NO SIZE FITS ALL
Vocational satisfaction:
Beyond surviving to thriving
(in an inclusive educational
environment)
Ken Pudlas
[pudlas@twu.ca]
Discussion Points
• Why are you here?
o Not in the metaphysical sense…
• What is your role in education?
• How did you come to be in this field?
• What are the best and worst parts of
what you do?
• What hinders your vocational
satisfaction?
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Overview- Stories/Metaphors:
• New Shoes
o Sources of discomfort
• Moose hunters
o Found an easier method but at
what cost
• Cathy & Jordon
o Physically present – but not
invited
Foundations
Teaching is:
•
•
•
•
•
Art…
Science…
Learning…
Juggling act…
Vocation
o i.e. calling
o Connotes passion
• Reflection:
o Why did you enter
the education
profession?
o What inhibits your
satisfaction?
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Thriving:
• Grow vigorously and
healthily
• To be successful (and
profitable)
• Joy versus Happiness
• Satisfaction
• Beyond a paycheque
Self-efficacy
• Power
• Significance
• Competence
• Worth
Sources and Hindrances
Satisfaction – Self-efficacy
• Knowledge,
competence, and
various forms of selfknowledge and selfbelief act in concert to
provide adequate
judgments and
interpretations of
efficacy-building
information (Usher &
Pajares, 2008, p. 790).
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• This is consistent with
the importance of
head, heart and hands
in leading to effective
inclusive praxis.
Head
Heart
Hands
Big picture threats to satisfaction:
• Models of
service delivery
o Full inclusion
• Purpose
oCommunity
o Efficacy of Full
inclusion
o Possible reasons
for outcomes
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• Diversity
o Cultural /
Worldviews
o Abilities
• Importance?
o Social Cohesion
o Normalization
o Social Role
Valorization
Story: Moose Hunters
• What was the goal?
• What was the
problem?
• What is the lesson?
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
O School:
O A machine to be
maintained?
O Place where information is
transmitted and
reproduced?
O Educational movement
(worldview shift):
O From modernity
O Hope of a unified
science of teaching
O To postmodern turn
O Celebrates both
diversity and community
O Clinical singularity versus
Communities of
Collaboration
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Goal?
• “The purpose of the
British Columbia School
System is to enable all
learners to develop their
individual potential and
to acquire the
knowledge, skills, and
attitudes needed to
contribute to a healthy,
democratic and
pluralistic society and a
prosperous and
sustainable economy.”
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Goal:
Educational Mission
Statement
[British Columbia]
• An ideology resulting in a
pedagogy
• all students (regardless of
any conditions that
present barriers to their
learning) are educated
to the fullest extent
possible in their normal
ecology
• the classroom teacher
bears the responsibility
for all students
• Goal: community
• Efficacy?
• Requisites?
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Goal: FULL
INCLUSION
[British Columbia]
Head: Roots of FI
• Normalization
o Wolf Wolfensberger
• Social Role
Valorization
• Inclusion
o A school is inclusive if
every student (person)
is able to identify and
connect with the
school's social
environment, culture
and organizational life.
• Community
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Social Role Valorization
“The application of empirical
knowledge to the shaping of the current
or potential social roles of a party (i.e.,
person, group, or class) -- primarily by
means of enhancement of the party’s
competencies & image -- so that these
are, as much as possible, positively
valued in the eyes of the perceivers”
(Wolfensberger & Thomas, 2005).
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Head: Inclusion
• The practice of
inclusion transcends
the idea of physical
location, and
incorporates basic
values that promote
participation,
friendship and
interaction.
• [Italics added]
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• The principle of
inclusion …supports
equitable access to
learning by all
students and the
opportunity for all
students to pursue
their goals in all
aspects of their
education.
• Barriers to
vocational
satisfaction?
• Barriers to Inclusive
Educational
Communities?
• Student population
• Students’
perceptions
• Teachers
• Administrators
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Windfall & blowdown
hindered the
moose hunters
Windfall?
Diverse
population
A multicultural country, and
officially so designated, has
basically indicated it is a country
without a core culture, or the core
culture that once gave it
cohesion, identity, framework,
anchor, has been jettisoned to
embrace a multiplicity of
identities — and thereby the
unintended consequence is that
there is a void in the centre.
