Community helps foster educational inclusion

An open space in which children can see their own parents learn within the same setting that they learn fosters inclusion and promotes learning among children. Inclusion, both social as well as educational, is also fostered through close collaboration with other organisations in the same community.

These were some of the first conclusions of an ongoing research module, part of a five-year project focusing on inclusion and social cohesion, involving 15 partner EU countries, including the University of Malta. The project is coordinated by the Centre of Research in Theories and Practices that overcome Inequalities, which is part of the University of Barcelona in Spain.

Suzanne Gatt, a University lecturer, is leading one of the six research modules of this FP6 project, entitled Include-ed - Strategies For Inclusion And Social Cohesion In Europe From Education.

Dr Gatt explained that the project is now in its second year, and the findings, which were announced during a dissemination seminar earlier this year, were the result of research carried out during the first year, in six schools across four countries.

Malta's case study was The Writing Programme, run by the Foundation for Educational Services, and a primary school in which the programme was run. The other case studies were carried out in Spain, Finland and Lithuania.

She said: "This FP6 project, to which the European Commission has allocated five million euros, looks into the issues of how education promotes inclusion and what factors bring about exclusion.

"The module which the University of Malta is responsible for involves case study research of successful schools which manage to promote better performance through the participation of the community." The other five modules involve analyses on school systems, reforms and practices that generate high and low rates of inclusion, a study on how educational exclusion affects different aspects of society and different groups of people, and an analysis of interventions in educational policy which produce positive results.

The research carried out by the Maltese team involved a study of six schools, which included primary and secondary schools in four countries. Common factors were that the schools were situated in low socio-economic areas and offered early intervention programmes with a theoretical and research base that encouraged inclusiveness in the learning process. Furthermore, the parents participated in their children's learning process in all the schools, even if up to varying degrees.

The inclusiveness programmes undertaken by schools resulted in the students' greater motivation and willingness to learn. With the help of such programmes, the children learnt to develop their own learning strategies and learnt how to control them - a process referred to as metacognition. Part of the empowerment process of this inclusive setting also involved learning how to build one's self-esteem, and how to realise one's potential. In fact, the researchers concluded that the students learnt how to set higher goals and expectations for themselves.

Perhaps one of the most important findings is that in an inclusive setting, knowledge becomes shared property. Thus, "the learning process changes from an individualistic cognitive process to one where ideas and opinions are socially shared and constructed."

Dr Gatt said that the work carried out during the first year was reviewed by the European Commission and was rated as "very good - excellent".

"This is very important to us as our findings will be disseminated among the European Members of Parliament."

The findings of this project are also expected to help identify strategies to be used by policy-makers, educators, students and their families, with the aim of meeting the Lisbon goals.