Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: This is the owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens.
Listen to the exciting story of the american community schools of Athens.
Check out what drives all the members of our international community of learners as we create the education of the future.
Here's John Papadakis.
[00:00:45] Speaker B: A few days ago, three educational institutions came together to kick off the inclusivity in education project in Athens. It is a comprehensive professional development program for teachers across the primary, secondary and higher education sectors in Greece. The goal is to make a lasting impact on the educational landscape in Greece through promoting inclusive learning environments and enhancing the skills of teachers attempting to cater to diverse student needs, focusing on areas of inclusive learning and teaching, and universal design for learning and teaching. The project comes with a strong support of the US embassy in Greece and the enthusiastic collaboration of three american educational institutions, the American College of Greece, Deri, the American Community schools of Athens and George Mason University of Fairfax, Virginia in the US. The project's aim is to emphasize and strengthen the existing commitment to creating an inclusive educational environment for all students, recognizing and celebrating the unique strengths of every learner. The urgent call to action, as it's expressed by all parties involved, is to encourage active participation, ideas exchange and meaningful discussions to inspire positive change. It is evident that there is an emphasis to the shared values of the United States and Greece regarding the power of education as a tool for social mobility, personal growth and democracy, as there is a continuing and strengthening need to view education as a means of enlightenment, improvement and betterment. The inclusivity in education project will be calling on experts to be actively involved as practitioners and researchers as they attempt to address the challenges of inclusion, highlighting the importance of a mindset shift. Our guests in the outcast today will be involved directly with this project and stopped by our studio to discuss more details under their individual perspectives. We are joined by Professor Joan Kangshin from the College of Education and Human Development of George Mason University, Professor Ioanis Kalaijidis, associate professor of cognition and education at DI, the American College of Greece Sarah Caldelli, coordinator of ACS Athens Optimal Learning Program and Evie Evloyas, educator and project manager for ACS Athens. Later, we will be joined by Christine Roberts, counselor for public affairs of the US Embassy in Athens, who is a passionate and relentless advocate for inclusivity and diversity in education and has been spearheading the efforts of the US embassy in support of the inclusivity in education project. Ms. Roberts is the chair of the board of directors of the Fulbright foundation in Greece and sits on the board of the Foreign Service Families with Disabilities alliance.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: My name is Sarah Caldelli, and I coordinate the optimal learning program at ACS Athens. The Optimal learning program, or OLP, is the learning support program. Through OLP, we also offer the inclusion model, which is what we're here to discuss today. And the inclusion model is aimed to support all students, not just the ones enrolled in our program. And we have the OOP specialists who go into classes and one person in particular who co teaches and coplans and makes recommendations not just for our students, again, as I said previously, but for all of the students in the class. We believe that the strategies that we recommend don't work only for our students, but for all. We are here with our guests from the American College of Greece and from George Mason University because we are building a collaboration among the three schools to further enhance the inclusion and diversity of all learning styles.
[00:04:43] Speaker D: So today we had a wonderful opportunity with George Mason University professors and professors from the American College of Greece to visit quite a few classrooms from the elementary, the middle school and the academy. And we also had a few focus groups with our educators discussing, as always, our students and how to best support our students, what we already do in the classroom. But how can we take this further to the local community as well? So here we have with us today Dr. Kalaidiz from the American College of Greece. And we have Dr. Joanne Shin from George Mason University.
[00:05:23] Speaker E: Why this collaboration? Okay, let's start there. Why is this collaboration between ACS, ACG and George Mason? Why don't you tell us a few things about why this is an important project for your two schools, and of course, with acs.
[00:05:38] Speaker F: First, my name is Joan Kangshin. I'm from George Mason University. I'm a professor of education, and I came here with two of my colleagues, Dr. Anya of Menova and Dr. Jared Borap. The three of us are actually very excited to be a part of this collaboration because we have different areas of our own research that we're interested in. But it all comes together in terms of looking at inclusive education and trying to find the best ways in order to reach all learners. And so for us, being able to collaborate here in Greece, with institutions here, and to be sharing information about how we approach inclusive education is something that I think can build upon this type of international reach as well as international collaboration, because we can all learn from one another about how we support all of our learners in education.
[00:06:44] Speaker E: How about ACG?
[00:06:46] Speaker G: My name is Janice Karaizides. I'm an associate professor of cognition and education.