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Population by reported
Mother Tongue, 2011
Devolving
family unit
• 43 percent of
Canadian
school children
do not live with
both biological
parents
• Does it matter?
• Educator: in loco
parentis
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Diverse Learning Needs
• Euphemistically referred to as classroom composition
• Recall Langley Report on Inclusion
• See p. 23 for Langley policy
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Newest: ASD
• Why Should I Care About Autism??
• In short: rapidly growing prevalence
• Info re ASD
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr065.pdf
• and a news article with different responses to the
study:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/03/autism_s
urvey_finds_1_in_50_am.html
• Note incidence and prevalence
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Windfall? Impediments to full
inclusion: Students’ perceptions
Peer Self-Concept Subscale Scores
Mean
N
S. D.
Students with
No Identified
Special Needs
33.47
42
5.53
Students with
Identified
Special Needs
28.10*
44
7.76
Total
30.72
86
7.25
*p < .01 (note that > score  higher self-concept)
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• May be considered as
SE = Success
_______________________________
•
Aspirations
• Aspirations:
•
•
•
•
Power
Significance
Competence
Worth
• Support concept of
inclusion but…
• May be/feel ill-prepared
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Windfall?
Teacher Efficacy
Perceptions
Full Inclusion:
A Healthy Salad?
• Doing the right thing
• Having the best
intentions
• Having the right
ingredients
• How to make it more
palatable?
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• Making it
palatable
• Ingredients?
• What happens
when left to
stand?
• What are we
doing to shake
up the
ingredients?
Methods That Enhance
Inclusion
• Five critical dimensions of successful
inclusive classrooms have been identified
as:
1. A Sense of Community & Social Acceptance
2. An Appreciation of Student Diversity
3. Attention to Curricular Needs
4. Effective Management & Instruction
5. Personnel Support & Collaboration
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
The Big Picture
SCHOOL
ETHOS
CLASSROOM
ETHOS
Administrators’
Characteristics
• Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Values
• Abilities
Teachers’
Characteristics
• Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Values
• Abilities
•
•
•
•
Enabling
Conditions
Administrative
Leadership
and Support
(District level)
Professional
Training and
Development
Pooling of
Resources
Curricular
Change
•
•
•
•
Enabling
Conditions
Administrative
Leadership
and Support
(School level)
Professional
Training and
Development
Pooling of
Resources
Curricular
Change
STUDENT
OUTCOMES/
EDUCATIONAL
GOALS
Consultation
Collaboration
Adaptation
Merging
of
Regular
and
Special
Education
into
Full
Inclusion
as part of an
Inclusive
Educational
System
• Academic &
Social
Competence
• Educational
Equality & Equity
• Living and
Learning in
Community
• Lifelong
Learning
• School-Home
partnership
• Independent
Learning and
Thinking
Key aspects from the model
• From outcomes
side:
• Note key role of
community
• Note also the
reciprocal actions
and reactions
• The cause and
effect relationships
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• From school ethos side:
• Teachers’ Attitudes,
Beliefs, Values, Abilities
are foundational
• Need to be personally
inviting
• Need to be
professionally inviting
• To that end
administrators play
crucial role
Professionally inviting
Everything
the
teacher does as
well as the manner
in which he does it
incites the child to
respond in some
way or another
and each response
tends to set the
child’s attitude in
some
way
or
another (John Dewey,
1933)
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Schools should encourage the
development of all aspects of whole
persons: their moral, social,
aesthetic, emotional, physical, and
spiritual
capacities.
Teachers
should be willing to think critically
about education theory and about
what might be called “propaganda”
and, If teachers want to teach
students to think, they must think
about what they themselves are
doing (Nel Noddings, 2008)
Inviting schools: Five basic principles
1. People are able,
valuable, and
responsible and
should be
treated
accordingly.
2. Educating
should be a
collaborative,
cooperative
activity.
3. The process is
the product in
the making.
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
4. People possess untapped
potential in all areas of
worthwhile human
endeavour.
5. This potential can best be
realized by places, policies,
programmes, and processes
specifically designed to invite
development and by people
who are intentionally inviting
with themselves and others
personally and professionally.
Concepts surrounding invitational
education - four guiding principles
• Respect:
o Everyone in the school is
able, valuable, and
responsible and is to be
treated accordingly.
