Assignment guidance:
Comparing provision for inclusive education
A PowerPoint presentation (1800 words)
Create a PowerPoint presentation to critically discuss how two different aspects of children’s lives can impact on their experience and learning in primary education in two different countries. One country you should be familiar with (England) and the second country should be either Canada, South Africa, Scotland OR India.
The presentation requires you to critically discuss how two different aspects of children’s lives can impact on their experience and learning in primary education in two different countries. For example, you might discuss:
- issues related to religious affiliation and genderin Northern Ireland and India, or
- issues relating to refugee statusand ethnicity, and difficulty accessing formal schooling in England and Canada.
One of these countries should be a country with a school system with which you are very familiar. For example, the country where you are currently resident or a country where you went to school yourself. (I am from England so please can you choose England as the first country) The other country should be chosen from the focus countries we studied which are Canada, South Africa, Scotland and India.
You should include:
- 12 PowerPoint slides showing key points relating to the content of your discussion
- a maximum of 3 additional slides for references.
You should also include a commentary to accompany your slides. This will provide you with an opportunity to ‘talk to’ your slides and add context to the key information provided in the slides. The commentary must be included using the notes facility in PowerPoint (under each slide). It should not be submitted as a separate Word document.
Your presentation, including the notes, should be a maximum of 1800 words
Your presentation should draw on the themes we studied. The aspects of children’s lives that were explored in this block include: disability; learning difficulty; religious affiliation; refugee status and ethnicity; learning English as an additional language; gender; sexual orientation and difficulty in accessing formal school environments.
Choose two of these aspects of children’s lives to critically discuss how they impact on their experience and learning within primary education in two different countries.
The first country should be one that is already familiar to you. The second should be a module country (Canada, South Africa, Scotland or India). When choosing the second country, we advise you to select one that will allow you to show significant differences from the first. This will enable you to develop a substantial and illuminating comparison.
Your presentation should have 12 slides, with up to three further slides for references. The structure of your presentation should include the following:
| Slides | Focus | Additional information |
| 1 and 2 | Inclusion and inclusive education in primary settings (an international perspective) | · Identify your two chosen aspects
· Use these slides to set the scene and provide an international perspective on key issues related to your two chosen aspects. · Critically evaluate relevant national and international theory, policy and practice relevant to your two aspects. |
| 3 to 8 | Comparing issues and approaches in your two chosen countries, focusing on your two aspects | · Critically discuss how the two aspects may affect children’s learning and their experience of primary education in the two countries. You should consider behaviour, achievement and social interaction.
· Compare and contrast relevant research to identify similarities and differences between the approaches and issues in the different countries · Refer to relevant theories and policies, evaluate tensions between theory, policy and practice, particularly those that are undermining support for children |
| 9 and 10 | Implications for achieving inclusion and inclusive education – drawing on wider theory/policy/practice | · Look outward – consider practices that value and support learning for all children (not limited to your chosen counties)
· Makes links between these practices and your chosen aspects and countries. Have any of them been implemented in any way? If so, can they be developed further? If not, how might they be implemented? What benefit might they bring? · Make reference to the importance of children’s voices and those of the primary education community |
| 11 and 12 | Implications for inclusive education – in and beyond school | · Summing up
· Reflect on the progress made in the two countries to support inclusive education · What are the challenges that remain and how might they be addressed? |
| 13 to 15 | Up to three slides for your reference list. The reference list is not included in the word count. | |
Information on slides should be presented succinctly, and the use of bullet points is encouraged. Images, diagrams, charts and tables are powerful ways of presenting information clearly and these should be used where appropriate. Think about the viewer who will see and read, or listen to, your presentation.
Each of the 12 slides should have a commentary in the notes section. The commentary should expand upon the key points or images in the slides. Commentary should be written in continuous prose, and imagine you are speaking to an audience about each slide.
PowerPoint has an extensive bank of templates available should you wish to use one, but remember not to fall into the trap of ‘style over substance’.
