Summary
The British Columbia Ministry of Education has many policies relating to ensuring that education is inclusive and equitable. All teachers must be familiar with and follow these policies. Inclusive education specialists must align their practice with these policies to ensure that they are advocating for and following inclusivity. The Ministry of Education has many policy manuals and resource guides available on their website to support teachers, and school districts have support manuals and resource guides available through SharePoint or online.
Policies Relating to Inclusive Education: An Annotated List
| BC Ministry of Education Inclusive Education Policy: Inclusion British Columbia promotes an inclusive education system in which students with disabilities or diverse abilities are fully participating members of a community of learners. Inclusion describes the principle that all students are entitled to equitable access to learning, achievement and the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of their educational programs. The practice of inclusion is not necessarily synonymous with full integration in regular classrooms, and goes beyond placement to include meaningful participation and the promotion of interaction with others. | The pursuit of excellence is something that inclusive education specialists need to keep at the forefront of their planning and inclusion work. All students with exceptionalities deserve the opportunity to succeed, and to pursue excellence. This might mean developing adaptations and modifications that allow the student to pursue relevant, meaningful learning within their classes. Additionally, it is important that this policy notes that students will be included in schools and in learning, but that this does not necessarily mean that they are integrated in regular classrooms all of the time. Sometimes, in order for students to meaningfully participate in their classes, they may need separate resource classes to learn and develop skills. They may need to be pulled out to allow them to do below-grade-level learning with dignity. It is of utmost importance that inclusive education specialists keep their students’ unique needs, strengths, and challenges at the forefront of their planning. |
| BC Ministry of Education Inclusive Education Policy: Placement A Board of Education must ensure that a principal offers to consult with a parent of a child who has disabilities or diverse abilities regarding the student’s placement in an educational program. A Board of Education must provide a student who has disabilities or diverse abilities with an educational program in a classroom where the student is integrated with other students who do not have disabilities or diverse abilities, unless the educational needs of the student with disabilities or diverse abilities or other students indicate that the educational program for the student with disabilities or diverse abilities should be provided otherwise. | Inclusive education specialists have a duty, beyond policy, to ensure that they consult fully and meaningfully with parents or guardians. Parents and guardians know the student best, and can provide very important insights into the student. The best IEP meetings that I have ran have been those where the parents were very involved and pushed back, presented ideas, and had lots of opinions about how best to educate the student. It is presumed, at this point, that students with exceptionalities are important in the mainstream classroom, and that is where they should be, and deserve to be. All students benefit from greater inclusion. Students without disabilities learn to be kinder and empathetic, and learn how to approach people of all abilities within their present and future communities. Teachers and EAs can adapt to this full integration and inclusive education specialists can support them in fully developing and supporting both inclusion and integration. |
| BC Ministry of Education Inclusive Education Policy: Planning A Board of Education must ensure that an Individual Education Plan(IEP) is designed for a student with disabilities or diverse abilities as soon as practical after the board identifies the student. The only instances in which an IEP is not required are when: the student with requires little or no adaptations to materials, instruction or assessment methods; or the expected learning outcomes have not been modified; or the student requires 25 or fewer hours of remedial instruction by someone other than the classroom teacher, in a school year. A Board of Education must ensure that the IEP is reviewed at least once each school year, and where necessary, is revised or cancelled. A Board of Education must offer the parent of the student, and where appropriate, the student the opportunity to be consulted about the student’s educational program, when requested to do so. A Board of Education must offer each student who has disabilities or diverse abilities learning activities in accordance with the IEP designed for that student. When services are so specialized that they cannot be replicated in every school, they should be available from the district level, or else school districts should arrange to obtain them from community or other sources. | Writing, updating, revising, monitoring, and evaluating IEPs is an integral component of the inclusive education specialist’s job. Ensuring that IEPs are evidence-based, relevant, and help to coordinate the student’s meaningful participation in their classes is a vital duty. IEPs are the most forward-facing part of the inclusive education specialist’s job within the school, and must be used to propel learning. Checking in periodically that the IEP is being followed satisfactorily is also important advocacy work for the inclusive specialist to participate in, but it can be challenging to do in an already busy school year. |
