To explore curriculum content, across all subjects, for issues of social inclusion

Aim

To explore curriculum content, across all subjects, for issues of social inclusion.

Evidence and reflection

This activity should be undertaken by a whole staff working together.

• Divide into groups and share out the subject areas of the National Curriculum.  In your group discover what you know between you about the contribution of women, African, Afro-Caribbean, Asian and disabled people to that particular subject area. Also consider how social class has influenced the content of the curriculum.
• As a whole staff share your findings.  Can colleagues from other groups add information to complete the picture of your combined knowledge? What do your findings reveal? Were you surprised at how much (or how little) you knew collectively?
• Discuss how you might develop your collective knowledge. Identify the areas you would like to know more about e.g. Black history, minority languages, immigration laws, biographies of significant people, different religious groups, women/black/disabled writers/poets, musicians, athletes, historical figures and so on.
• Devise a method for developing your knowledge base perhaps each member of staff taking on a different area, with the aim of providing a curriculum resource for the school.

Follow-up

Create a staff room resource collection.

More in this chapter

• To reveal the interconnectedness between key categories of social difference
• To review the possible influence of common dimensions of inequality on our expectations of children
• To explore the concepts of cultural capital, emotional capital and social capital
• To explore issues related to sexual harassment
• To explore children's understanding of disability
• To explore children's understanding of family practices and roles
• To reflect on common forms of social differentiation and polarization
• To reflect on the quality and consequences of relationships between teacher and children
• To investigate assessment results, their use and implications
• To consider aspects of school life which disadvantage one gender group at the expense of the other
• To identify pupils who exhibit quiet, non-participatory behaviour during your lesson
• To explore children's perceptions of playground friendships
• To reflect on understandings of learner diversity
• To reflect on our understanding of inclusive education
• To explore school policy and provision for learners identified as having special or additional needs
• To reflect on how far, and in what ways, our classroom practices support all learners
• To reflect on inclusive pedagogy and its classroom application
• To consider the arguments for single sex and mixed sex groupings
• To consider promoting positive images of various ethnic minority groups