World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
Entry ID: AP04-4
COUNTRY: UNESCO Bangkok
Permission
YEAR: 2004
LANGUAGE: Eng, Indonesian,
Karen, Thai
TITLE: Embracing Diversity: Toolkit for Creating Inclusive, LearningFriendly Environments
AUTHOR/DEVELOPER: UNESCO Bangkok
CONTACTS/AVAILABILITY:
 All six booklets (English version) available at:
http://www2.unescobkk.org/ips/ebooks/documents/Embracing_Diversity/index.htm
 All six booklets (Indonesian version) available at: http://www.idp-europe.org/toolkit/
 For further information about the toolkit, contact:
Olof Sandkull, UNESCO Bangkok
Phone:+66-2-391 0880
Fax: +66-2-391 0866
E-mail: o.sandkull@unescobkk.org
Asia and Pacific Programme of Education for All (APPEAL) website:
www.unescobkk.org/education/appeal
UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education
920 Sukhumvit Road, Prakanong
Bangkok 10110, THAILAND
Tel: +66-2-3910577
Fax: +66-2-3910866
[Adopted Definition/Focus of Inclusive Education]
“An inclusive, learning-friendly environment (ILFE) welcomes, nurtures and educates all
children regardless of their gender, physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other
characteristics. They may be disabled or gifted children, street or working children, children of
remote or nomadic peoples, children from linguistic, ethnic or cultural minorities, children
affected by HIV/AIDS, or children from other disadvantaged or marginalized areas or groups.”
(Toolkit, Introduction)
“’Inclusive Education’ or ‘inclusive learning’ refers to the inclusion and teaching of ALL
children in formal or non-formal learning environments without regard to gender,
physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic, cultural, religious, or other
characteristics…. [One more motivations for the development of this Toolkit is] most
resources focus on ‘inclusive education’ for children with disabilities or other ‘special
needs.’ However, they largely neglect how to include other marginalized children in
school, as well as how to help them to learn well.” (Excerpt from the Toolkit developer
survey responses)
[General Description of the Material]
Booklet 1: Becoming an Inclusive Learning-Friendly Environment (ILFE)
Tool 1.1
What is an ILFE and Why is it Important?
 What Do We Mean by “Inclusive” and “Learning-Friendly”?
 What are the Important Elements of an ILFE?
 What are the Benefits of an ILFE?
Tool 1.2
Where Are We Now?
 Is Our School Already an ILFE?
 How Can Our School Become an ILFE?
 How to Create and Sustain Change
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World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
Tool 1.3
Tool 1.4
Steps to Becoming an ILFE
 How to Plan on Becoming an ILFE
 How to Monitor Our Progress
What Have We Learned?
This Booklet has asked you to think about the ways in which your school
already is inclusive and learning-friendly, and has helped you to explore ways in
which your school can become more inclusive and learning-friendly. Now ask
yourself, “What changes can I make in my classroom/school tomorrow?” Come
up with three personal targets and compare and discuss them with your
colleagues. After one or two weeks, compare how you are progressing.
Booklet 2: Working with Families and Communities to Create an ILFE
Tool 2.1
Teacher-Parent-Community Relationships in an ILFE
 Who Is the “Community”?
 Why Should We Involve Communities?
 What Are Our Roles and Responsibilities?
Tool 2.2
Information and Advocacy for ILFE in Families and Communities
 Making Contact with Families and Communities
 Keeping Regular Communication
 Motivating Support for an ILFE
Tool 2.3
The Community and the Curriculum
 The Community in the Classroom
 The Classroom and the Community
Tool. 2.4
What Have We Learned?
This Booklet has given you several tools that you can use to involve families
and communities in ILFE. Now ask yourself, “What can I do to start working
more closely with my children’s families and communities?” Come up with three
personal targets and compare and discuss them with your colleagues, your
students, and their families. After one to two weeks, compare how you are
progressing and what further actions you can take.
Booklet 3: Getting All Children in School and Learning
Tool 3.1
Who May Not Be Learning?
 Discovering Barriers to Inclusive Learning
 Self-Assessment for Inclusive Learning
Tool 3.2
Finding Children Who are Not in School, and WHY
 School-Community Mapping
 Children’s Participation in School-Community Mapping
 Discovering Why Children May Not be Coming to School
Tool 3.3
Actions for Getting All Children in School
 Action Planning
 Ideas for Action
Tool 3.4
What Have We Learned?
Barriers to inclusive learning may be visible, such as a physical disability; more
hidden, such as inadequate caregiving or malnutrition and their affects on
learning and attendance; or even generally accepted and largely unrealized,
such as traditional attitudes, gender roles, or the customary roles and
responsibilities children in their families… To understand why children are not
coming to school, we need to take a child-centred approach. We need to learn
what individual (child), family, community and school factors most commonly
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World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
block children from coming to school. These factors are the starting points for
change and building inclusive schools. The Tools in this Booklet also have
taken you to the point of drawing up a plan of action for reducing barriers to
inclusive learning in your school and community.
Booklet 4: Creating Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Classrooms
Tool 4.1
Learning about Learning and Learners
 Learning and Teaching
 How Children Learn
Tool 4.2
Dealing with Diversity in the Classroom
 Valuing and Encouraging Diversity
 Including Different Kinds of Thinking, Learning and Knowing in the
Classroom
 Challenges to Diversity
 Bias in the Curriculum and Learning Materials
 Gender and Teaching
 Diversity and Disability
 HIV/AIDS and Discrimination
Tool 4.3
Making Learning Meaningful for ALL!
