Developing inclusive pedagogy: Some theoretical insights from research evidence

EDDY LI, LANGUAGE SUPPORT OFFICER, HONG KONG While working as a newly qualified teacher in Hong Kong, I often reflected upon, and explored with my colleagues, which classroom strategies might help to support the learning of all children. From time to time we felt uncertain about our own capacity to develop more inclusive practices. This was despite our recognition of the transformability of children’s learning capacity (Swann et al., 2012) – that there is always the potential for change as a result of what both teachers and learners do in the present. One of our key pedagogical challenges was how to teach the increasing diversity of learners, many of whom were categorised by our local authority as having ‘special educational needs’ (for example, ‘children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder’, ‘children with specific learning difficulties in reading and writing’ and ‘children with speech and language impairment’). Among other things, these ‘labels of def