion may be approached at given points by planned and targeted actions, inclusiveness by nature is not a permanent condition, sustenance involves further tasks. Namely, inclusion requires