Using ICT for Inclusion and Accessibility
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Inclusion – providing effective learning opportunities for all pupils
The national strategies define inclusion as “concerning all groups of pupils who may be under-performing because their personalised learning needs are not being met”. The learner is very much seen as a partner in learning.
Current educational reform is clearly promoting a system that fits the individual rather than the other way round.
ICT can be an immensely valuable tool in providing all pupils with real opportunities to make progress and achieve, including those pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and those who are Gifted and Talented.
ICT enables pupils to access their learning in a wide range of different and imaginative ways. Visual mapping software, for example, can support and positively impact on areas of learning such as literacy and the development of thinking skills, and can provide challenge for Gifted and Talented pupils.
Pupils with impaired vision or literacy difficulties need access to visual and written materials in different formats. For these pupils there is the opportunity to access large print, or to use a digital camera to tell a story; or to use a talking word processor, or symbol word processor and desktop publisher, to help them to communicate their ideas and meaning.
The use of ICT can support and transform pupils’ writing, and the evaluation and presentation of work; talking books, and the use of sound and video, can encourage and motivate the reluctant reader, or provide information for those who have reading difficulties.
Pupils in need of specialist equipment are able to use ICT to enable them to take part in the curriculum, learn new skills and experience success. Through specific software and access devices, ICT offers an array of tools including switches, tracker balls, joysticks, overlay and other alternative keyboards.
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