Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Your name: Xu Han

Assessment Task 2: Essay

The enrolment of new students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) has
contributed to the increasing diversity in the classrooms of our school. Given the fact that diverse
needs exit within one classroom, inclusive education is urgently needed. Inclusive education,
defined by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)(n.d.),
is the one that promotes equality in education and allows all learners to access quality education
without being excluded from or limited to educational opportunities. It is worth mentioning that
by equality in education, it does not simply mean equality in quantity such as the access to the
same resources or the same body of knowledge. More deeply, it refers to students equal rights to
maximum their abilities, which is particularly true to gifted and talented students. This essay will
start with a discussion on legal frameworks, policies, guidelines and professional standards and
regulations to present the obligations for teachers to implement inclusive education. With a main
focus on EAL and gifted students, this essay will further provide an analysis of the diverse
educational needs of students; and finally conclude by the exploration of the effectiveness of
models catering for students diversity.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the United Nations
(UN) in 1948, clearly states inalienable human rights including the right to education. As an
expansion of the UDHR, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted by
the UN in 1989 and ratified by Australia in 1990. CRC outlines the Childrens right to special
education (Article 23), quality education (Article 28) and education that help them to reach their
potential (Article 29). One of efforts made to enforce these rights by the Australian Government
was the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (CDDA1992), followed by the
Disability Standards for Education 2005 as the subordinate legislation of the CDDA1992, which
set expectations and elaborate legal obligations for education providers, covering most aspects of
schooling such as enrolment, participation and curriculum (Disability Standards for Education

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Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Your name: Xu Han

Assessment Task 2: Essay

2005). Apart from that, several legislations, with items in relation to education, have been enacted
by the Commonwealth government such as the Commonwealth Age Discrimination Act 2004, s.
26 and Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000; and by the state governments such as
Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (TAS) and Education Act 2004 (ACT). As an agreement within the
education system, The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians
(Melbourne Declaration) (MCEECDYA, 2008), made by all Australian Education Ministers,
echoes those legislations and promotes the value of equity and excellence in Australian
Schooling. It serves an umbrella covering not just students with disabilities; but also all learners
with different needs. At the more practical level, State Education departments published more
detailed procedures, such as Acceleration of Gifted Students Procedures, to guide educators to
implement inclusive education. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority
(ACARA) issued Student Diversity and the Australian Curriculum offers valuable guidelines and
examples of modified curriculum for students with disabilities, gifted and talented students and
EAL students (ACARA, 2013). To ensure teachers equipped with the knowledge and skills
required for inclusive education, the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL,
2011) requires teachers at graduate level to have certain knowledge and skills such as being able
to support learning of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic
backgrounds (Standard 1.3) and being able to differentiate teaching meet learning needs of
students across the full range of abilities (Standard 1.5). The Teacher Registration Board
Tasmania (TRB) requires registered teachers in Tasmania to have and promote ethical values
respect, empathy and justice (TRB, 2006), which are also required in inclusive education. The
implications here for us as educators are that it could be unlawful to fail to provide and facilitate
equal educational opportunities to students; In addition, inclusive education is also a professional
standard and ethical requirement.

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Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Your name: Xu Han

Assessment Task 2: Essay

The discussion of inclusive education often raises the question about whom to be included
because it is impossible to be inclusive in the classroom without even knowing what kinds of
needs exit in the classroom. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2012) revealed that in
2009, 8.3% of all Australian students at age 5 to 20 are with disability and Tasmania has the
highest rate at 11.7%. The types of disability include sensory, intellectual, physical restriction,
psychological and others; and they require assistance such as special equipment and special
tuition (ABS, 2012). On the other end of the continuum in terms of ability are gifted and talented
students. Gagne (2012) differentiates giftedness as high potential; while talent as the realisation
of that high potential. Gifted and talented students all need extra opportunities to be lifted up to a
higher ability level and maximum their abilities. However, gifted students require extra effort
from educators to identify them as they might hide their excel ability because this talent might
not be valued by their peer (Gross, 1989). Some other cases show that gifted students fail to fully
express their potential due to impairment (Merrotsy, 2015). 14% of the gifted people in Rogers
(2011) study have some form of disability. This group of people is called twice exceptional gifted
(2E) people. Study shows that 41% of the 2E students are not diagnosed until college
(McEachern & Barnot, 2001). The teacher needs to identify them as early as possible because
inclusion will not happen without identification. As one of the most ethnically diverse countries
(Brennan-Kemmis & Smith, 2006), 30.2% of people living in Australia were born overseas, and
46.3 had either one or both parents born overseas (ABS, 2013). Along with Aboriginal students,
they are the main body of EAL learners in the classroom (ACARA, 2014). They come to the
classroom with different levels of English competence and different cultural background. They
might find themselves hard to fit into the new environment due to language and culture barriers
and consequently be marginalised in the classroom. This may cause secondary trauma like lower
confidence and self-esteem (human development). This requires the teacher not only make the

