Inclusion Summer Institute 2007
Video Testimonials from a range of 2007 participants
Remember last June...
INCLUSION SUMMER INSTITUTE
Gateway Hotel , NOTTINGHAM
JUNE 6 - 8 TH 2007
Co-hosted by
Inclusive Solutions
Nottingham Trent University
The Alliance for Inclusive Education
The Marsha Forest Centre, Toronto
VIDEO Testimonials
'Stormin’ conference last week! I really appreciated the chance to be with you and share the experience with so many great people. Thank you so much.
Peter Bates
National Development Team'
'Hello Derek and Colin
Just to say I thoroughly enjoyed the Inclusion Summer School. It was such a wonderful environment to be in. Can’t wait for the next one!
Many thanks for all your hard work,
Anne
Emerson
Research Fellow
Division of Psychology
Nottingham Trent University '
What a mind blowing international and inclusive experience for all of us! There was a wealth of themes throughout the 3 days centering around
both the development of fully inclusive education systems and issues of
social and community inclusion. Leaders from within the disability community
in the UK and beyond were presenting and we had a number of young
disabled people also attending.
Delegates from Russia,
India and from around the UK participated with
people working towards inclusive education in other parts of the world.
Wednesday 6th June
10.00 Welcome\Introductions
10.30 Mark Vaughan - Whole Group Inclusion Metaphor
11.30 Coffee
11.45 The Learning Marketplace
12.45 Lunch
1.45 Workshops
3.30 Whole group Session - One for All
4.30 Close
Evening Workshops to be arranged
Thursday 7th June
9.30 Welcome to Day 2
9.45 Filming Inclusion – Jeff Dobbin
11.15 Coffee
11.30 Workshops
12.30 Lunch
1.30 Workshops
3.30 Whole group session – to be arranged
4.30 Close
Evening: Disability in the Media presentation– Richard Rieser
8pm Live Jazz in the bar with 'Colin Newton's Jazz Knights'
Friday 8th June
9.30 Welcome to Day 3
9.45 Building Community/Beyond Welfare - Lois Smidt
11.00 Coffee
11.15 Workshops
12.15 Lunch
1.15 Workshops
2.30 ‘Change’ - Jack Pearpoint and Whole Group Closing Session
3pm Gargoyles and Champions of Change
3.30 End of Summer Institute
'Thank you very much for inviting me to attend such a wonderful and inspiring conference, it was fantastic and I am very grateful. Thanks again.
Lucy Pitt
Person Centred Planning Co-ordinator
Positive Futures Team'
Presenters/Facilitators :
Tara Flood - Director, The Alliance for Inclusive Education with One for All
Micheline Mason, Inclusion Advocate and Poet with Colin Newton of Inclusive Solutions
Micheline Mason and Tara Flood's Workshop:
Our workshop:
The role of an alliance of voices in the struggle for inclusion
History has shown that the struggle for inclusion has often been an
isolating journey - individuals are made to feel they are the only ones who
want inclusion or that their expectations for inclusion are unrealistic or
unreasonable. We are made invisible by society's desire to segregate those
us who society considers to have no value.
Coming together as a self organised collective of voices - disabled people
and our allies, in support of inclusion has shown that the vision of a
future where difference is celebrated and inclusion a right for ALL, can be
made real.
We looked at what barriers exclude us and how we can work together to end
the invisibility
Jack Pearpoint - Inclusion Press, Marsha Forest Centre, Toronto
Lynda Kahn - Inclusion Press, Marsha Forest Centre, Toronto 
Mark Vaughan long time director of CSIE
Derek Wilson - Inclusive Solutions, Nottingham 
Colin Newton and Derek Wilson's Workshop:
Circle of Adults
Teams Reflecting and Problem Solving Around
Emotional Needs and Challenging Behaviour’
This session modeled an in-depth problem solving process for use by teams of teachers. Using both process and graphic facilitation the group was guided through a set of key questions to reach a deeper understanding of the young person’s challenging behaviours, unmet emotional needs and to develop fresh strategies.
