Barriers to School Inclusion: An Investigation into the Exclusion of Disabled Students From and Within New Zealand Schools

Kearney, A. 2009 Unpublished doctoral thesis. Massey University: Palmerston North. Barriers to School Inclusion: An Investigation into the Exclusion of Disabled Students From and Within New Zealand Schools

Alison Kearney's recent doctoral thesis Barriers to School Inclusion: An Investigation into the Exclusion of Disabled Students From and Within New Zealand Schools is based on evidence that disabled students are being excluded from and within New Zealand schools.

Kearney wanted to know how this was happening, and why. To answer these questions she conducted qualitative research with parents and school principals, teachers, teacher aides, and a group of year 6 students. A significant number of the parents and caregivers volunteered that their child had ASD.

Kearney’s thesis is an important contribution to our understandings about inclusion in New Zealand schools, but its length makes it more suitable for selective reading.

One approach may be to begin with her conclusion, in which she organises her major findings in relation to five key areas: access, accountability, attitudes, knowledge, and responsibility. She then provides tables of prompts for teachers, school principals, and senior managers for each area: “These prompts are designed to help guide attention and discussion to issues that are important if exclusion is to be reduced and eliminated” (page 217). You could use these prompts to help assess your current position and then review the effectiveness of your inclusion plan, setting up a system to collate and summarise your responses so that you can track progress over time.

Kearney, A. (2008). “Exclusion at School: What Is Happening for Students Who Are Disabled?” The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 7(6), pp. 219–227.

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