Responding to Diversity in Schools: An Inquiry-based Approach

Responding to Diversity in Schools provides guidance for education practitioners on how to use an inquiry-based approach in responding to learner diversity. It supports readers in addressing an agenda for change, considering questions such as:


Who are the learners who are missing out?

What evidence do we need in order to understand the barriers faced by these learners?

How can we analyse this evidence in order to find effective ways of moving forward?

How do we involve others in this process?

Responding to Diversity in Schools sets out to encourage innovation in schools, challenge existing assumptions and practices, and promote critical reflection. The contributing authors explain how to use a wide range of research methods, including visual methods that can be used to gather the views of children and young people. In addition, the book provides illustrative examples of innovative approaches to doing research with children, teachers and parents in schools.
Written in a clear, direct style that addresses the types of concerns facing teachers on a daily basis, this book offers both practical guidance on responding to the challenge of diversity and inclusion from an inquiry-based learning perspective, and a range of detailed worked examples from schools. It will support individual practitioners and staff teams working on school development issues, as well as tutors wishing to use inquiry-based approaches within workshops and courses. It will also benefit post-graduate students who are focusing on inclusion, diversity, school development and leadership.

Susie Miles is Programme Director of the M.Ed degree in Inclusive Education at the University of Manchester, UK.
Mel Ainscow is Professor of Education and Co-director of the Centre for Equity in Education at the University of Manchester, UK.

1. Learning about diversity Mel Ainscow and Susie Miles Part 1: Analysing contexts 2. Using children’s drawings to explore barriers to inclusion in Cyprus Annita Eliadou 3. Understanding the role of leadership in responding to diversity Michele Moore 4. Reflecting on the experience of mainstream education: exploring pupils’ views in a Pupil Referral Unit Debra Martin 5. Understanding the challenges facing a child with communication difficulties in a primary school Clare Millington 6. Promoting student voice in an isolated community in India Harriet Rowley and Sarah Butson Part 2: Making interruptions 7. Too young to have a voice? Exploring how to include very young children in a school council Emma Lindley, Rosanne Brinkhuis and Linda Verhaar 8. Involving young children in behaviour management strategies: a classroom-based inquiry Pamela Aspin 9. Using the views of students to rethink: a collaborative inquiry in a further education college Hannah Scott 10. Making meanings: A talk-based inquiry into adolescent understandings of mental illness Emma Lindley Part 3: Creating conversations 11. Using drawings to explore children’s aspirations in a primary school Felicity Chambers, Maria Machalepis and Myriam Mojica Martinez 12. Researching student voice in a special school: insider/outsider dilemmas of power, ethics and loyalties Zoe O’Riordan and Malcolm Williams 13. Collaborative inquiry: what’s in it for schools? Abha Sandill 14. Learning through inquiry Susie Miles and Mel Ainscow Appendix: ‘School-based inquiry and development’: an innovative approach to professional learning