Running head: COMPARING INCLUSION IN THE SECONDARY VOCATIONAL
Comparing Inclusion in the Secondary Vocational and Academic Classrooms:
Strengths, Needs, and Recommendations
Toby Martin
University of New England
EDU 723: Teaching and Learning in Inclusion Settings
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COMPARING INCLUSION IN THE SECONDARY VOCATIONAL
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Casale-Giannola, D. (2012). Comparing inclusion in the secondary vocational and academic
classrooms: Strengths, needs, and recommendations. American Secondary Education, 40(2), 2642. doi: http://0-search.proquest.com.lilac.une.edu/docview/1223514320?accountid=12756
Abstract
Secondary schools continue to face significant challenges as they work to support increasing
numbers of students in inclusion settings. Career and Technical Education (CTE) high schools
have typically offered students with special needs valuable learning opportunities. Nevertheless,
little research has been done to identify the strengths and needs of inclusive instruction in these
vocational settings. In a qualitative study three data sources-observation, consultation, and
surveys-were used to compare the strengths and weaknesses of inclusion in academic classrooms
and CTE/vocational classrooms. Based on findings, recommendations to support inclusion in the
CTE/vocational secondary school include: (a) increasing active learning in traditional academic
classrooms; (b) providing basic skills support in all content areas; (c) increasing teachers'
repertoire of strategies and modifications that support the performance of students with
disabilities; (d) understanding special education laws, issues, and students; (e) enhancing coteaching and collaboration among teachers; and (f) improving behavior management and
community building.
Summary
This article is about challenges and support in the Career and Technical Education (CTE).
Little research has been done for the needs of inclusive instruction in the vocational settings.
CTE continues to offer valuable lessons and learning opportunities to students with different
abilities. This article is a qualitative review identifying strengths and weaknesses inclusion in
academic and vocational classrooms. The study took place in suburban and urban vocational
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schools with populations of about 350 students in the suburban school and approximately 600
students in the urban school. During the study 55 teachers from different levels participated
between two schools and the survey lasted six months.
The strengths of academic inclusive class according to the survey are as follows. When
the students and teachers had respectful and positive rapport the students learning was positive.
When teachers used real life lessons, contents, and intriguing discussions students participated
and performed well. When teachers used motivation activity with different approaches the
student also showed positive learning. Strengths from the vocational setting had the same result
as academic classrooms. The different strengths were the method and ways the teachers of
vocational expressed themselves and the learning. The CTE program classrooms supported
student centered approaches to learning, making the learning process meaningful supporting all
aspects and outcome. This type of learning dealt with a lot of repetition. They divided the student
based on teacher student meaningful relationship. This relationship was critical to the CTE
learning. The student behavior and performance correlated with teacher respect and relationship
they had. It also supports that CTE teachers had more compassion in material learning than
academic teachers.
The weaknesses in academic classrooms revolved around more of the abilities of the
teachers then students. Teachers lacked collaboration, co-teaching models, awareness about
special needs, and student assessment. Weaknesses in vocational settings also included lack of
special understanding. They also revealed the inability to affectively supervise the classroom
setting.
In order for inclusion to be successful any educational setting including the CTE venue
teachers need to have more education regarding special education laws, assessment of student’s
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needs, increasing teachers knowledge base and a culture of collaboration must be fostered to
enhance co-teaching and collaboration. Collaboration is critical to meeting the needs of students
as well as the first step in building a sense of community within the school among the students
and the faculty. There is not a specific body of literature that focuses on inclusion in CTE
settings. It is clear that the vocational setting is a fertile ground for development using
differentiated instruction and can be further expanded to inclusion with the right resources,
support and motivation.
Reflection
Career and Technical Education is a unique setting for teachers and students. The climate
I am striving toward is a differentiated instruction classroom. This approach to education bodes
well for students of differing abilities. I currently have a student in my classroom with Individual
Educational Plan (IEP) and his educational needs varied from his classmates. I was able to enlist
formative assessments with my students and found this to be more successful than summative
assessment that would exist in a traditional educational setting. In order to support students with
differing abilities and have true inclusion may prove to be difficult in the EMT program. The
students in this course need to be able to read and communicate clearly in writing and interact
with the public in highly stressful (life and death) situations.
As a CTE teacher, I feel we must deviate from traditional instruction to meet the needs of
all students. We as educators have the ability to adapt to inclusive instruction with the proper
guidance from peers, administration, parents, and the community. It will take direction from the
teachers to implement such a diverse learning. The learning needs to start with us. We will need
to understand the learning of each student and be able to identify the needed differentiated
instruction for the diverse students and adapt to them as opposed to them adapting to us.