The ‘Circles of Adults’ approach addresses the need for a problem solving process that is able to take an in-depth look at meeting the emotional needs that commonly underlie challenging behaviour in schools. The approach was co-facilitated and was designed to enable the participation of teacher teams to reach a deeper understanding of a young person and to evolve a set of hypotheses and emerging strategies that better accommodate to unmet emotional and learning needs. The approach is a time consuming one and intended for use with the most challenging young people, those at high risk of being permanently excluded from the regular school system.
Judith Snow took on the voice of 'the person' . Our session was powerful and emotional for all present!
Judith Snow - Author, lecturer, citizenship organiser for disabled people,Toronto
Judith Snow, M.A. is a social inventor, artist, and an advocate for Inclusion. Her work is recognized and sought after internationally.
You cannot be in her presence without experiencing a shift and seeing new possibility for yourself and others. Powerful, energetic and joyful, her passion is matched only by her commitment. Her entire life is dedicated to making a difference for people all over the world. She is co-author and star in the highly acclaimed multi-media play "Suck and Blow," a powerful demonstration that alters people's listening of (viewpoint about) those labeled "disabled."
Judith is a founding member and Associate of the Marsha Forest Centre. In 1983, along
with Jack Pearpoint, John McKnight, John O'Brien and many others, Judith Snow was a
member of the founding Faculty of the McGill Summer Institute for Integrated Education
and, in 1994, the Toronto Summer Institute for Inclusive Community.
In 1980 she became Canada's first person to receive individualized funding from the Government in Ontario. Shortly thereafter, she chaired the first ever attendant care action coalition, which caused the government to provide funding for 600+ people in Ontario. Also during those years, she developed a model that puts government funding directly into the hands of the people who need the support. Since then some form of liberating individualized assistance has been adopted by most provinces for people with all sorts of disabilities.
Judith is the Director of Laser Eagles, an organization sponsoring the opportunity for people with very limiting disabilities to create art. Using a revolutionary technology invented by Tim Lefens and brought to Canada by Judith and her friends, people who don't speak are showing what they're feeling and thinking, and painting spectacular pieces of their own design.
"Put me in front of people and I transform lives. At a local university I had 60 young women for 2 hrs every week. We restructured the curriculum and had them work together. Some of these women created support circles for kids from their former high schools who hid been excluded. These kids got jobs and friends. Another group built a group for a woman with anxiety disorder and supported her in presenting in front of the class without medication. Another group developed a board game for teaching inclusion. All 60 students got A's and every one of them had earned them legitimately."
In the past seven years Judith Snow has concentrated on the contributions of people who don't speak. She has created several day-long workshops for 'quiet' people, along with their friends and family, to come together and explore what it takes to make a difference in their lives and make evident what they are contributing.
Judith has recently launched a project, The Peace Bridge. The aim of the initiative is to bring public awareness to one of the major benefits of inclusion which is that people become more peaceful when they live and work together in inclusive ways. The project is to have an organization that is a major economic and societal player, such as the U.N., measure the impact of peace-building inclusion. People pay attention to what is measured, and what is measured increases. As inclusion increases, peace will inevitably follow.
Judith Snow shows people that there really is no disability. "People are always contributing something. The work is to see the value and opportunity in what they're contributing and build that through relationships into community opportunities."
Jeff Dobbin, Parashoot will be showcasing video footage never before seen in the UK!
Lois Smidt - Beyond Welfare, Iowa USA
Much thanks again for a wonderful visit and opportunity. I will have to
express more later because (a) I am sooooooooo sleepy and (b) I am still
processing the joy and the learning.
Patti Scott - Neighbors Inc. New Jersey, USA
Process for the Institute:
This was not a 3-day 'academic' conference - but a bringing together of a unique group of thinkers and doers to create a learning community.
Key Themes:
Inclusive Education and leadership in inclusive schools
Person Centred Planning
Many people had a MAP or a PATH facilitated with them including Joseph below...
A range of topics were explored including:
MAPS PATHS CIRCLES
International perspectives on Inclusive Education
Supported Living - Real Lives and Support Brokering that works
Creating Integrated teams - Building Shared Vision
Teams for Behaviour
Mental Health issues and Inclusion
OTHER PRESENTERS
There were quite a number of presenters not named on the flyer including:
Richard Rieser, DEE- Caroline and Maresa MacKeith
Nigel Utton, Headteacher Chair of 'Heading for Inclusion' an organisation for leaders in education who are dedicated to the pinciples and practice of inclusive education. This group is supported by ALLFIE a national campaigning network.
