Is There Such A Thing As ‘No Excuses’ Inclusion?
Can a school that maintains certain expectations, no matter what, still call itself inclusive? Loic Menzies tries to unpack the contradictions…
- by Loic Menzies
At a recent Institute of Ideas debate event I argued in favour of a ‘No excuses’ approach to behaviour and expectations in schools, and I’ve been returning to the question ever since. How can ‘No excuses’ and inclusion be reconciled?
‘No excuses’ means maintaining expectations, regardless of the reasons as to why a pupil might not have met them. Events at home, for example, are not considered excuses for not completing homework. The value of this approach is that it maintains high standards for all and pushes every pupil to achieve. Tailoring expectations to needs can open up a race to the bottom, and create a self-fulfilling prophecy of low achievement and difficult behaviour.
In contrast, schools which have pursued a culture of ‘No excuses’ have shown that pupils can achieve against the odds, bucking national trends and challenging mine and others’ previous beliefs about what is possible. I’ve often found it is the most vulnerable pupils who benefit the most from this. They may lack order elsewhere in their lives, but their defensiveness and insecurity can fall away in ‘no excuses’ schools, leaving them more confident and relaxed.
The limits of the approach
But how far can this approach go? Debra Kidd, when discussing Michaela Community School, has argued, “Talk to anyone who has ADHD and they’ll tell you the difficulty they have in maintaining attention. It is a battle. We know from research that these children can find it easier to focus if they can stand or fidget with something.” (see tinyurl.com/dk-no-excuses)
What happens in ‘No excuses’ schools where this is not allowed? Can they really be described as ‘inclusive?’
Part of the solution lies in differentiating between ‘excuses’ and ‘reasons’. Compare two similar, but slightly different, formulations of a ‘no excuses’ approach – one from SENCO Katie Ashford, the other from SEND specialist Nancy Gedge.
Ashford, quoted in Battle Hymn of the Tiger Teachers – The Michaela Way, states that, “We have the same expectations for every child, regardless of labels. If Jimmy doesn’t do his homework, it is not a result of his ADHD, but a failure to make the right choice… To say that the problem is beyond their control is to remove any ability they might have to change it.”
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Gedge, meanwhile, writing in Inclusion for Primary School Teachers, says that, “As well as opening doors to specialised support, the labels we apply to children can cause us to unwittingly limit our expectations. Can a child with ADHD be expected to behave themselves and follow the same rules as the rest of the class? Of course they can. You may have to adapt the rules or routines of the class in order to conform, but a diagnosis shouldn’t become an excuse.”
A detective hunt
For Ashford, enforcing the expectation seems to be the end of the conversation. For Gedge, diagnosis is a clue in a detective hunt. It points the way to a response which will ensure the pupil can overcome their difficulty and succeed. Thus, if a pupil does not complete a task because their dyslexia makes a text difficult to read – or they do not behave as expected because of their ADHD – this does not mean they should no longer have to do the task or behave as expected. Instead, skilled professionals seek out the reasons and respond accordingly, providing specialist support where necessary.
Of course, this still leaves the question of what should happen where, regardless of support, a pupil simply cannot do something. In such cases, ‘No excuses’ risks leaving pupils with no option but to move to a school where expectations better match their abilities – the very opposite of inclusion. On the other hand, Gedge’s reference to ‘adapting the rules’ could precipitate the slippery slope towards low expectations highlighted earlier.
SENCOs have a critical role to play in navigating such dilemmas. Their role involves helping teachers along the detective trail; identifying reasons, finding the right response and working with teachers to navigate the small minority of extreme cases where expectations need to be adapted. Only then can the right balance between ‘No excuses’ and inclusion be struck.
About the author
Loic Menzies is director of the education and youth ‘think and action-tank’ LKMco; for more information visit www.lkmco.org or follow @LKMco
