Educational Psychology and Inclusive Practices
Learning theories the paper recycles
- Behaviourism (Pavlov, Skinner): conditioning, reinforcement, shaping - useful for habit training.
- Constructivism (Piaget, Vygotsky): the child builds knowledge; ZPD and scaffolding; language as a tool.
- Social learning (Bandura): modelling and imitation - the teacher's own behaviour is curriculum.
- Multiple intelligences (Gardner) and Bloom's taxonomy for planning varied tasks and higher-order questions.
- Motivation: intrinsic curiosity beats stickers; praise the effort, not the trait.
Inclusion, not just placement
Inclusive education means the neighbourhood centre adapts to the child, not that the child must fit the centre. The RPwD Act 2016 recognises 21 specified disabilities. The process: observation and screening → talk with parents → referral to the PHC or district early-intervention centre → individual education plan with small measurable goals → review. Adapt the difficulty, not only the task; use universal design for learning - multiple ways to take in, practise and show learning.
Worked example
A five-year-old cannot sit through group time, interrupts and loses materials. Instead of punishment: seat him at the edge of the circle, shorten group time to eight minutes, give a fiducial object to hold, give one-step instructions, and give a movement errand between activities. Record frequency for two weeks before and after.
Traps
Diagnosing a disability from a single observation; equating inclusion with a special-school referral; using 'learning styles' (visual/auditory) as a basis for grouping; ignoring RPwD terminology; planning for the disability instead of for the child.