Defining the terms:
Access and Equity means providing equal opportunities to learning."Access" means finding ways of 'bypassing barriers to learning(DfES,2002).There are many characteristics that can be considered as barriers to learning or education such as: income, gender, race, ethnicity, power, status, age, religion, physical or mental disability or any other characteristic. "Equity" means providing education by being fair and impartial irrespective of any diversification.
Diversity means there may be different learners with different styles and preferences of learning, they may be from different social, emotional or cultural backgrounds. They may be different in intellectual levels also.Diversity means everyone is unique in his learning preference.Levitas et al(2007) define social exclusion as "a complex and multidimensional process. It involves the lack or denial of resources, rights, goods and services and the inability to participate in the normal relationships and activities, availability to the majority of people in the society, whether in economic, social or cultural or political arenas. It affects both the quality of individuals and the equity and cohesion of society as a whole."Moreover Diversity or inequality is a structural feature of society-it is something that actually exists(Preston's "inequality in condition") and it can be said that new developments create exclusion of the poor, as they do not have the means to pursue more education and /or buy equipment needed to gain the benefits of the new ICTs.To be Inclusive means providing access to learning to all regardless of any type of diversity. For this learning environment also plays a great role. Learning environment should be of Universal Design so that access can be provided to all regardless of disability or health or learning preference.
Example of Inclusive teaching:On 31st march I had attended a class of ESOL facilitated by Pariya Williams.In this class there were 15 students.This session was really a good example of inclusive teaching,as it was the class of a variety of students from different countries, having different learning styles and preferences, having different languages etc.The environment was very congenial. There was proper light , whiteboard ,computer and projector to facilitate learning. It was the classroom and not the lecture theater.The seating arrangement was of U style and according to the situation so that whiteboard , facilitator and projector should be visible to all.There was a lot of diversity in the students but still Pariya Williams has made it an inclusive teaching.She has taken care of level of all the learners.She took the examples from the class or from the life experiences to relate the topics.The session was about vocabulary and pronunciation.Before the starting of the session even the objectives and learning outcomes were written on the whiteboard so that students must be clear about what they are going to study. She started the lesson very well and she used he projector and computer to do some tests on vocabulary to check that whether the concepts are clear to the students or not? She was trying to engage the students by asking questions.Students were completely involved in that. From the prompt responses and answers of the students it was very clear that the concepts were very clear to them.Whenever she found that someone is facing a problem in understanding any word she related that with an example or by making a sentence, so that student could understand that and it worked very well.Her voice has also made a very good effect on the session ,as sometimes she used a little pause in her voice and in the very next moment she became dramatic with a little loud voice to get the attention of the students.She also used one students headphone to clear one concept in the class.In the next part of the session i.e comprehension session also she gave written material to all the students and explained each paragraph. She also provided dictionaries to all the students so that they should not feel any problem in understanding any word.
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What could prevent all the students being able to learn in the class?:
As it was the class of international students from different countries like Japan,Korea there was a lot of diversification in their learning preferences and styles, language etc.But still the facilitator tried very well to make the learning effective to all the students.The language understanding was the main problem that could prevent all the students being able to learn, but the facilitator was so efficient that she was trying to speak so clearly and trying to come to their level so that everyone could understand that.One boy in the class was listening some music by using head phone. When the facilitator noticed she had not asked him to stop that rather she very wisely taken that head phone to give an example related to the topic.In this way she stopped him from listening music and took his attention in the classroom activity. She opted different ways to provide access to all the learners.
What type of assistance the learners may need to help them access learning environment more easily?:
It was the session of ESOL and was about vocabulary and pronunciation, the understanding of concepts was very important to make the learning more accessible.From the prompt responses of the students it was clear that the facilitator had already explained the concepts very well.During the comprehension session she gave the written material to all the students. However she was explaining that paragraph but still somebody may face a problem in understanding the meaning of any word, so dictionaries were required to help them .She provided dictionaries to all the students to help them access learning more easily. To make the learning environment more accessible she switched off some lights while using the projector.Before the end of the session she also wrote homework on the whiteboard and wrote a few key points for quick revision of the lesson.
Access and Equity means providing equal opportunities to learning."Access" means finding ways of 'bypassing barriers to learning(DfES,2002).There are many characteristics that can be considered as barriers to learning or education such as: income, gender, race, ethnicity, power, status, age, religion, physical or mental disability or any other characteristic. "Equity" means providing education by being fair and impartial irrespective of any diversification.
