The Model of Intervention:

The model of intervention of inclusive teaching that we propose for working with schools is partly the result of the experience gained by teaching Italian as L2 in classes with differentiated skills (CAD) and partly through the experience of inclusion for disabilities and SEN carried out in the last decades. As Dario Lanes reminds us in The Special Normality (in Erickson 2006) the concept of normality is “equality of value, the equal value of everyone”. The real risk, to quote Lanes, is “not recognizing the specific needs and therefore not giving suitable answers”.

The point of view we adopt for class work is that of CAD (Classes with Differentiated Skills) because we recognize that within the classroom we find different personalities and intelligences, attitudes, different levels of motivation to study, non-homogeneous cognitive developments, and learning and cognitive styles that are individual specific and unique. A CAD is an open system in which the “DIFFERENCE” on several levels is the key to effective learning management.

The teachers’ course and curriculum objectives are: 

• The introduction of socio-emotional learning in curricula
• The development of innovative strategic models to manage multi-level and multicultural classes (CAD) in which the difference (cognitive styles, multiple intelligences, personalities, background etc.) is the basis on which  learning units are created 
• The implementation of multilevel pedagogical /learning units (stratified) with content adapted to the different learning styles and graduation of activities (proposing activities, tasks or exercises specifically graduated and designed for the classroom).

Our curriculum is inclusive because it: 

• Places attention on the learning processes, with an emphasis on scaffolding that also promotes the transmission of additional information and background with a fixed and repeated framework with activities and interactional schemes that are less traditional and less frontal.
• It encourages group and pair work, which allows for initiating or consolidating tutoring and mentoring experiences.
• It promotes Learning to Learn, cooperation, and interaction with peers and the environment as the focal points of the learning skills to be developed. They guide the student to become autonomous in their learning.
• It also leads to motivation for all students to continue studying. The first step of motivation is succeeding. Knowing you can! It is not a competition. If you promote competition you will always have students dropping out of school. If you promote success and well-being you will obtain the exact opposite. That is why SEL is embedded in most of the activities we propose.

For more information visit the Exercise File of this Lesson and download the document entitled “Stratified Learning and SEL: Some theoretical and methodological notes”. 

A list of the abbreviation used throughout this course and definitions can be found in the Exercise File of this Lesson, entitled “Glossary of Abbreviations”.