 Learning for Life
 Creating a Learning-Friendly Environment for Meaningful Learning
 Creating Gender-Sensitive Learning Experiences
 Active and Participatory Learning
 Making Mathematics, Science and Language Meaningful for All
Tool 4.4
What Have We Learned?
o The key idea in this Booklet is how to make learning more meaningful for all
children. We need to make learning meaningful so that all children will want to
come to school, will be motivated to learn, and will know that what they learn is
relevant to them.
o As well as knowing more about how children learn well, we reviewed some of
the barriers to children’s learning. One major barrier is low self-esteem. Low
self-esteem reduces children’s motivation to learn and can have damaging
effects on their cognitive and social development.
o Prejudice and discrimination are also barriers to children’s learning. They can
be reflected unintentionally in our curriculum and learning materials. This is the
case especially for children with diverse backgrounds and abilities.
 Children with learning difficulties can be provided with an environment
where they learn how to help themselves.
 In many countries, children with HIV/AIDS or those who live in families
where a member has HIV/AIDS can suffer discrimination. Do you know
enough about HIV/AIDS in your community? Have you discussed
sensitive issues, such as HIV/AIDS, with other teachers?
Booklet 5: Managing Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Classrooms
Tool 5.1
Planning for Teaching and Learning
 Classroom Routines
 Children’s Responsibilities
 Lesson Planning
Tool 5.2
Maximizing Available Resources
 Physical Space
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World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
Tool 5.3
Tool 5.4
Tool 5.5
o
o
 Learning Corners
 Display Areas
 Class Library
Managing Group Work and Cooperative Learning
 Approaches to Group Work
 Using Different Class Groupings
 Cooperative Learning
 Interpersonal Skills for Learning
 Establishing Ground Rules for Group Work
 Managing Peer Learning
 Self-Directed Learning
 Planning for Differentiation
 Managing Behaviour in the Inclusive Classroom
 Managing the Active and Inclusive Classroom
Active and Authentic Assessment
 What is Assessment?
 Learning Outcomes
 Authentic Assessment Approaches and Techniques
 Feedback and Assessment
 Assessing Skills and Attitudes
 What Can Go Wrong with Assessment
What Have We Learned?
In this Booklet, we explored many of the practical management issues that need
to be dealt with if our classrooms are going to provide learning opportunities for
all children including those with diverse backgrounds and abilities. Some
questions we need to consider are:
 Can parents as caregivers help us manage the classroom?
 Can we make better use of local resources for learning materials?
 Can children help each other through peer teaching?
 Can we plan differentiated lessons so that all children can gain success at
their own rate?
 Can we be proactive when we are managing behaviour in the classroom?
We also learned that authentic assessment involves a variety of ways of
assessing children’s progress including direct observation, portfolios, problemsolving activities (perhaps in pairs or small groups), presentations (an example
of a product of a learning activity), and some appropriate pencil and paper
questioning. Are there any ways in which you can include children in the
process of assessment, for example, by asking them to choose pieces of work
to include in their portfolio?
Booklet 6: Protective ILFE
Tool 6.1
Creating Healthy, Protective Policies for ALL Children
 Advocating for School Health Policies
 Building Consensus
 Assessing and Monitoring Our School Health Policy Situation
 Dealing with Violence: Turning Policies into Action
Tool 6.2
Giving Children Skills for Life!
 Key Terms
 Skills-Based Health Education
 What Skills are Needed
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World Bank Teacher Training for Inclusive Education Database
SECTION I: Training Manuals, Modules, Packages, Programs, etc. (Last updated on 1/2/2006)
 How Can These Skills Be Taught
 Skills-Based Health Education to Prevent HIV/AIDS
Tool 6.3
Providing School Nutrition and Health Services and Facilities
 Assessing Our Current Situation
 School Food and Nutrition Programmes: Helping Children Who Do Not
Eat Well
 Ideas for Creating a Clean School Environment
Tool 6.4
What Have We Learned?
o Through skills-based health education, children develop their knowledge,
attitudes, and life skills. They can then make decisions and take positive
actions to promote healthy and safe behaviours and environments.
o Some of the important life skills that children learn include communication and
interpersonal skills, decision-making and critical thinking skills, as well as coping
and self-management skills. These life skills help children to deal with such
issues as the prevention of substance abuse and violence, as well as to
promote healthy nutrition, sanitation and hygiene, and mental health. They are
particularly valuable in preventing HIV/AIDS and in reducing stigmatization for
those who are affected.
o Now ask yourself, “What changes can I make in my classsroom teaching to
promote skills-based learning amongst my students?” Come up with three
personal targets and compare and discuss with your colleagues and students.
After one month, compare how you are progressing.
[Approach/Model Used]
Notion of “Learning-Friendly”
A “learning-friendly” environment is “child-friendly” and “teacher-friendly.” It stresses the
importance of students and teachers learning together as a learning community. It places
children at the centre of learning and encourages their active participation in learning. It also
fulfils our needs and interests as teachers, so that we want to, and are capable of, giving
children the best education possible.
[Comments by the author/developer]
Strengths of the Toolkit:
 The Toolkit has been widely accepted due to its simplicity, practicality, and generalizability.
 Revitalization of teacher motivation
 A building block for child-friendly schools
 A resource for expanding the concept of “inclusion” to include not just children with
disabilities, but all children who fall outside the mainstream.
TARGET:  policy makers  school administrators  preschool teachers  primary ed
teachers  secondary ed teachers  higher ed teachers  sped teachers  pre-service
teachers  related service providers  families  students  community members
TOPIC:  introduction/philosophical understanding of inclusive education/getting started 
effective teaching/assessment strategies  challenging behaviors  team work, collaboration
 family/community involvement  networking  developing policy  dealing with change 
HIV/AIDS  advocacy/leadership skills  others
PHASE:  awareness raising/introduction/advocacy phase  on-going support  followup/monitoring  others
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