Embracing Diversity: Toolkit for Creating Inclusive Learning-Friendly Environments
Why is this Toolkit important?
The Toolkit promotes and provides guidance on how to create an inclusive, learning-friendly environment (ILFE), which welcomes, nurtures, and educates all children regardless of their gender, physical, intellectual, social economic, emotional, linguistic, or other characteristics. They may be disabled and 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.
Who is the Toolkit for?
The Toolkit was written especially for teachers working in a pre-primary, primary, or secondary level classroom. It is also very useful for school administrators and for teacher-training institutions. The Toolkit has also been especially valuable for teachers who are working in schools that are changing to become more child-centered and learning-friendly environments, possibly due to reforms introduced by the Ministry of Education, or because of activities promoted by a non-governmental organization (NGO).
What can you find in the Toolkit?
This toolkit contains an introductory booklet and nine booklets (including three specialized booklets), each of which contains tools and activities for self-study to start creating an inclusive, learning-friendly environment. Some of these activities ask the reader to reflect on what his/her school are doing now in terms of creating an ILFE, while others actively guide the reader in improving his/her skills as a teacher in a diverse classroom.
Contents
Download the core toolkit here! (Introductory + 6 booklets)
Introductory booklet
Booklet 1: Becoming an Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Environment (ILFE)
Through the Toolkit, users will learn what an “inclusive, learning-friendly environment” is, and how their school and classrooms can create such an environment.
Booklet 2: Working with Families and Communities to Create of ILFE
Users will learn how very important families and communities are to the whole process of creating and maintaining an inclusive, learning-friendly environment, as well as how to involve parents and community members in the school, and how to involve children in the community.
Booklet 3: Getting All Children In School and Learning
Users will learn what barriers exclude rather than include ALL children in school, how to identify those children who are not in school, and how to deal with barriers to their inclusion in school.
Booklet 4: Creating an Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Classroom
Users will learn how to create an inclusive classroom including why becoming inclusive and learning-friendly is so important to children’s achievement, how to deal with the wide range of different children attending the class, and how to make learning meaningful for all.
Booklet 5: Managing an Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Classroom
Users will learn how to manage an inclusive classroom including planning for teaching and learning, maximizing available resources, managing group work and cooperative learning, as well as how to assess children’s learning.
Booklet 6: Creating a Healthy and Protective ILFE
Users will learn ways to make the school healthy and protective for ALL children, and especially those with diverse backgrounds and abilities who are more prone to becoming ill, malnourished or victimized.
Specialized Booklet 1: Positive Discipline in the Inclusive, Learning-Friendly Classroom
Users will learn how to utilize methods for positive discipline in the inclusive, learning-friendly classroom, build positive student-teacher relationships and create supportive learning environments.
Specialized Booklet 2: Practical Tips for Teaching Large Classes
Users will get practical tips for how to create inclusive, learning-friendly environments in large classes, how to teach effectively and how to evaluate learning in large classes.
Specialized Booklet 3: Teaching Children with Disabilities in Inclusive Settings
Users will learn how to overcome barriers to learning, development and participation for learners with disabilities, and how to use universal design to accommodate diverse needs. Users will also learn more about particular challenges and opportunities related to common impairments.
Specialized Booklet 4: Practical Tips for Teaching Multigrade Classes
Users will learn how to successfully teach groups across grades and manage inclusive, learning-friendly classrooms containing children with diverse backgrounds and abilities. Users will also gain practical approaches to maximizing use of available resources, planning appropriate teaching and learning strategies, developing materials, and assessing learning.