An individual education plan (IEP) is a written document detailing the special education services, accommodations, and programs a school district wishes to offer for a particular student. IEPs are developed after a comprehensive examination of a student’s abilities and needs and their capacity to learn and exhibit what they have learned. Gacoin (2020) uses teachers from different schools to explain how educators in British Columbia navigate inclusive education policy and practice. Gacoin (2020) uses instructors’ opinions to create teaching and learning settings that support all children with diverse learning requirements. These perspectives are provided by exploring the opportunities for and issues confronting individualized inclusive education in British Columbia.
Key Points
The journal article analyses the attempts made in British Columbia to implement inclusive education regulations and the obstacles educators have experienced in attempting to construct inclusive classrooms to capture the study’s essential components. Gacoin (2020) examined the views of instructors from different school districts. Gacoin (2020) found that despite their commitment to providing an inclusive education for all students, many educators need more funds, support, and training to make this a reality. Secondly, since educators have varied beliefs about what inclusion is and how it should be accomplished, this often leads to disputes when implementing the policy. Moreover, Gacoin (2020) discloses that teachers confront various challenges when attempting to include all students, including a lack of time, huge class sizes, and unclear instructions. Gacoin (2020) insists that to navigate inclusive education regulations successfully. Teachers must depend not only on their prior knowledge and experience but also on their connections with other educators and support employees.
Scope
Even though Gacoin (2020) only looks at a small percentage of the research on inclusive education undertaken in British Columbia, it is nevertheless valuable since it gives context for understanding the issues that British Columbia teachers confront. Gacoin (2020) examines legislative changes over the previous few decades and gives background information on inclusive education in British Columbia. The article’s next section discusses the difficulties educators encounter while adopting inclusive education practices. These difficulties include insufficient resources and help, insufficient training, pushback from other instructors, and parental resistance. However, the work may be improved by doing a more thorough review of the relevant corpus of literature on inclusive education. This evaluation should contain the most current research on how to implement policies and educate instructors.
Soundness
The technique utilized in the journal article, as well as the data analysis, were both thorough, resulting in the unambiguous identification of recurring themes and patterns in the results. This article is important to the debate of inclusive education because it illustrates the difficulties that educators confront when seeking to adopt inclusive policies. However, given the research only included teachers in British Columbia, the findings may not be applicable in other circumstances.
Writing and Style
The journal article essay is well-structured and written, with distinct headers and subheadings that lead the reader through the primary topics presented. Gacoin (2020) presents a text is not extremely complicated and may be comprehended by a wide range of individuals. The journal article demonstrates that educators in British Columbia adopt a variety of strategies to avoid the inclusionary atmosphere. These include collaborating with colleagues and other professionals, establishing relationships with children and their families, and adapting their teaching approaches to meet the needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Gacoin (2020) employs heavy and well-structured approach to showcase the significance of the findings for teacher training and professional development. The text’s organization is meant to emphasize that greater assistance and resources are required to assist teachers in properly implementing inclusive education initiatives.
Relevance and Contribution to Education
The journal article is closely related to the material covered in class on individualized education plans (IEPs) and multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), as it emphasizes the importance of collaboration with other professionals and the difficulties that educators face when attempting to create inclusive classrooms. Gacoin (2020) adds to the field by offering a complete knowledge of the implementation of inclusive policies in British Columbia and the role of teachers in negotiating these policies. This information is useful to the industry. It also emphasizes the need of providing educators with greater resources, support, and training so that inclusive education policies may be implemented successfully.
There are other broad studies on IEPs. For instance, Watson (2019) believes that individualized education plan only cover the courses that are challenging due to the disabilities and should provide the time frame for the student to successfully complete the benchmark milestones on the path to achieving the set IEP objectives. A good IEP should give a good sense of the general education curriculum that is taught at the appropriate age and establish the needed supports and resources needed for the student’s success (Watson, 2019). Logsdon (2022) insists that objectives included in the IEP must be amended at least once a year. Depending on the child’s concerns, objectives should include increasing academic achievement, conduct, and physical mobility. Logsdon (2022) adds that every aim should be quantifiable. Teachers and parents should be able to determine, via periodical assessments, how close the child has come to achieving the objectives they set for themselves at the conclusion of each academic year. Moreover, Logsdon (2022) asserts that IEP must explain how a student’s objectives will be evaluated for progress, such as via frequent testing and use of teacher feedback reports.
References
Gacoin, A. (2020). The landscape of inclusion: How teachers in British Columbia navigate inclusive education policy and practice. BCTF Research Report, 20(2). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED606420.pdf
Logsdon, A. (2022). What should your child’s IEP include? Verywell Family. https://www.verywellfamily.com/essential-parts-of-an-individual-education-program-2162702
Watson, S. (2019). Individual education program definition. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/iep-individual-education-program-3111299