| BC Ministry of Education Inclusive Education Policy: Evaluation and Reporting Standards for all students, including students with disabilities or diverse abilities, are developed with high but appropriate expectations for student achievement. Students with disabilities or diverse abilities are expected to achieve some, most, or all provincial curriculum standards and/or outcomes with support. Unless a student with disabilities or diverse abilities is able to demonstrate their learning in relation to expected learning standards and/or outcomes set out in the curriculum for the course or subject and grade, the student’s progress report(s) must contain written comments describing: what the student is able to do; the areas in which the student requires further attention or development; and the ways of supporting the student in their learning. The written comments must contain a statement about the progress of the student in relation to the goals in their IEP. Where appropriate, written comments should describe ways to enable the student to demonstrate their learning in relation to expected learning outcomes set out in the curriculum for the course or subject and grade, and should describe the time period required to enable the student to demonstrate such learning. | Inclusive education specialists can collaborate with classroom teachers to ensure that students’ proficiencies are properly and meaningfully reported on. Inclusive education specialists should, if possible, be involved in an ongoing way with the classroom teachers of students on their caseload, and should mentor new teachers in how to report on the progress of students with IEPs. They can also serve as a resource for established teachers to collaborate on reporting and evaluating the student’s progress in accordance with curricular standards and IEP goals. This policy ensures that inclusive education specialists fully communicate with the people at home about the student’s progress, and aligns assessment with the student’s unique challenges and strengths. |
| BC Ministry of Education Inclusive Education Policy: Procedures Related to Policy An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is a documented plan developed for a student with disabilities or diverse abilities that describes individualized goals, adaptations, modifications, the services to be provided, and includes measures for tracking achievement. An IEP must have one or more of the following: the goals or outcomes set for that student for that school year where they are different from the learning standards and/or outcomes set out in an applicable educational program guide; or a list of the support services required to achieve goals established for the student; or a list of the adaptations to educational materials, instructional strategies or assessment methods An IEP should also include the following: the present levels of educational performance of the student; the setting where the educational program is to be provided; the names of all personnel who will be providing the educational and support services during the school year; the period of time and process for the review of the IEP; evidence of evaluation or review, which could include revisions made to the plan and the tracking of achievement in relation to goals; and plans for the next transition point in the student’s education (including transitions beyond school completion) and linkages to Graduation Portfolio during Grades 10-12. | Inclusive education specialists take the preparation of IEPs seriously, as they help coordinate and support the student’s educational success. Inclusive education specialists must be aware of how to prepare IEPs that include goals, supports, adaptations, present performance, names of all supports, time frames, and evidence of evaluation or review. This policy helps support inclusive education specialists with a list of concrete items that must be included in IEPs, which can be helpful for inclusive specialists in fulfilling their duties to students. |
| Coast Mountains School District: Inclusive Education Learner Support HandbookLearner Support Model – Philosophical model – All students have the right to be educated in the least restrictive environment – Students belong in the regular classroom to engage in thoughtful teaching experience with their peers – Philosophical shift from “pull out and fix” thinking to an inclusive model where we look at changing the environment – This is an inclusive model indicating that all students belong – Planning lessons with all learners in mind – Teachers aware of the full range of learning styles – Teachers employee various methods, materials, presentation, adaptations, and appropriate interventions to match the learner – Building a community of learners who have a wide range of strengths and stretches – Shared responsibility for all students – Benefit of Learner Support model means the student experiences a less fragmented programming, less time missed from classroom, and an increased feeling of security and belonging | My school district is fairly behind in terms of sharing things online, but the Learner Support Handbook espouses their policy relating to learners with disabilities and diverse abilities. Generally, it aligns with the provincial policy, but this section also summarizes the district’s approach. It notes that the environment must be changed to accommodate the student, and that all students belong in regular classrooms. Inclusive education specialists in our district share the responsibility for inclusion with all teachers, school staff, and administration, meaning that inclusive education specialists can assume that other staff shares the philosophy of inclusion and can therefore better collaborate to ensure meaningful inclusion and integration. Our district’s approach focuses strongly on students’ wellbeing, meaning that inclusive education specialists in the district should, too, and should troubleshoot and plan accordingly to ensure that students are satisfactorily engaged and integrated. |
