Perspectives and Practices of Inclusivity in an Online Learning Environment: An Ethnomethodological Study of an International School in Indonesia

Abstract

To make an online learning environment inclusive, it is important that schools must value diversity so that teaching practices may be responsive to the academic needs of not just some but all students. Inclusion is not about the shortfall of an individual because of one’s disability, disorder, or being gifted but it is how the school environment adjust to the individual. If so, then inclusion is of a social construct which entails an ethnomethodological approach in understanding inclusion. Instead of studying institutions that are committed and dedicated towards inclusive practices, this study zeroed in on an international school and inquired on practices that emerged from teachers’ personal practical or sense making knowledge which has been developed overtime through their experiences. This study answered the following: 1. What teaching practices do western teachers in an international school aim to foster inclusivity in an online learning environment? 2. What is the perspective of the school on inclusivity that defines those practices?

To explore how teachers’ actual ordinary and mundane discussion produce an answer as to how they (the teachers) make inclusion happen, this study analyzed the conversation of western international teachers on how they are making sense of policies brought forward by the school. The findings included ten (10) points that may guide schools on how to implement inclusion in an online learning environment. The contribution of this study to distance education includes the value of reflexive (sense making) accountability of teachers. Such accountability contributed to the orderliness and shared performance to carry out inclusive education in an online learning environment.