• Trust:
o Education is a cooperative,
collaborative activity where
process is as important as
product.
• Optimism:
o People possess relatively
untapped potential in all
areas of worthwhile human
endeavor.
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• Intentionality:
o Safe schools are
best realized by
creating and
maintaining inviting
places, policies,
processes, and
programs and by
people who are
intentionally inviting
with themselves and
others, personally
and professionally.
Professionally inviting? Two
assumptions:
1. Inviting/disinviting
messages result
from perceptions
o Fortunately each
persons’
conceptual field
can be continually
enriched,
expanded, and
modified (e.g.
professional
development)
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
2.
… messages
significantly
affect student self-concept,
attitude toward school,
relationships, and school
achievement
o Teachers also must see
themselves as able, valuable,
and responsible
• Suggestions toward
enabling teachers
o Particularly with students with
exceptional needs
1. Pre-professional education
regarding exceptionality
2. Professional development
Thriving in your
vocation?
• Equipping
students:
o importance of pro-social
skills training
• Equipping
educators:
o Positive results when
given special education
coursework prior to
entering profession
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Prosocial Skills Training
Means and Standard Deviations for Social Skills, Peer
Nominations, and Friendships
Pre-instruction
Post-instruction
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Social
Skills*
33.8
11.0
37.6
8.1
Peer
Nominations
5.5
1.6
6.3
2.0
Friendships
10.5
4.0
12.0
3.6
*p < .01
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Some substantiating literature
• Special education is not
a place or a
program…special
education is a set of
services and supports
that are provided to
individual students to
give them access to
curriculum and to
ensure that they
continually learn and
progress in that
curriculum
(McLaughlin & Nolet, 2004 as cited
in Lasky & Karge, 2006)
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• If schools are to
become more
successful in educating
students with disabilities,
attitudinal,
organizational, and
instructional changes
must fall into place (Block
& Haring, 1992 as cited in
Lasky & Karge, 2006)
• Success or failure of
beginning special
education teachers
may be linked with:
o The critical role of the site
principal (Lasky, Karge,
Robb, & McCabe, 1995)
o Pre-service education
(Pudlas, 2005)
Important competencies of
instructional leaders
1. Display knowledge and skills in effective
instruction, assessment, and discipline to
provide support and feedback…
2. Acquire skills in establishing and
supporting instructional teams
3. Willingness to support collaborative
group interactions
4. A clear vision that results in commitment
from the school and community
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Core Beliefs of instructional leaders
• Congruent with invitational principles
• Research suggests several core beliefs
(e.g. all children can learn), reflective
of the beliefs of a diverse society, if
reflected in a principal’s attitude, will
enhance willingness to include even
the most challenging students
(Goor, Schwenn, & Boyer 1997)
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Requisite Competencies
1. Knowledge of disabilities
and the unique learning
and behavioral challenges
various conditions present.
2. Thorough understanding of
the laws that protect the
educational rights of
students with disabilities
3. The ability to communicate
with families and teachers
about special education
services, disability
awareness, monitoring and
evaluating special
education decisions and
services, and ensuring legal
compliance
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
4. Understand and facilitate
the use of effective
research-based practices
5. A clear understanding of
professional support
needs such as
manageable case loads
and opportunities for
professional development
6. Nurturing the professional
development of others
who are committed to
innovations in effective
instructional models and
effective teaching and
management skills.
(Lasky & Karge, 2006, pp. 30-33)
•
Two assumptions:
1.
Inviting/disinviting
messages result
from perceptions
2. Messages
significantly affect
student selfconcept, attitude
toward school,
relationships, and
school achievement
• Teachers must also
see themselves as
able, valuable, and
responsible
• Suggestions toward
enabling teachers
•
Particularly with
students with
exceptional needs
Personally & Professionally
Inviting?
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• Research-based
strategies such as:
1. Differentiating
instruction
2.Anchoring
instruction
3.Cooperative
learning
4.Peer tutoring
5.Strategic
learning
• Pudlas’: EAT s
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
•
Characteristics:
• Commitment of teacher time
in planning
o Require administrator
support?