Diversity means there may be different learners with different styles and preferences of learning, they may be from different social, emotional or cultural backgrounds. They may be different in intellectual levels also.Diversity means everyone is unique in his learning preference.Levitas et al(2007) define social exclusion as "a complex and multidimensional process. It involves the lack or denial of resources, rights, goods and services and the inability to participate in the normal relationships and activities, availability to the majority of people in the society, whether in economic, social or cultural or political arenas. It affects both the quality of individuals and the equity and cohesion of society as a whole."Moreover Diversity or inequality is a structural feature of society-it is something that actually exists(Preston's "inequality in condition") and it can be said that new developments create exclusion of the poor, as they do not have the means to pursue more education and /or buy equipment needed to gain the benefits of the new ICTs.To be Inclusive means providing access to learning to all regardless of any type of diversity. For this learning environment also plays a great role. Learning environment should be of Universal Design so that access can be provided to all regardless of disability or health or learning preference.
Example of Inclusive teaching:On 31st march I had attended a class of ESOL facilitated by Pariya Williams.In this class there were 15 students.This session was really a good example of inclusive teaching,as it was the class of a variety of students from different countries, having different learning styles and preferences, having different languages etc.The environment was very congenial. There was proper light , whiteboard ,computer and projector to facilitate learning. It was the classroom and not the lecture theater.The seating arrangement was of U style and according to the situation so that whiteboard , facilitator and projector should be visible to all.There was a lot of diversity in the students but still Pariya Williams has made it an inclusive teaching.She has taken care of level of all the learners.She took the examples from the class or from the life experiences to relate the topics.The session was about vocabulary and pronunciation.Before the starting of the session even the objectives and learning outcomes were written on the whiteboard so that students must be clear about what they are going to study. She started the lesson very well and she used he projector and computer to do some tests on vocabulary to check that whether the concepts are clear to the students or not? She was trying to engage the students by asking questions.Students were completely involved in that. From the prompt responses and answers of the students it was very clear that the concepts were very clear to them.Whenever she found that someone is facing a problem in understanding any word she related that with an example or by making a sentence, so that student could understand that and it worked very well.Her voice has also made a very good effect on the session ,as sometimes she used a little pause in her voice and in the very next moment she became dramatic with a little loud voice to get the attention of the students.She also used one students headphone to clear one concept in the class.In the next part of the session i.e comprehension session also she gave written material to all the students and explained each paragraph. She also provided dictionaries to all the students so that they should not feel any problem in understanding any word.
What could prevent all the students being able to learn in the class?:
As it was the class of international students from different countries like Japan,Korea there was a lot of diversification in their learning preferences and styles, language etc.But still the facilitator tried very well to make the learning effective to all the students.The language understanding was the main problem that could prevent all the students being able to learn, but the facilitator was so efficient that she was trying to speak so clearly and trying to come to their level so that everyone could understand that.One boy in the class was listening some music by using head phone. When the facilitator noticed she had not asked him to stop that rather she very wisely taken that head phone to give an example related to the topic.In this way she stopped him from listening music and took his attention in the classroom activity. She opted different ways to provide access to all the learners.
What type of assistance the learners may need to help them access learning environment more easily?:
It was the session of ESOL and was about vocabulary and pronunciation, the understanding of concepts was very important to make the learning more accessible.From the prompt responses of the students it was clear that the facilitator had already explained the concepts very well.During the comprehension session she gave the written material to all the students. However she was explaining that paragraph but still somebody may face a problem in understanding the meaning of any word, so dictionaries were required to help them .She provided dictionaries to all the students to help them access learning more easily. To make the learning environment more accessible she switched off some lights while using the projector.Before the end of the session she also wrote homework on the whiteboard and wrote a few key points for quick revision of the lesson.
Namarta you have provided an excellent overview of access, equity and diversity. The definitions are very comprehensive and I like the way you have cited literature to support your statements. It is interesting to read about the classroom experience you had with ESOL. As you say there is much diversity in terms of learning preferences and learning styles, and language with the different nationalities of students. The teacher's methods for capturing the interest of the students and helping them learn appear to be effective. Is there anything different you would try in the same situation if you were the teacher?
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