And why inclusive education?
It is a natural state.
Think about your friends.
When you have somebody with you and feels sad, what will you do? You will adjust your behavior. So, inclusiveness, it's all about a condition that allows everybody, and when I say everybody, I mean everybody at schools, teachers and children have to be included. You've got a state where you have to, not only to adapt, but also to adapt the environment. You have to be included and the environment has to be included in you. So it's a communication, a constant communication that allows the most significant thing in education, which is inspiration. It's not only about knowledge, it's not only about learning techniques, it's all about inspiration. But in order to have inspiration, you need collaborations, and the collaborations have to be definitely international. So we've got George Mason University, we've got ACS Athens, the ACG, and we should not forget that the project is supported and funded by the US embassy in Greece.
[00:08:32] Speaker E: So I guess my question in what you have already said here we have two universities and we have a k twelve school. In our case, we have a long time going with our program in inclusion, in being able to diversify delivery of content.
You're coming from the end of our k twelve cycle. What is that your two universities are looking to find from a k twelve environment?
[00:09:05] Speaker F: Well, at George Mason University we do have a focus on research, but the connection from research to practice, it's so important that we don't remain in our silos.
We need to be connected also to schools.
At our university, we, of course, have partnerships with our local schools where we are trying to see what these inclusive practices look. I think the wonderful, beautiful part of this partnership is to be able to create a partnership with schools here in Greece and at ACS.
And like was mentioned before, we visited classrooms. We've seen such wonderful practices right here, just in one day of visiting this school.
And I can see so much potential where we can make that connection from research to practice. There's a lot of wonderful practices that I think can be a model for other schools as well. One of the things that impressed me the most was the level of engagement of the students in the classroom.
And it was engaging with the teacher, but also engaging with each other as they discussed the content and learned new content. So I could see that students had different levels. I actually saw an english language class. So students had different levels of language. They came from different cultural backgrounds. They might have had different background knowledge about the topic, and yet all of the students were absolutely engaged, learning from each other as well as from the teacher. For me, it was such a wonderful example of inclusive education, and I think I'm excited to even learn more about what is going on here at this school, but also then connecting it back to research and being able to develop practices that can be a model even for other schools, whether it's here in Greece or even back home in the United States.
[00:11:21] Speaker E: Well, as far as ACG, the degree, I know you don't have a school of education, but there is a lot of interest in these kind of practices. What are you hoping to get out of this collaboration, especially coming to a.
[00:11:35] Speaker G: K twelve school experiential learning? For us, first of all, it's an experience.
It will give us significant knowledge from George Mason University and the ACS.
So we can definitely give back our experience from our end, which is not only the theory, the university, but also the peers, our school. It is a collaboration. At the end of the day, we will all get knowledge, experience, and definitely we can create a significant pillar for future collaborations.
[00:12:18] Speaker E: Well, you said it before, knowledge sharing, and you also mentioned the issue of research. Well, in our school we are actively involved in action research, especially in things that have to do with inclusion and best practices. So can we talk a little bit about this?
[00:12:36] Speaker D: I also want to add, other than the knowledge that we're going to be sharing, it's also how do we build this bridge? Because our k to twelve students, our twelveth graders, will eventually go to the university. So our students here in this OLP program, how will they continue going to university? What needs are there and how will they be supported? Can they be supported? That's also something we would like to see further. And as you said, research is very important here at ACS Athens. All educators do action research from either a year or two. They collect data, they change something in the classroom. There's different domains they can look into and do their action research. And it's very helpful just seeing the process, collecting data, seeing what interventions they have to do throughout their classroom. And it's very powerful, especially at the end. I want to share my experience. Just the celebration of sharing the knowledge between all the teachers is amazing. And then getting ideas. And the best practices do come from collaboration, either within your institution and external as well. And this is something we're hoping with this partnership, we can expand our knowledge and always keeping in mind our students, they are the center of everything we do.
[00:13:56] Speaker E: That's the reason we do what we do. Okay, how about the OOP program?
[00:14:00] Speaker C: Yes, I would like to add, I think it's really important that the research that's being done at George Mason. It would be wonderful for us to know how we can start implementing new initiatives and new support systems. And I guess a triangulation, as we say in our action research language, is based on your findings and what you're seeing as best practices and inclusion. What can we start taking on, including in our service model, our support model? And then what are some of the things that the teachers can start using in their own action research to see how can we advance to the next level? What can we do? What can we do more in these areas based on the research that you're finding there and best practices in the states?