• Teachers available for full
class time
• All teachers have full
conceptual understanding (of
content & students)
• Successful collaboration
between teacher and student
(and parents)
• Use of conceptual anchors
o (create a shared
experience to build on)
Professional competencies:
• Beginning where students are
o (rather than where curriculum says they should
be)
• Use time flexibly
• Use a range of teaching strategies
• Create a community of learners where
teachers and students are partners
• Use, for example, preferred intelligences
o (MI theory)
• Cooperative activities – based on authentic
problems
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
1.
Differentiating instruction:
• Promotes higher-order thinking
• Uses conceptual anchor (e.g. visuals) so learners
build mental model
o Allows for a common frame of reference
• Students then construct their own knowledge
through disciplined inquiry
• Combined with problem-based or project-based
learning
• Guidelines:
o Choose appropriate anchor
o Set guidelines for group structure
o Practice general problem-solving skills
• E.g. defining the problem
o Choose authentic problem
o Have individual (as well as group) accountability
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
2.
Anchoring instruction
• Not all group
work is
cooperative
learning
• Human brain is
a social brain
• C. L. allows
students to
engage in
instructional
conversations
Teachers:
• Group purposely
o (heterogeneously according to
strengths/needs)
• Model appropriate
behaviour in groups
• Monitor learning
o (consistently interview students)
• Encourage group to include
diverse learners
• Clearly structure tasks
with clear guidelines
o That clarify,
probe, solidify
learning
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
o May mean task analysis and precision
teaching application for those with
diverse needs
3.
Cooperative learning
• Proven successful for
students with diverse
learning needs
• Can be cross-age or
same age
• Guidelines for classwide peer tutoring:
o Each member of pair share
roles
o Train each in giving feedback
and error correction
procedures
o Have each member practice –
with teacher monitoring
o Begin with less complex drill
and practice
o Choose materials appropriate
to skill level
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
4.
• Three important
principles of
instruction:
o Individualization of the
targeted skill
o Frequent opportunities to
respond & rapid pace of
instruction
o Immediate corrective
feedback
• Having teachers and
special education
assistants fully
available to students
permits close
monitoring of specific
skill deficits
Peer tutoring
• Some students simply have
not learned how to learn
o(no learning strategy)
oDirect instruction of a
specific strategy may pay
dividends
• Example collaborative
strategic reading process :
oPreviewing (reading title
and headings) and
predicting (what the
passage is about)
oGet the gist
o (restating most important idea)
o Wrap up
o (summarize what has been learned
and ask questions that teacher
might ask on a test)
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
5.
• Incorporates
responsibility for
mutual learning
within
cooperative
learning format
• Uses think aloud
techniques,
modeling, and
practice in using
the strategies
o i.e. verbal
mediation is
modeled
Strategic learning
Am I inviting?
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• All created for
intimacy and
relationship
• Self –
o
o
o
o
Esteem
Worth
Efficacy
SE model
• What do exceptional
persons/families
want? Need?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Practical helps?
Empathy
Understanding
Practical help (Micah
6:8 requires action!)
Respite
A listening ear
A cup of tea
NOT platitudes
Head + Heart: Empathy
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
Suggestion: EATs
• Educators individually
and collectively
possess considerable
knowledge and talent
and learn best by
actively working to
solve problems.
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• Students’ problems with
learning, behaviour
and performance can
be a source of
professional frustration
and a threat to
professional efficacy.
Suggestion: EATs
3. Educators can solve
many more problems
when working
cooperatively rather than
by working alone.
4. These assumptions point
to the importance of an
educator support system
within which the
responsibility for decisionmaking and
communication rests with
the teachers themselves.
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
5. Educator
Assistance Teams
(EATs) can be a
basis for:
• empowerment &
control,
• educator initiative,
• teacher initiated
actions,
• professionalism,
and accountability.
Summary
Proverb:
• beware of putting new wine in
old wineskins (doing new things
in old ways)
o Remember the moose hunters
• Prosocial skills training
o the missing link?
•
Pre-professional
development
o Removing the fear
•
Professional development
o re-visioning and building
effective new paradigms
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca
• The EAT model
• one illustration
of simple steps
toward
increasing
teachers’ sense
of efficacy
(able, valuable,
responsible)
• Together
building inviting
inclusive
communities for
learning
Thriving in your vocation
• Vocation = calling
• Pursue professional
efficacy with passion
• Be personally &
professionally inviting
• One person can
make a difference:
be that person!
Contact: Ken Pudlas
(pudlas@twu.ca