Shaping Inclusive Education Through Collaboration and Advocacy at the LBPSB
by Dan Mullins
“Why would there be any barrier to a child having access to education?” asks Jackie Armstrong. This profound question drives the work of CIEs such as Armstrong, along with Devon Warnock and Jennifer Mercer. As part of a team of nine, their mission is to bring the daily realities of classrooms closer to an ideal inclusive environment where every student feels understood, valued, and supported, regardless of their background, gifts, and challenges. They strengthen a collaborative effort between the school, the home, and health and social services to ensure excellent opportunities to learn.
Within the school, there is collaboration to ensure inclusion, as well. Each school in the LBPSB network holds its own resource meeting, typically every week or two, and these are a hub for coordinating support to students. CIEs, resource teachers, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, school psychologists, and other school professionals participate. The CIEs play a crucial role within each school’s resource team, focusing on providing evidence-based strategies to help learners reach their in-school goals and implement them effectively.
While inclusion aims for welcoming classrooms broadly, CIEs know it’s achieved through an individualized approach. Adaptation complements the unchanging commitment within the LBPSB to building an educational culture where every student belongs.
The board’s resolve to be inclusive has been present from its earliest days. Diane Maclean-Heywood, the first Director of Student Services, helped lay this foundation. Former Student Services Director Dr. Cindy Finn (LBPSB’s current Director General) and present Director Stephanie Stever would build upon it, and are deeply dedicated to providing equitable access to a fulfilling education. Consistently supported by Councils of Commissioners throughout the board’s history, this principle fuels the continual evolution of the LBPSB’s inclusive strategies, which once included the emergence of the role of CIE.
The impact of inclusion is not abstract; it’s something lived and experienced daily by students and the educators who support them. As Devon Warnock emphasizes:
“The fact that our kids get to come to school with their siblings, they get to come to school in their own community, with their own neighborhood buddies, and that they are not excluded – I think that’s something that we do well. The entire community benefits from having diversity in classrooms. By displaying empathy, by having all of the skills that are needed to be kind… students experience openness firsthand, shaping them into better humans overall.”
In partnership with teachers, parents, and specialists, CIEs work to develop personalized solutions to support and understand their students, and to ensure that the students feel understood and supported. They recognize the significant challenges families can face while navigating the educational system and work to ease the burden. “We help with recommending different support systems, but one of the best things,” Warnock notes, is that “we are now their advocates. We’re there to make sure that the kids have access to the things that they need to be successful.”
There are many strategies CIEs use which aim to create a truly inclusive learning environment. An important aspect of this work is advocacy. As Armstrong states, “When we think about our internal biases… there’s a tendency to ask ‘what’s wrong with the individual when they don’t fit into the system?’” A key part of a CIE’s role lies in dismantling such assumptions.
CIEs challenge a rigid pass/fail approach to assessment, where marks become the endpoint rather than a diagnostic tool. As Armstrong expresses, they question a “Did they pass or did they fail?” mentality, instead emphasizing, “OK, this is where the kid’s doing great, where are we moving forward, and what do we need to work on now?” They guide teachers away from seeing marks as barriers and towards a strengths-based perspective that helps determine individualized interventions and ongoing supports.
Resource meetings determine the structure of a CIE’s week, but the work extends far beyond. As Mercer explains, “We support our school teams, but we’re also responsible for over 20 dossiers including integration aide screenings and orientations, individualized education plans, and much more.” This behind-the-scenes effort involves professional development initiatives: “We organize training for teachers, resource teachers, and special education technicians, directly improving classroom practice,” Mercer says. Further, CIEs support new educators through the formal mentorship program. Inclusive approaches are thereby introduced from the early days of a teacher’s career. These sessions acquaint new teachers with contacts within the Student Services Department, and familiarize them with accessing the department’s vast resources. These may in turn help them to impart a sense of true capability and belonging to all of their students.
The new generation of teachers, having been shaped by the mentorship of CIEs, carry immense potential. With the inclusive values instilled, they strengthen a process of ongoing reflection, asking themselves and their colleagues, “Why would there be any barrier to a child having access to education?” In asking this question, they carry the LBPSB’s inclusive spirit into the future.
