Inclusion teams

The dimensions of this integration include understanding the implications of global demographic change on product demands and customer requirements. It also underscores the fact that diverse and inclusive teams often outperform homogeneous teams in terms of productivity and innovation (see Hayles, Chapter 2, this volume). 

The modern approach to occupational health and safety is much broader and more inclusive. Teams are multidisciplinary and address mental and social needs of workers in addition to their physical needs. Teams may include a physician, nurse, social worker, psychologist, occupational hygienist, and toxicologist. Programs on topics such as stress management... 

The inclusion agenda is wide and varied and needs to be understood by everyone involved in meeting pupil needs. The Inclusion Team need to brainstorm ideas about informing all staff with respea to the varied needs of pupils. 

Inclusion is a process and is not developed overnight. The Inclusion Team will need to develop a clear time plan for developing greater inclusive activities over the forthcoming year. This information will need to be int rated into the school Self-Evaluation Form (SEF). 

There is close liaison between the SENCO/appropriate member of the inclusion team and the parents. 

In organising support for pupils at these three levels, schools and the Inclusion Team in particular will need to have ... 

Many schools are now using educational welfare officers in a variety of ways such as supporting attendance audits, working with groups of pupils and their families and delivering aspects of the PHSE curriculum. They need to be part of the Inclusion Team and to work flexibly across the school. Some schools have appointed their own welfare officers or share them between clusters of schools. 

The Inclusion Team needs to work with classroom teachers, subject departments and faculties to integrate inclusion best praaice into their work. 

Prospectus - learning mentor (LM), LSU, Inclusion Team - access for pupils and parents. 

The strategy should be practical, easy to read and regularly used. Personnel within the Inclusion Team should have a clear allocation of tasks. Displaying the strategy in the staff room and offices will help to focus and refer to areas during meetings. 

Although this is for primary classrooms it is equally applicable and can be adapted to a secondary classroom setting. Discussion around this with staff will prove helpful for the Inclusion Team to get an insight into how individual staff plan and manage inclusion within their classroom. It can also be used as a training session which could ultimately form the basis of a school policy for classroom and lesson planning. 

Staff need to understand that the Inclusion Team are not miracle workers. There are pupils who have such deep-rooted problems which need such specialist support that they cannot survive in mainstream schools. Learning support units cannot change behaviour overnight. Some staff feel that there should be an immediate change on exit, rather like pupils taking a pill which makes them a different person. As inclusion is a process, so is the way which the services impact on pupils. Pupils difficulties could be as a result of a range of problems such as ... 

Therefore with many pupils, it may take some time to work through and solve problems. It will also take diplomatic tenacity on the part of the Inclusion Team to challenge certain members of staff whose reply about changing styles or ways of working is that I have always done it that way. This is why one of the most cmcial elements to making this happen is the support, vision and clout of the Senior Leadership Team. 

With the wealth of experience, knowledge and qualifications, and the diverse nature of staff within Inclusion Teams, planning a training/professional development programme is a challenge... 

Induaion is an integral part of the training and professional development process for all staff in the Inclusion Team. Opportunities should be given to ... 

There are also courses that may be useful for people wanting to join tbe Inclusion Team. Examples of courses that aspiring inclusion workers have found useful have been those on ... 

One of the key roles of the inclusion co-ordinator/manager and the Inclusion Team will be to facilitate whole-school training for the full range of staff working in schools. The most effective training is that which addresses practical issues. Staff can relate to these and see the relevance and application. A useful starting point is to ... 

There needs to be a range of training, that is, induaion, ongoing whole-school development and training specific to the professionals in the Inclusion Team. 

The Inclusion Team will be the most complex and varied in the whole school in terms of experience, knowledge, qualifications, roles and future aspirations. With the reforms in Children s Services and the new workforce and training strategies, the team will be able to work through this massive change agenda. 

Be available to work with the Inclusion Team on aspects of the development of provision and attend training opportunities. 

The governor for inclusion should use the experience and expertise of the governing body and local community to challenge and support the work of the Inclusion Team and the school as a whole. 

This exercise can be undertaken with all the roles within an Inclusion Team or specifically with those that work closely together. It will also give greater clarity to the entire staff about the rationale for deployment and focus of the role. This is particularly important when new roles are emerging such as lead professionals, pastoral support managers and, even, inclusion managers. 

This has become an essential part of working in an Inclusion Team. The process of supervision has been widely used in health and social services, particularly with social workers, nursing therapists and counsellors. A definition of supervision is a support process in which one person is given responsibility to work with another member(s) of staff in order to develop competent and accountable practice. 

Many existing practitioners could take on this role and the DfES has defined the role in its Lead Professional Good Practice Guidance. Examples of such practitioners include personal advisers, health visitors, midwives, youth workers, family workers, nursery nurses, educational welfare officers, school nurses or learning mentors. Hence it is important that schools understand the lead professional role and put in place appropriate support and supervision if one of the Inclusion Team takes on this position. 

Within the Inclusion Team there will be a platform of plans - Individual Education Plan, Personal Support Plan, Looked After Children Plan - the list is endless. Keep it simple - a plan is a plan, and the same format can be used to cover most of the aspeas that are required. In the same vein, referral forms will need to be consistent and there should be clear expectations of staff as to the quality and depth of information required for a referral. 

Inclusion Teams that have a common template for all meetings find recording information and sharing it easier to handle (see, CD, Chapter 4 Example 5). This template should he filled in and actions agreed as the meeting progresses this form could then be photocopied and circulated... 

A key role for the Inclusion Team is that of transition. Transition can be defined at varying levels ... 

The Inclusion Team plays a key role in preparing both pupils and staff to receive pupils with a number of needs. Many schools use the learning support unit and learning mentor support as a half way house to preparing the pupils to enter school. Time invested in this planning is a key to success in the future. The use of LEA support services for pupils with particularly complex needs can be helpful. Resources and training may be available to prepare peers to help understand the complex problems of a new member of their community. ... 

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