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Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Your name: Xu Han

Assessment Task 2: Essay

teaching content accessible academically and culturally by modifying lesson plans or employing
teaching strategies; but also provide social support. Miller & Windle (2010) point out that some
refugee-background EAL students join in the class with no age-appropriate schooling and lowperformance in their first language. Not being able to read and write in their first language makes
it extremely hard for them to learn in a second language (Collier & Thomas, 2009). Furthermore,
some of them are lack of prior knowledge and learning strategies badly (Freebody, Maton &
Martin, 2008). The teacher needs to take all of these situations into consideration while having
EAL learners in the classroom and special teacher aids may be required.
Ashman (2015) suggests a truly inclusive classroom minimise the concept of special
learning needs because every child has a special learning need (p.12). Each individual has
different needs even for average students, they learn differently. Keep this idea in mind when
discussing approaches to cater needs of gifted and talented students and EAL students, so that we
would look for approaches to facilitate learning for the whole class where gifted and EAL
students are just part of it rather than only think to cater needs of gifted and EAL students; and
avoid sacrificing average students needs to cater those who are special. Curriculum
differentiation (CD) is one of those approaches that would benefit the whole classroom. It can be
achieved by carefully setting the learning context; modifying content, teaching process and
assessment; and seeking for necessary aids (Evans, 2015). The teacher can also employ different
educational objectives models such as Blooms taxonomy or Makers model to adjust the
complexity level of content and assessment tasks to ensure typical students reach the
achievements set in the Australian Curriculum; while gifted students have opportunities to go
further. Another inclusive model is the Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Different from CD,
it focuses more on different teaching means in terms of representation, expression, engagement
and so on. It removes the barriers to knowledge and learning, at the same time, maintain the level

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Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Your name: Xu Han

Assessment Task 2: Essay

of challenge (Ashman, 2015). This approach will benefit the class with EAL students because
with language barriers, special prepared materials and other cues such as video or pictures could
help them understand the content. Personally, I would mix CD and UDL in my classroom
because, as this essay discussed above, there are gifted students with disability who fail to show
their ability (invisible gifted students) and it is hard to identify them. CD would ensure the level
of challenge; while UDL could remove the barrier so that they could fully access and engage the
teaching content; and present their learning outcomes more freely by using their preferable
means. It also works when an EAL student is also gifted. Cooperative learning can be employed
in the classroom with EAL and gifted students because it encourage students to work as a team
and help each other to achieve the learning outcomes (Ashman, 2015). However, if the literacy
level of EAL students in the classroom is far lower than average, I would either seeking for
teaching aid or using peer tutoring so that they could use one-to-one help.
Being an inclusive educator is more than just avoiding being unlawful. It is also a
professional and ethical requirement. It is a requirement set out by each of responsible teachers
for themselves out of the love towards their students and the aim to maximum students ability so
that they could become valuable members of our society. Tomorrows teachers should be
equipped with the knowledge and skill to be able to identify and meet the different needs of each
student regardless of their abilities, races, religions and physical conditions.

Reference List

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Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Your name: Xu Han

Assessment Task 2: Essay

Ashman, A. (2015). Education for inclusion and diversity (5th ed.). Melbourne: Pearson Australia.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012). Profiles of Disability, Australia, 2009.
Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4
429.0main+features100302009
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2013). 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved from
http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat/0
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2013). Student diversity
and the Australian Curriculum: Advice for principals, schools and teachers. Retrieved from
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/StudentDiversity/Pdf/
StudentDiversity
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2014). English as an
Additional Language or Dialect Teacher Resource. Retrieved from
http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/EALD_Overview_and_Advice_revised_Februar
y_2014.pdf
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2011). Australian professional
standards for teachers. Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professionalstandards-for-teachers/standards/list
Brennan-Kemmis, R., & Smith, E. (2006). Equity and diversity considerations: Different
contexts, different learners. Wagga Wagga: Charles Sturt University.
Collier, V., & Thomas, W. (2009). Educating English learners for a transformed world.
Albuquerque, NM: Fuente Press.
Evans, D. (2015). Curriculum adaptations. In A. Ashman (Eds). Education for inclusion and
diversity (5th ed.) (pp. 102-130). Melbourne: Pearson Australia.