| Coast Mountains School District: Inclusive Education Policy At the centre of B.C.’s provincial Inclusive Education Policy are the following beliefs: Everyone can learn; all children can, and do, learn.Learning is an individual and social process, each student benefits from learning with their peers. Each student needs to feel like they belong, are valued, and have a contribution to make.Learning requires active participation: each student needs purposeful roles and responsibilities.Learning occurs in a variety of ways and at different rates; each student is unique in their abilities and needs. Inclusive Education Supports The District Inclusive Education Team is a group of specialists who collaborate with classroom teachers and families to establish and monitor the interventions, goals and strategies being put in place to help your child be safe and successful at school. For some learners, this also involves the creation of an Individualized Education Plan or Learning Plan. Referrals for these services are made through your child’s classroom teacher to the School-Based Team. Your child’s teacher is the best place to begin when you have a question or concern. Our goal is to create inclusive learning environments where students feel accepted, valued, confident and safe to engage in learning, and where collaborative teams are committed to a shared vison to support students in reaching their full potential. | The Coast Mountains School District’s policy about inclusive education centres students, and presumes that all children can learn with active participation, in unique, varied ways. This reminds inclusive education specialists about the unique learning journeys of all students. The CMSD policies insist that students must feel safe and valued before they are able to learn, and this is incredibly important in our region, where we have high populations of Indigenous students, low-income students, and students who have experienced complex trauma. Inclusive education specialists need to work to ensure that the students on their caseloads feel supported, included, and valued in their classrooms in order to be successful in their learning. |
| Coast Mountains School District: Inclusive Education Policy School Based Team The Principal and Vice Principal can help guide parents-caregivers with the next steps on how to support your child through the education system. The Principal/Vice-Principal ensures that every student who has special needs is assigned a case manager, an individualized education plan is developed and implemented and that parent/guardians are regularly provided with information concerning their child’s educational progress. The Principal/Vice-Principal is available to consult with parents/caregivers who are concerned with their child’s education program. Classroom Teachers have the primary responsibility for establishing and monitoring your child’s plan. The Classroom Teacher is responsible for the planning, implementation, assessment and reporting of the student’s educational program. Literacy Teachers focus on improving the reading skills for their students working specifically with students in grades Kindergarten to Grade 3. The Literacy Support Teacher work in classrooms. Resource Teacher provides services to students and staff in the regular classroom as well as alternate environments, and works in collaborative and in a consultative manner with classroom teachers, principals, the School Based Team, special education assistants and others. School Counsellor facilitates social-emotional and behavioral support for learners at school (i.e., self-regulation, friendships, anxiety in the school setting). Where a student is experiencing difficulties across a variety of settings, or is presenting with a need requiring more intensive, individualized support, the school’s counsellor will work with the student and family, to refer the student to an outside service provider. Educational Assistants are assigned to learning environments and provide additional support to a variety of students. School-Based Team is a problem-solving group that works with classroom teachers to develop educational programs for students who require additional support. School-Based Teams make decisions regarding case managers, referrals (to other services, speech language pathologists, psychologists, etc.) and the allocation of resources. School Based Teams meet on a regular basis in all schools. | This policy clause lays out the specific responsibilities of each position in the district’s inclusive education team. It helps specify roles and responsibilities, which can be helpful for inclusive education specialists to be aware of and to insist upon when planning for and advocating for their students. |
References
Coast Mountains Board of Education. (2021). Inclusive education learner support handbook.
British Columbia Ministry of Education. (2006). Inclusive education policy. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/administration/legislation-policy/public-schools/inclusive-education