Inclusion, exclusion

Education for all. I first read this program that our government is currently part of this initiative on my first trimester in Professional Teaching Certificate.  As an aspiring teacher, it is important that I am reminded of my responsibility in achieving “Education for All”. Every child has the right to education. Regardless of your social class, learning abilities and disabilities, race, ethnicity and gender, all children have the right to education. However, the education that children will receive should also effectively facilitate unbiased learning focusing on enhancing, uplifting and enriching every child to be the best version of themselves. 

As instructional media and materials play an important role in facilitating learning, the selection process needs to include several factors. One of the articles in this module used three categories that influence the selection and use of instructional media and materials namely, task factors, learner factors and economics/availability factors.  Task factors will include the learning objectives, type of activities to achieve the learning outcomes while learner factors will include everything about the learner – their learning styles, culture, race and gender. After considering the tasks and the learner, the economic and availability should also be included. In most cases, the economic/availability factor can limit the choice of instructional materials.

Teachers need to navigate, understand, balance and sometimes manipulate these three factors to choose the instructional media that can facilitate effective learning for different students. The chosen instructional media and materials should be reflective and empowering to learners differences in race, ethnicity, gender and learning abilities. However, the materials should not promote any form of bias, in gender, race, or learning abilities. 

By including the important factors from the learners in the selection of instructional media and materials, learners and their parents are assured that their children are effectively learning.