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Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Your name: Xu Han

Assessment Task 2: Essay

Freebody, P., Maton, K., & Martin, J. (2008). Talk, textand knowledge in cumulative, integrated
learning: A response to intellectual challenge. Australian Journal of Language and
Literacy, 31(2), 188201.
Gagne, F. (2012). Building gifts into talents: Brief overview of the DMGT 2.0. Retrieved from
http://nswagtc.org.au/images/stories/infocentre/dmgt_2.0_en_overview.pdf
Gross, M. U. M. (1989). The pursuit of excellence or the search for intimacy? The forced-choice
dilemma of gifted youth. Roeper Review, 11, 189-194.
McEachern, A.G., & Bornot, J. (2001). Gifted Students with learning disabilities: Implications
and strategies for school counselors. Professional School Counselling, 5(1), 34-41.
Merrotsy, P. (2015). Supporting outstanding learners. In A. Ashman (Eds). Education for
inclusion and diversity (5th ed.) (pp. 231-164). Melbourne: Pearson Australia.
Miller J., & Windle, J. (2010). Secondary language literacy: Putting high needs ESL learners in
the frame. English in Australian, 45(3), 31-40.
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA).
(2008). Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. Retrieved from
http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_
goals_for_young_australians.pdf
Rogers, K.B. (2010). Thinking smart about twice exceptional learners: Steps for finding them and
strategies for catering to them appropriately. In C. Wormald & W. Vialle (Eds.). Dual
Exceptionality Proceedings of the 11th Asia Pacific Conference on Giftedness held in
Sydney. (pp. 57-70). AAEGT. University of Wollongong: NSW.
Teacher Registration Board Tasmania. (2006). Code of Professional Ethics for the Teaching
Profession in Tasmania. Retrieved from https://www.trb.tas.gov.au/Shared

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Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Your name: Xu Han

Assessment Task 2: Essay

%20Documents/Code%20of%20Professional%20Ethics%20for%20the%20Teaching
%20Professional%20in%20Tasmania.pdf
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation. (n.d.). Addressing exclusion.
Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-educationsystems/inclusive-education/

Page 8 of 10

Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Assessment Task 2: Essay
Your name: Xu Han
EMT603 Inclusive Practices in Education Settings
Assessment Task 2 Essay feedback
Assessment Criteria

High Distinction (80-100)

Distinction (70-79)

Credit (60-69)

Pass (50-59)

Evaluate the implications of

relevant legislation and
standards that relate to inclusive
education for Australian school
teachers

A progressive and scholarly

synthesis and evaluation of legal
frameworks and teacher standards
relevant to inclusive education was
provided

Provided a an up-to-date and

thoughtful synthesis and
evaluation of legal frameworks
and teacher standards relevant
to inclusive education

The evaluation demonstrated an

accurate understanding of legal
documents and teacher
standards relevant to inclusive
education

A sound working
understanding of key legal
documents and teacher
standards relevant to inclusive
education was demonstrated

Analyse the diversity of

Australian school students
needs and abilities

A progressive and scholarly

analysis of the diverse educational
needs of students was provided,
particularly in relation to students
for whom English is an additional
language and for those who are
gifted

An up-to-date, thorough, and

accurate analysis of the diverse
educational needs of students
was provided, particularly in
relation to students for whom
English is an additional
language and for those who are
gifted

An up-to-date and accurate

understanding of the diverse
educational needs of students
was demonstrated, with
thoughtful consideration of
students for whom English is an
additional language and for
those who are gifted

The analysis demonstrated a

sound understanding of the
diverse educational needs of
students, with some
appropriate discussion of
students for whom English is
an additional language and for
those who are gifted

Reflect on models used to cater

for student diversity

A progressive and scholarly

synthesis and critical reflection on
various approaches to cater for
student diversity was provided,
with a rigorous evaluation of the
evidence for the models
effectiveness in teaching practice

A professional and wellinformed synthesis and critical

reflection on various approaches
to cater for student diversity was
provided, with an appropriate
evaluation of the evidence for
the models effectiveness in
teaching practice

A thoughtful reflection on key

approaches to cater for student
diversity was provided, with
pertinent consideration of the
evidence for the models
effectiveness in teaching
practice

The reflection demonstrated a

sound working understanding
of strategies to cater for
student diversity, with some
consideration of the
appropriateness of the models
for teaching practice

Develop, create and apply

knowledge by synthesising and
managing information

The research informing the paper

was exceptional: a wide range of
relevant literature, including cutting
edge publications, was synthesised
and critically analysed

The research informing the

paper was of a high standard: a
wide range of relevant literature,
including cutting edge
publications, was synthesised

The research informing the

paper was very good: a wide
range of relevant literature,
including recently published
material, was synthesised

The research informing the

paper was satisfactory: drew
support from a range of
relevant sources

Manage and communicate

specialised knowledge, ideas
and complex concepts to an
intended audience.

The overall presentation was

exceptional: Referencing (APA 6th)
and presentation was at a scholarly
standard and powerfully
communicated

The overall presentation was of

a high standard: Accurately
referenced (APA 6th), with next
to no typographical errors, and
persuasively communicated

The overall presentation was

very good: Very well referenced
(APA 6th), with minimal
typographical errors, and very
well communicated

The overall presentation was

satisfactory: Well referenced
(APA 6th), with few
typographical errors, and quite
well communicated

(with a focus on implementation

for students for whom English is
an additional language and for
those who are gifted)

Page 9 of 10

Unit code and title: EMT603 Inclusive practices in education settings

Your name: Xu Han

Assessment Task 2: Essay

Name:
Comments:
Grade:

Assessor:

Date:

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