1. Expectation: Cultivating a culture of inquiry that is committed to investigating inclusion and inclusive practices that integrate innovative strategies for creating and sustaining safe, healthy, equitable and holistic learning environments that respect diversity, facilitate learning, foster learner voice and perspectives, encourage critical thinking and promote social justice.
2. Inform: How can we inform our students about using their voice as a means for gaining more agency in their learning? According to Capacity Building Series issued by the Ministry of Education, "As students begin to feel more competent and confident, student behaviour is also improving. This cycle of success has led to powerful transfor- mations in classroom practice" (September, 2013. Pages 3-4).
3. Consult: How can we consult our students in various aspects of their educational experience?
4. Involve: For students to gain more agency in their education, our goal is to provide opportunities for meaningful student involvement in education. There has been quite a lot of research on students with special needs, behavioural needs included, but data on how inclusive education impacts these students from their perspective is limited (Gordon, 2010).
5. Empower: How can we empower our students to become partners in their learning? In this section, we will discuss how teachers can reconcile the duality of teaching in an increasingly inquiry-based culture. We want our students to have more agency in their classrooms and programming, however many teachers have expressed concerns about the two systems at play: "a learning culture versus a grading culture – educators feel bound by the curriculum and guidelines. [Teachers] support a learning, inquiry-based culture but feel constrainedby mandated curriculum and reporting requirements" (Capacity Building Series, 2013).
6. Resources: Capacity Building Series. Secretariat Special Edition #34. September 2013. Gordon, Maria. Student Voice Key to Unlocking Inclusive Educational Practices. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education/ Revue canadienne des jeunes chercheures et chercheurs en éducation. August, 2010.
