inclusion+and+diversity

__**Inclusivity:**__ Forms of assessment should be accessible to all students and be //inclusive//, regardless of gender, ethnicity or disadvantage (Marsh, 2008). However, studies have indictated that assessment in many cases are far from inclusive, and can even be identified as //exclusive//. As the curriculum perpetuates the ideals of the stakeholders (which are generally white, upperclass, males) the assessment of the content in this curriculum can often be biased in favour of these groups. Willingham & Cole (1997) have described how a number of multiple choice tests tend to be biased in against females in one way or another. This can be through the nature of the question or through the way the question is worded.

Gipps (1994) raises three fundamental questions about inclusivity: 1) whose knowledge is taught? 2) Why is it taught in a particular way to this particular group? 3) How do we enable the histories and cultures of people of colour, and of women, to be taught in responsible and responsive ways?

__whose knowledge is taught:__ this poses the question of 'what's worth knowing'. According to the VCAA, it is worth students having the knowledge to be able to 'analyse and evaluate evidence for evolutionary change and evolutionary relationships, and describe mechanisms for change including the effect of human intervention on evolutionary processes'. The curriculum division in particular deals with this as they are responsible for the development and implementation of the victorian curriculum. David Howes is the manager of this department, who answers to the ceo of the vcaa, john firth, who answers to the victorian minister of education, who answers the australian minister for education peter garrett. Therefore, the curriculum, and in turn this assessment piece is inclusive of those who fit within the 'norm' as conceptualised by the australian government, and exclusive of those who fall outside of their schema

__why is it taught in this particular way to this particular group:__ in consideration of the political centrality of the curriculum, it is concievable that the reason this knowledge is taught is to indoctrinate students for vocational purposes. this is against kelly's view that within a democratic society, an education curriculum at all levels should be concerned with providing a liberating experience by focusing on such things as the promotion of freedom and independence of thought, of social and political empowerment, of respect for the freedom of others, of an acceptance of variety of opinion, and of the enrichment of life of every individual in that society regardless of class, race or creed. Therefore, the assessment is inclusive of those students who value a vocational path, and exclusive of those who don't

__How do we enable the histories and cultures of people to be taught in responsible and responsive ways?__ Through content included in this unit inadvertantly communicates the notion that people are all the same on a basic level. In this way it is inclusive. It is exclusive in the fact that the scenario perpetuates the ideal of the familt unit of the mother-father-child. It could be made somewhat less exclusive, by perhaps changing the scenario to a male homosexual relationship who use a surrogate mother to begin their family, or perhaps a single male or female wanting a child. However, the scenariois inclusive in the respect that it considers the fact that not all children are conceived naturally.

As Killen (2005) explains, "in an effort to achieve validity, teachers often devise tests that will enable students to demonstrate recall, comprehension or interpretation of knowledge (because these things are relatively easy to measure), but not to demonstrate an ability to use knowledge (because this is inherently more difficult to measure)". However, this form of assessment can often overlook the biases inherent in an assessment, by not considering the taken for granted assumptions we make about our students. Using assessments that require students to demonstrate an ability to use knowledge can aid in highlighting the biases within a teachers interpretation of the test results (Killen, 2005). To gain an accurate picture of student learning, a teacher must be conscious of diversity of their students and accept that a range of learning outcomes is both possible and desirable (Killen, 2005). Killen (2005) suggests that any consideration of how to assess students equitably should lead to questions about what inherent abilities students require in order to demonstrate particular learning outcomes. Traditional tests (e.g., multiple choice, short answer, essay) require students to demonstrate their knowledge in a predetermined manner, usually based on the notion that there are two aspects to intelligence: verbal and computational. However, in accordance with Garder's view of multiple intellligences, we know that there are at least eight aspects to intelligence: //Linguistic intelligence, Logical-mathematical intelligence, Spatial intelligence, Musical intelligence, Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, Interpersonal intelligence, Intrapersonal intelligence, Naturalist intelligence // Gardner argues that culture plays a large role in the development of these intelligences and that, because different societies value different types of intelligences, there is a cultural motivation for people to become skilled in particular areas. Therefore, when students from one culture are assessed by teachers from another culture there is a possibility that the assessment will be inappropriately culturally biased and that the conclusions drawn by the teacher will be unfair. Providing diverse opportunities for students to display various types of learning (or various intelligences) should lead to more valid inferences being drawn from the test results
 * __Diversity:__**

For this reason, Gardner defines intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting". Gardner claims that the eight intelligences very rarely operate independently. Rather, the intelligences are used concurrently and typically complement one another other as individuals develop skills or solve problems. However, individual students are typically stronger in relation to some of these intelligences than others. This can influence how they approach learning and how they respond to assessment tasks. For example, a student who is weak in linguistic intelligence but strong in spatial intelligence will probably prefer assessment tasks that require the production of charts or graphs over tasks that require extended writing. It is very difficult for traditional methods of assessment (multiple-choice questions, essays, etc.) to provide opportunities for a student to apply his/her multiple intelligences in an integrated way, and thus provide a true picture of the student's abilities and understandings. These limitations can easily influence the validity of inferences made about students' learning.

__Diversity in the assessment:__ The structure of the assessment task catered for several intelligences and thus can be said to consider the diversity amongst students. For example:

Linguistic intelligence was catered for by students responding to the set questions Logical-mathematical intelligence was catered for by several of the questions requring students to consider abstract relationships Spatial intelligence was catered for by requiring students to attach the radioactive probe to the target DNA strand Intrapersonal intelligence was catered for by asking students to consider their viewpoints regarding the ethics of genetic enginering. .