Charlotte Henderson in the global classroom to break down inclusiveness barriers

Charlotte Henderson’s trip to an inclusive education conference in Brazil was “an eye-opening experience which has the potential to influence global policy towards inclusive education”.

GST was invited by inclusion expert Daniel Sobel, co-author of The Inclusive Classroom, to send a representative to the International Forums of Inclusion Practitioners to attend a forum to develop strategic goals to take to the G20 summit in Fortaleza, Brazil the following week. The event had practitioners from the UK, Kenya, Central and South America, and the Caribbean Being held in Latin America, Spanish and English were the main languages of the conference and GST’s representative needed to be fluent in Spanish to gain the most from the event.

Charlotte, who is Senior Vice Principal at Bolton, was delighted to be selected as she speaks Spanish, which she developed while spending a year in Argentina for her undergraduate and focused on the region for her Masters degree in Spanish. Until she arrived in São Paulo in Brazil, Charlotte hadn’t appreciated that the forum was significant enough to be featured on Brazilian TV as it was part of the preparations for a G20 Ministerial Meeting and UNESCO Global Education Meeting (GEM).io de Janeiro.

This would be hosted in Fortalez a few weeks later, and Daniel Sobel would present the forum’s findings. The purpose was to have an agreement for inclusive education to be put forward for a formal policy discussion at the next G20 in Johannesburg later this year.

“Far from being a conventional conference, I discovered the forum was, in fact, similar to a think tank. Its objective was for the 30 practitioners from around the globe to share best practices and offer advice and recommendations about how mainstream schools can become more inclusive.

Sharing experiences

To help gather and shape the forum’s findings, the focus was to evaluate five key areas: the teacher role; safe and welcoming schools; parental involvement; post-school transition; and assistive technology.

Charlotte reflected: “It became apparent that in many of the regions, children with additional needs are still being sent to separate schools and that governments are only now moving to make mainstream and private schools more inclusive.”

Charlotte quickly found she would take an active role in the proceedings as her language skills were proving to be invaluable. “As one of the few senior leaders fluent in Spanish and English, I found myself helping the delegates from Argentina translate the discussions and it was a great honour to be asked if I could help capture views and perspectives for preparation of the final report.”

Global Perspectives 

 Discussions in the sessions soon highlighted the many divergent experiences and perspectives there are towards inclusiveness.

“You realise how much of an imbalance exists in some regions in education and society. It was astounding to learn that whilst attending school is still compulsory in places such as Brazil, three fifths of the population only have 4 years of schooling. With their education system, the private sector dominates in influence and resources.” Charlotte used her half term to visit Rio de Janeiro including a favela visit where the lack of state education provision was more evident.

Delegates were interested in hearing from Charlotte about the UK’s primarily state-driven inclusiveness practice, which starkly contrasts with the struggles of some countries to establish inclusive practices.

Charlotte’s language skills saw her being asked to lead the breakout group covering the “Safe and Welcoming Schools” workstream. During this session, educators from Trinidad and Tobago highlighted their success in community intervention and health-conscious education.

Charlotte said: “It was mind-blowing to hear about the community work and level of parental engagement in the Caribbean. Their approach even includes strict nutritional policies for school dinners, which have removed all sugar and salt, so everything is super healthy. “Whatever you think we are doing, smaller countries like Trinidad and Tobago are being real leaders in their approach.”

AI marches forward

Another topic for discussion was AI’s role in education. A session led by TAL Education Group, one of the world’s leading AI education companies , demonstrated to Charlotte how AI is used in the UK is far behind what is being done in places such as China and parts of the USA.

“AI’s direction is incredible in places like China and the US, where it is expected, for example, to be used to create personalised learning plans by monitoring the student’s use of a device which can also lead AI providing individual revision advice.

“As a maths teacher, what interested me was the advanced models now being used compared to what we see currently in Chat GPT. It has the potential to revolutionise how students grasp complex concepts. We still have a long way to in the UK.”

Looking ahead

At the end of the summit, Charlotte together with other breakout group leaders worked with Daniel Sobel to bring together the key themes and recommendations in a paper which he would go on to present at the G20.

She was delighted to learn later that as a result of this work, it was unanimously agreed that the paper be accepted and that the issue of inclusiveness be placed on the official agenda for the next round of G20 discussions, which will take place in Johannesburg later this year.

Achieving this ensures that educational inclusiveness has a global platform and that with the issues being discussed by key policymakers from around the world there can be hope and expectation that more children will be given the opportunities and support.

Broadening understanding

Above all for Charlotte, the experience of attending the event in Brazil has shown her that despite different starting points and resources, educators share the same commitment and fight, proving that they all want the best for the children which is to create an inclusive school environment no matter where they live or the support they may need. “The exposure to different systems, challenges and solutions has broadened my understanding of global education. While I had not expected to be as deeply involved as I was, the experience has reinforced the importance of inclusive and forward-thinking education policies and that the best results can be achieved through collaboration, shared learning and willingness to embrace new ideas – not just in the UK but worldwide.” “In reality, everyone is fighting the same fight, and when you cut through it all, we’re all pretty much the same.”

New experiences and networks

After the event and while she was in Brazil, Charlotte took the opportunity to visit the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, which gave her a real feeling for the socio-economic divide in the country: “It was a fantastic experience to visit these areas and to see the everyday challenges people face. They were so welcoming towards me, and it was interesting that I felt safer there than in some areas of the city.”

Her trip’s impact is still felt as she made new contacts within the education sphere and worldwide connections that have extended beyond the event: “I now have a set of new like-minded friends and an active WhatsApp group of educators from across the different regions. We regularly share insights and experiences where we want to continue collaborating and learn from each other. Who knows, perhaps I may find a reason to visit Trinidad and Tobago to learn first-hand and see their great work!”