I need your help with evidence on classroom inclusion. If you are a teacher then I would like to hear your positive and/or negative experiences of including students with disabilities and disorders in mainstream classrooms. I understand that this is a sensitive issue and so this contact form will allow you to send your comments to me directly. I will then use them as the basis of an anonymised submission to the Disability Royal Commission i.e. your personal details will be removed. However, I may need to satisfy myself that you are a real person and so may be in contact.

In the body of your message, please describe your context – Australia or elsewhere, which state you are in, whether you are in the government or independent school sector etc.

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ch9pb-1246822

Dr. Judith Hochman is an educator and founder of The Writing Revolution. In this episode, she talks to Greg Ashman about the origins of her method for developing writing skills and the contrast between her method and a writing programme. Judy and Greg discuss the differences between this approach and other methods for teaching writing. Along the way, Judy gives practical advice on how the method should be embedded in a content and how best to prepare for standardised assessments that require large amounts of writing from young students. Judy and Greg also discuss the importance of a knowledge-rich curriculum and ponder the solutions to fixing the knowledge-lite, skills-based approach to education that is prevalent in the U.S. and Australia.

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-cangs-11c637c

Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden is a mathematics education researcher, founder of Spring Math and a policy Adviser who is also involved in new Science of Math initiative. In this episode, Amanda talks to Greg Ashman about how she developed an interest in class-wide maths intervention and what makes such an intervention successful. Amanda and Greg also discuss use of data, explicit teaching and how to deal with the arguments of the ‘other side’, including a discussion of procedural fluency versus conceptual understanding, productive struggle and the idea that timed tests cause maths anxiety.

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-zzmk4-11a4c3f

Eric Kalenze is a teacher, curriculum and instruction lead, occasional consultant, researchED US organizer, and author of the books, Education is Upside-Down and What the Academy Taught Us, as well as the A Total Ed Case blog. In this episode, Eric talks to Greg Ashman about his awakening to the research evidence around teaching and education, and the journey that led him to write two books about education and his experiences of school improvement. On the way, Eric and Greg discuss Eric’s funnel metaphor, differentiated instruction, how reform efforts are frustrated and Eric’s experiences coordinating researchED US. 

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-gp9rc-113658a

Glenn Savage is an associate professor at the University of Western Australia who is an expert in education reform and the author of the book, “The Quest for Revolution in Australian Schooling Policy”. In this episode, Glenn talks to Greg Ashman about ‘alignment thinking’ and asks whether ever greater alignment in education policy is necessarily a good thing. Along the way, Glenn and Greg discuss Australia’s education system, how it has arisen and the role of evidence and ‘what works’ in framing school reform. 

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-q8yzn-10f06a3

Daisy Christodoulou was the second guest on this podcast back in 2020. Daisy returns in this episode to talk about writing with Greg Ashman. Daisy and Greg discuss comparative judgement, banal writing prompts, the limits of moderation and the contribution of a knowledge rich curriculum to writing. Along the way, Daisy and Greg chat about quick fixes for improving writing and the correlation between multiple choice questions and writing scores. 

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-q8yzn-10f06a3

Daisy Christodoulou was the second guest on this podcast back in 2020. Daisy returns in this episode to talk about writing with Greg Ashman. Daisy and Greg discuss comparative judgement, banal writing prompts, the limits of moderation and the contribution of a knowledge rich curriculum to writing. Along the way, Daisy and Greg chat about quick fixes for improving writing and the correlation between multiple choice questions and writing scores. 

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-gz4nb-10ca0b0

David C. Geary is Curators’ Distinguished Professor and Thomas Jefferson Fellow in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri. In this episode, he talks to Greg Ashman about his influential theory of evolutionary educational psychology that categorises knowledge as biologically primary or biologically secondary. Along the way, Dave and Greg discuss knowledge transmission in traditional societies, some common criticisms of the biologically primary/secondary distinction and both the artificality and importance of school.

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-3u4rp-1084852

Paul Ayres is Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of New South Wales in Australia. In this episode, Paul talks to Greg Ashman about his journey from classroom teacher in the UK to education professor in Australia. Along the way, Paul and Greg discuss models of human cognitive architecture, mirror neurons, embodied cognition, goal-free problems, what makes a Pythagoras problem difficult and measuring cognitive load. They also discuss the recent review of the Australian Curriculum and what we can do to break the cycle of bad ideas.

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-kdrqw-1066613

Mandy Nayton is the Chief Executive Officer of The Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation and President of AUSPELD, the Australian federation of SPELD Associations (SPELD is short for Specific Educational Learning Difficulties). In this episode, Mandy talks to Greg Ashman about her journey from governess on an outback station to where she is today. Along the way, Mandy and Greg discuss the factors that affect children’s engagement with education and the barriers presented by reading failure. They discuss the process of learning to read, vocabulary, morphology and etymology, before chatting about an upcoming researchED conference in Perth and looking to the future for evidence-based education.