[00:14:43] Speaker E: And it brings me to my next question. That has to do with inclusion to the students, but also inclusion to the faculty, to the teachers. Everybody learns differently, but everybody also teaches differently. So how can we, through this collaboration, how can we inspire, how can we guide teachers in both our levels of education to reach the level that they teach optimally, that they teach to the level that the students are learning? What do you think? What are your thoughts?
[00:15:16] Speaker F: Well, I think one of the most important things in terms of, say, applying research based practice to a teacher's classroom is that context is really the most important thing. Every context is different. Every teacher's classroom is different, even for one teacher, from one class to the next. Your students are different. The composition of your students is different. And so, even though we might be able to recommend certain research based practices, it's really up to every individual teacher how to apply that to their own classroom and to their students and to the particular students that are in their classroom at that moment.
So it's really about that process more than, okay, you need to just learn this one practice, and you need to do that in your classroom. It's just never about that. So it's really about how do you engage with a certain practice, learn how to really reflect on yourself and your students and your classroom and the resources you have. What are the assets that you are bringing to the classroom and to your students? What are the assets your students are bringing to the classroom? There's so much that really we need to think about. How do we encourage these practices? Because, as you know, context matters. And so we need to look at how do we start to understand our context and who we are and who our students are in order to create a wonderful environment for all learners?
[00:17:00] Speaker C: I think that's exactly what Evie was describing before. That is the essence of our action research.
We take something, we take an idea, we take a goal, we take a thought, and then we start implementing. We take small steps to see how does that affect instruction? How does that affect learning? We track everything. We reflect, we write our story at the end of the cycle for action research, and it's exactly how do we own it, how do we see and learn from it? And it's exactly what our action research is. So that really connects.
[00:17:34] Speaker E: We have this series of activities within the next couple of days at Diri and at Pierce. What do you hope to take back to your administrators, to your teachers after the end of this cycle of activities?
[00:17:49] Speaker D: For us, for OOP.
[00:17:51] Speaker C: We're presenting on Saturday and we're going to be giving an overview of the whole program at ACS Athens. But one of the questions my colleagues and I came up with as a closing activity was, what do you have in your school that you haven't heard here? And maybe that's something that we can start implementing. Just because we do it this way doesn't mean that we can't add something, that we can't expand and enhance an existing program. So I'm really hoping that we get answers to well, what are you doing?
[00:18:23] Speaker F: Well, I know as part of this event, my colleagues and I are going to be doing 1 hour workshops each, and we're focusing on some different aspects of inclusion. Right. Universal design for learning as well as integration of technology, as well as for myself in my areas, about working with culturally and linguistically diverse learners. But I think for us, we're really looking forward to interacting with the teachers who are participants in the workshop, hearing about their context and what they're doing to promote these different aspects of learning.
And I think through that interaction, it'll be really fascinating for us to be able to begin to understand what are the challenges teachers are facing, but also what are some of the wonderful solutions that they've come up with already to those challenges and just start that dialogue of how we might begin to rethink about inclusion and inclusive practices. So I'm looking forward to learning a lot and sharing and really start these discussions and the collaboration.
[00:19:36] Speaker E: So really kicking off, how about the community at ACG?
[00:19:40] Speaker G: At this stage of the project? The most significant thing is, after these days, definitely to lay the foundations for more productive and dynamic collaborations between all of us. Think about it as a kickstart point, and definitely you will see more in June when we are going to have all the necessary data and the research that we need in order to give to the educators of our organizations or the broaden educational community more things about inclusive education methodologies and definitely inspiration.
[00:20:25] Speaker E: Do you see June as an endpoint or as a benchmark?
[00:20:29] Speaker G: No, I see June as the moment when we are going to be in a position to say more things.
Definitely, it's not going to be the end. Probably the start.
[00:20:44] Speaker E: Probably the beginning. Well, thank you so much everybody. Let's wish for a successful three day program, and I hope we can get together back in June and talk about the data collected and how this goes on. Thank you so much.
[00:21:00] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:21:01] Speaker F: Thank you.
