Eric Bois

Field Paper
Bullying & Inclusion of SERR Students
Contemporary Social Issues (80-209)
Dr. Terry Sefton
March 21
st
, 2014





















INTRODUCTION
Inclusive education is important for students with special needs because they
should be viewed for their similarities, not their differences. Students with special needs
are more at risk for being bullied when their differences are exposed. It is up to students
and teachers to create a safe environment that is inclusive. The Canadian Research
Centre on Inclusive Education at Western University state:
Inclusion assumes that children with special needs are part of the regular stream and should be
treated as such. Inclusion is based on Wolfensberger's principle of normalization (i.e., all persons
regardless of ability should live and learn in environments as close to normal as possible). The
basic idea behind normalization is that people with special needs should be viewed in the ways in
which they are the same as other people rather than in the ways in which they are different. School
can be seen as a microcosm of the larger society. As Canadian society has moved toward a more
inclusive view of all individuals, so too, have schools moved toward inclusion. (p.1, 2014)
Students and teachers act as a dominant group and are ostracizing and oppressing
students with special needs. CanChild, Centre for Childhood Disability Research (2011)
is a research centre focused on improving the lives of children with disabilities.
Campbell, W. & Missiuna, C. have been researching bullying risks in children with
disabilities and define bullying as: Bullying, also called peer victimization, is a
disrespectful relationship problem that occurs when one or more children repeatedly use
aggressive behaviour to manipulate, upset, or harm another child who is vulnerable
because of his or her physical, mental, or social features. (p.1, 2011) Teachers must be
proactive in taking measures to create safe classroom environments for students with
special needs to avoid them from being victims of bullying and inclusive education is the
first step to creating respect for them.

1
SOCIAL ISSUE
In one of my placements I observed students with special needs being bullied by
their classmates. They were excluded from activities, lessons and discussions in their
homeroom class. While I was on placement I witnessed a few incidents, the one was so
severe that I reported it to my associate teacher. In dance class there was a student who
was excluded from his group members in a group project. When I spoke to the student
about it they had to fight back tears they were so upset about what happened to them. I
reported the incident to my associate teacher right away and they took the names of the
students involved and informed the principle and resource teacher who teaches the SERR
students immediately. The report was taken seriously and my associate teacher talked to
both of the students in the group who were bullying the student with special needs. The
students who were bullying apologized and showed more respect by including the SERR
student in the group project for the rest of my time in placement.
During class when the SERR students were in their homeroom they were not
included in any of the lessons. Overall, the associate teacher gave much less attention to
the SERR students than the other students. The students also gave little attention to the
SERR students, most likely because they were modeled that behaviour by their teacher,
the teacher holds the position of institutional power and therefore has the most influence
in the class. The incidents of bullying could be related to the attitudes built up over time
from the classroom environment where the students with special needs were basically
ostracized.


2
CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
The SERR students spend mornings in the SERR room with their resource teacher
and come back to their homeroom for the afternoon. The SERR students were assigned
to sit in desks together in the corner of the classroom and had empty desks separating
them from the other students. The SERR students were excluded and had graphic-novels
to read for leisure and colouring paper to fill in while the rest of the students participated
in class lessons, discussions and activities. The excluding of the SERR students in the
class routines became common practice and the bullying occurred invisibly, none of the
students were aware of the issue.

ANALYSIS
The students in this placement were not taught enough awareness of Special
Needs students and did not fully understand how to show them respect. The teacher is in
the position of power in the classroom and leads by example. They excluded the students
from lessons, discussions, and activities plus physically excluded them from sitting with
the rest of the students. The SERR students were oppressed because the teacher holds
institutional control and they used that power to exclude the SERR students.
Another factor influencing the students to exclude SERR students is socialization.
Sensoy and DiAngelo (2012), chapter 2 describes how society influences peoples
behaviour through socializing and paying attention to media. The public is not made
enough aware about people with special needs and they dont know enough about
showing them respect and including them in society.

3
4
RECOMMENDATIONS
Students require more education about Special Needs to learn about how to be
inclusive as a class and to learn empathy. Student could read about students with Special
Needs, watching videos and have discussions in class. Teachers should read the article,
Bullying Risk in Children with Disabilities: A Review of the Literature by Campbell, W.
& Missiuna, C. (2011) as a resource to help them become more aware of the bullying
risks students with special needs are commonly victim to. The article suggests that
children who are victim to bullying face many social and emotional risks: including a
greater chance of feeling depressed or anzious, beling lonely, and having low self-
esteem. (p.1, Campbell, W. & Missiuna, C., 2011) It is important that teachers not only
educate themselves more about students with special needs, but they also should educate
their classes too so they can be more aware about children with special needs, include
them in the class and be more respectful towards them.