Curricular Adaptations: Enhancing Inclusive Education
What is Acceleration of Education?
It allows students to advance to a more advanced course corresponding to their age and knowledge level, provided they’ve met previous objectives. This measure considers curricular competition and personal development.
Types of Curricular Adaptations
Center
Steps:
- Define the center’s value system or identity: educational project (SGP).
- Adapt general educational objectives to individual student needs.
- Personalize teaching methodology.
- Adapt content based on the student body.
- Adapt access, addressing institute or student material deficiencies.
Classroom
Adjustments are made in specific classroom programming, including teaching-learning activities, assessment, content, and objectives.
We distinguish two types of curriculum adaptations:
- Temporary: Changing the time for achieving objectives.
- Insignificant: Student surpasses targets slower than peers but within the same cycle.
- Significant: Student needs another cycle or course to meet objectives.
- Specific Objectives or Content Areas: Adapting certain areas of the school curriculum.
- Optionality in certain subjects or content.
- Curriculum diversification as an extreme case, adjusting a number of activities.
Student
These consist of individual responses offered to students. Adaptation for special needs students should be built around the teaching-learning process.
Highlights:
- After an initial educational diagnosis, choose the most appropriate method to achieve overall goals according to their possibilities.
- Adjustments should focus on educational goals or skills development, not just curricular content.
Conditions to Consider for Curricular Adaptations
- Define school-based management (PEC).
- Adopt a flexible organization based on student needs and activities.
- Prioritize skills development, thinking processes, values, methodology, and essential content.
- Use a methodology that enhances meaningful learning and improves learning levels, focusing on capacity building rather than knowledge quantity.
The Warnock Report (Integration)
Supports three forms of integration:
- Physical Integration: Contact from special education classrooms in mainstream schools.
- Social Integration: Students with special needs share activities with other students, forming the basis for social integration in society.
- Functional Integration: Students with special needs participate in regular classroom activities, either full-time or part-time.
Stainback and Stainback (1992) Inclusive School Characteristics:
Classroom Philosophy: All students can learn in regular classrooms; diversity enriches the educational community.
Classroom Rules: Rules ensure fair treatment, equal and mutual respect among students, influenced by the teacher’s attitude.
Instruction According to Student Characteristics: Support is provided to help students achieve curriculum objectives.
Support Within the Regular Classroom: Support and reinforcement should occur within the regular classroom whenever possible.
Giangreco’s Eight Defining Characteristics for Quality Inclusive Education:
Collaborative teamwork, shared ideas and beliefs, family involvement, tutor’s role, understanding and cooperation among professionals, effective support staff, individual development programs or significant curricular adaptations, and procedures for evaluating effectiveness.
Curricular Adaptation Principles
Principle of Standardization: The mainstream curriculum is the ultimate reference. The aim is to achieve objectives through a standardized education process.
Eco-Principle: Adaptations need to adjust to the educational needs of students within their immediate context (school, environment, group, individual).
Principle of Significance: Adaptations range from minor (access elements) to significant (basic curriculum elements like evaluation and methodology).
Principle of Reality: Adaptations must be feasible, based on available resources and clear goals.
Principle of Participation and Involvement: Curricular adaptation involves collaboration between the tutor and other professionals, with decisions made by consensus and documented accordingly.
Reinforcement or Educational Support
Strengthening education meets timely educational needs of a student or group, complementing and enriching mainstream schooling. It’s commonly used in primary and secondary education and can be implemented by the tutor or with support professionals.
Types:
- Previous or in Advance: Providing documents and materials for advance study or reviewing upcoming content.
- Simultaneous: Providing materials and resources during class or support from a professor.
- Post or Review: Review materials or teacher support to reinforce content addressed in class.
The tutor is responsible for educational support, with guidance department endorsement.
Characteristics of Pedagogical Education (Parrilla, 1992a):
- Education seeks humanizing change, perfection, or improvement.
- It is intended for the individual, considered integral and unique.
- Education is a process.
- Education occurs in many areas; school is the proper space for development.
- Education means inclusion and participation in society; special education is pedagogically driven, differing from general education by its methods and situations, not its goals.
Zabalza (1990: 99) Five Functions of Educational Events:
- Development: Education changes and evolves the subject.
- Liberation: Education makes man seek freedom.
- Socio-Training: Education integrates the subject into society and enables work.
- Information: Education enables the subject intellectually.
- Training: Education develops the subject individually.