[00:21:01] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:21:07] Speaker A: You are listening to the owlcast, the official podcast of ACs Athens.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: The inclusivity in education project is supported by the US embassy in Athens, and our next guest is someone with a personal commitment to the cause of inclusive education. Christine Roberts is the counselor for public affairs of the US embassy in Athens and the chair of the board of directors of the Fulbright foundation in Greece. Stay with us.
[00:21:45] Speaker E: You have been in our school for a few years now, and I remember distinctly our discussions face to face and via email. When you applied for admission for your family, your passion was evident back then, and for a good reason. What has been your driving force behind your involvement with issues regarding inclusivity and diversity in education?
[00:22:08] Speaker H: It's a great question.
Being the parent of a child with a disability truly changed my life. Exposure to disabilities was nothing new to me. In fact, I grew up in a family. My father had dyslexia and adhd. On my mom's side of the family, a large percentage are deaf or hard of hearing. But having a child with a disability and having to learn how to navigate access to education, access, frankly, to life, really, for me, showed me firsthand the challenges that people with disabilities face, not only in Greece, but globally, truly including the United States.
[00:22:50] Speaker E: So you were recognized by the ambassador and the entire team of the inclusivity in education project for your contribution to this project so far. What do you think is the significance of such a collaboration? We are talking about two universities and a k twelve school. Why is it so important that two different levels of education work together?
[00:23:10] Speaker H: Well, I'm quietly laughing over here because I think the ambassador's characterization is dogged, which, of course, my friends, both at the embassy, within the disability rights community, and I think also within the ACS Athens community, would agree with that characterization.
This partnership is significant for a number of reasons. First of all, it really places access to education, true inclusivity, so removing barriers to education at the forefront of our educational and human rights. So, you know, on the US embassy side, we have long prioritized human rights as one of our leading foreign policy priorities. Our ambassador, our deputy chief of mission, Maria Olson, have also taken a very strong interest alongside me in access to education issues. And if you hear our ambassador speak, he'll often tell you that education is truly the foundation of everything. And I would hope that those of us here at the ACS Athens community would agree with that assessment. So to bring together two private education institutions which, if I may say so, really serve as beacons of light for the educational community here in Greece that are seen at the forefront of adopting new curriculum, new methods for them to embrace inclusive education and to say we're still learning as well, sends a message to the rest of the educational community that there's space for all of us to learn about the full inclusion of persons with disabilities.
[00:24:38] Speaker E: Do you think there is ground to enter the greek environment, the greek education environment, through this initiative?
[00:24:45] Speaker H: Oh, I certainly hope so. And I do want to say former minister Karamaeus, current minister of education, Piracakis, they have been tremendous advocates. When we have spoken to them about the full inclusion of persons with disabilities, they have been very amenable to partnering with the US embassy, and we continue to hope that that's the case. Last year, we had the great benefit of co hosting a conference on inclusive education and early childhood education with the Ministry of Education. I thank them for their support. We are certainly looking forward to expanding that cooperation with the Ministry of Education through this specific grant, which we've written to the american college Greece, of which ACS Athens is a partner.
[00:25:29] Speaker E: Most educators, through their training, are exposed to issues of learning differences of disability, inclusion. At some level. It's quite different, though, when you try to put this knowledge to action in the classroom. You have been quite outspoken about being a parent of a child with a disability. What do you think makes a real difference to your child's experience in school? What practices do you believe help make school more enjoyable, more effective?
[00:25:57] Speaker H: I mean, for me, at the end of the day, it's really about those social emotional connections and the relationships that you form. In fact, I was having a conversation with another educator, and we both said school isn't just about the academics. Don't get me wrong, academics are a tremendous part of why we send our children to educational institutions. But what we're really teaching children is how to navigate the real world in every sense of it. And I think, frankly, just exposure to people who are different than you, not just with disabilities, but people of different races, of different religious beliefs, of different nationalities, ethnicities, I think that's wildly important to developing this next generation of leaders who will go out into the world and truly know what it means to work, to live, to coexist in this truly diverse world in which we live and how to succeed.
[00:26:47] Speaker E: In your opinion, what is the difference between special education and inclusive education? Can a specially designed curriculum and assessment methodology be truly inclusive?