‘Self Organised Learning:
A gateway to personalising learning’
Gerv Leyden and Jackie Dearden
Workshop co-leaders
Introduction
How did you learn how to learn? How effective are your personal learning strategies?
For most of us, schooling was about teaching rather than learning and exams to be passed, or failed. About what was to be learned, and probably forgotten. Ironically, it is possible to spend 20 years or more in the educational system without any opportunity to learn about and improve on our own learning strategies. Most of us carry into adult life habits and practices picked up through trial and error in our school days, remaining at the stage of ‘what’ to learn rather than ‘how’ to learn it.
Encouragingly, as David Hargreaves recently pointed out, education providers in the UK are now being challenged to include ‘learning to learn’ as one gateway to personalising learning.
Which brings us to self organised learning.
What is Self Organised Learning?
‘Self Organised Learning’ (S0L) is a person-centred system, developed at Brunel University by Laurie Thomas and Sheila Harri-Augsten. It focuses on the learner and the learning as distinct to the teacher and the curriculum. It provides a framework, learning tools and techniques to assist the learner in identifying, reflecting on and improving her/his skills as a ‘self-organised learner.’
SOL is not an ‘off-the-shelf’ standardised package. Its theoretical basis draws on the positive psychology of George Kelly and Carl Rogers. It brings about change through ‘learning conversations’, which enable learners to identify the purposes and strategies and improve the effectiveness of their own learning.
Current definitions of learning require revision to reflect the changing needs of the learner and society. John West-Burnham and Max Coates (‘Personalising Learning,’ 2005, Network Educational Press) describe the autonomous or self-organised learner as being able to ‘learn how to learn’ and possessing a disposition to do so. Such a learner can analyse his/her own learning strategies and outcomes as well as support the learning of others. S/he also knows how to make an effective contribution to and benefit from the processes of teamwork and working with others.
Applications of SOL
In our own work in the UK we have been impressed by ways in which SOL has been enthusiastically embraced by; learning mentors, teachers, pastoral staff, classroom aids, learning assistants and peer tutors. Most recently it has proven effective in our work with members of multi-agency and social support teams, working with the most vulnerable youngsters in challenging circumstances.
The potential applications of SOL have also been recognised by organisations as diverse as the Nuffield Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, DfES the Welsh Office and the Post Office. The School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham draws on SOL in its professional training programmes for educational psychologists.
Internationally, SOL has stimulated seminars, radio and TV programmes in the USA, Mexico, Australia, Europe and India. In Australia the University of Sydney, as well as sports psychologists and coaches, have taken it up. SOL has also featured in courses offered by universities in Singapore, Korea and the USA.
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About us
Gervase Leyden
Gerv is an experienced educational psychologist (EP) and trainer, having worked in LEAs at senior management and specialist levels. His career has also incorporated experience as tutor to the professional training courses for EPs at the universities of Birmingham and Nottingham, where he is currently tutor on the doctorate programme for practising EPs. He has additional qualifications in occupational psychology, is an associate to the Special Needs Consultancy and a board member of the Marsha Forest Centre for Inclusion, Community and Education, Toronto.
Gerv has also served on the National Executive of the Association of Educational Psychologists and is a former chair of the Training Committee of the British Psychological Society. His research and publications include the role of psychological services, the application of psychology to support the needs of vulnerable children, and making schools safer, ‘healthier’ and more inclusive.
Jackie Dearden
Jackie is involved in a range of training and consultancy, which includes working as an educational psychologist in Nottingham City and being an associate with Strategic Services for Children and Young People. Her doctoral research has led to publications about resilience and multi-agency working and the establishment of a Collaborative Research Network, which aims to sustain links between Nottingham City Children’s Services, Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nottingham.
Jackie’s current interests also include action research (especially in relation to challenging assumptions and improving practice for young people with severe communication impairments), graphic facilitation and effective inclusive practice.
Video Testimonials from a range of 2007 participants