[00:26:59] Speaker H: So I'll be the first to say I don't like the term special. I think it's a euphemism, and I think we hide behind talking about what it really is. When we use the word disability, it makes people nervous because what we're actually getting at is discrimination. We use special because it makes us feel better and because we're a little bit afraid of actually using the real word to talk about what a disability is. Now, I will never claim that I speak on behalf of the entire community of people with disabilities, and certainly you should always ask what people prefer in terms of nomenclature. But I think special education, inclusive education one, are wildly different concepts. Inclusive education is about ensuring that every child has access to education on the least restrictive basis possible. Special education, more often than not, is about segregation. And we know very well in the United States that that is not equal.
And not only in the United States, we've certainly learned that globally. And so what inclusive education advocates for is for maximum inclusivity, minimum barriers to promote access to education in the least restrictive environment possible.
[00:28:18] Speaker E: And maybe you're not talking for everybody with disabilities, but education is maybe the main equalizer. So if we give that particular angle, then inclusivity in education could be something very beneficial to everybody. So it doesn't matter what kind of disability you have at the end. I'm sure that during the years you must have encountered others who might feel.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Let'S say, a little less passionate than.
[00:28:44] Speaker E: You about inclusive education. How do you approach those who talk about differences, special schools, different opportunities or mentalities about students with disabilities, or making sensitive or uncomfortable statements? How do you approach them?
[00:29:00] Speaker H: Sure, two ways.
And I'll start by saying classically, if we look at the disability community, there have been two models that we've often applied. The first is a medical. This person has this ailment.
Don't really love that model. The second is a charity model. Really dislike that model. I prefer to lean on the third, which is a humanist perspective, which is that my child is a person of value. Full stop. Every person is a person of value. And I want you to see my child as a person of value, not something to be pitied, not someone who's inherently inspirational because of the nature of their disability, but just a human and a person of value. The second point that I like to make is data and research. I think that there are some parents and look, if you did not grow up in a particularly inclusive community, let's say that you grew up with very little, if any, exposure to persons with disability. There may be a certain level of discomfort associated with that.
You don't have the language, or perhaps you don't know how to approach another parent whose child may have a disability to ask about accommodations or how to best, let's say in my case, how to have a playdate with my child in a way that guarantees success for both kids. I like to tell people that the best way to overcome exclusion is through inclusion. But more importantly, the data and the research backs this. We actually know that the academic performance of truly inclusive classrooms benefits all students. Students are performing at much higher rates academically and socially in truly inclusive classrooms. We know that children display much higher rates of empathy, much higher rates of leadership skills. And look, I can speak personally for myself. I am a better parent, I am a better boss, and I am certainly a better diplomat because I have grown up and because of my exposure to a diversity of viewpoints and people.
[00:31:01] Speaker E: You have a different understanding?
[00:31:03] Speaker H: Very much so.
[00:31:04] Speaker E: Finally, coming back to the inclusivity in education project, what are your expectations, your hopes for the outcome of the project.
[00:31:12] Speaker B: As it was initiated by the American.
[00:31:15] Speaker E: College of Greece, George Mason University and ACS Athens. What do you expect to see through this collaboration?
[00:31:21] Speaker H: First and foremost, just really foundationally, what I'd love to see is an awareness of inclusive education, a shift from this model of separate but equal, which we know is garbage, but a true movement among educators and among the parent community for true inclusion within the classroom. The second is an awareness of the basic concept of universal design and learning, which is that when we design classrooms, when we design buildings, when we design curriculum to be universally accessible to everyone, we produce much higher outcomes for all.
[00:31:56] Speaker E: Students involved, which is very important, especially if we emphasize the word design, which means that before you build it, you make sure that it's going to work.
[00:32:06] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:32:07] Speaker H: And I would always like to point out diversity needs to be intentional. It just doesn't happen.
When we think about inclusivity, when we think about diversity, when we think about inclusivity, when we think about accessibility, when we think about issues of equity, we have to be intentional. And part of this project is bringing these issues to the forefront of our planning efforts so that we're intentional in our design.
[00:32:31] Speaker E: Christine Roberts, thank you so much for being with us. My pleasure for the best of success in this program.
[00:32:36] Speaker H: Thank you so much.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: You are listening to the owlcast, the official podcast of ACS Athens. Make sure you subscribe to the owlcast on Google Podcasts, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This has been a production of the ACS Athens Media Studios.
