Inclusive community

Our school is committed to fostering an inclusive community where every student feels valued, respected, and empowered to learn.

This policy outlines our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The school inclusion policy is founded upon an approach to education outlined by the IB designed to remove or reduce barriers so that every student can fully participate in the IBDP here at Elverum vgs.

To this end procedures are designed to recognize and address any instance where student access to optimal learning development is hampered.

Diversity

We celebrate the uniqueness of each individual, including differences in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, and socioeconomic status.

Equity

We strive to eliminate barriers for learning and provide equal opportunities for success. Equity means meeting students where they are and providing necessary support.

Inclusion

We actively promote an environment where all students feel included, heard, and represented. Inclusion means going beyond tolerance to genuine acceptance.

School

• Make sure that the special provisions requested for a student are in compliance with the IBDP programme and policies.
• Provide guidance to learners and teaching staff to ensure good cooperation in aiding the learning process.
• Implement timetable structures, available resources and facilities, forms of communication and updates to a student, parents/guardians and faculty staff to implement special needs provision within its capabilities.
• Cooperate with Parents/Guardians in a situation where additional support is needed and will make sure that any assistant has appropriate pedagogical qualifications and is fully accepted by the school management before entering the classroom.

Coordinator

• Ensure that the candidate and her/his parents or legal guardians are familiar with the IB document “Access and inclusion policy” and will provide detailed information on the possible provisions the school may provide for the student within its capabilities and in line with the IB regulations during the course of study and in the examination room.
• Provide support/consultation to the student with special education needs in the process of choosing her/his subject courses for the Diploma Programme based on the student’s individual strengths and challenges.
• Collaborate with the faculty staff to support the student with access arrangements during the course.
• Communicate the student and her/his parents or legal guardians on all documentation needed to obtain authorization from the IB for inclusive arrangements during the examination session. In due time the coordinator will obtain the student’s consent to submit appropriate documentation requesting such arrangements.
• Assure confidentiality of the information about a student to be shared with parents/ guardians/psychologist/school management.

Faculty

• When the classroom teachers identify learners facing barriers they will adapt teaching within the framework available.
• The teachers will comply with and implement all agreed arrangements for a student with inclusive arrangements and will monitor the student’s performance and maintain accurate records on her/his progress.
• The teaching staff will assure confidentiality of the information about students to be shared with parents/ guardians /coordinator/ psychologist and maintain discretion in providing special education services.

Students

• Right to Access Education: As outlined above, meeting students where they are and tailoring instruction based on individual needs.
• Right to Support: Students with special needs are entitled to receive the necessary support to empower them to reach their fullest potential.
• Engagement in Learning: Students are expected to actively engage in their learning process and utilize the support provided.
• Respect and Cooperation: Students should contribute to a positive learning environment by respecting and celebrating diversity and cooperating with peers and educators.

Parents and Guardians

• Parents and guardians should be informed of the school’s inclusion policy and support that is available.
• Parents and guardians have the right to be involved in decisions pertaining to their child’s education (up to 18 years of age).
• Communication: It is the duty of parents and guardians to ensure that all valid information regarding their child’s specific educational needs is communicated to the school during the application process and/or as needs arise.
• Parents and guardians take an active interest in their child’s learning, providing support and advice where appropriate.

Outside agencies

The IBDP encourages a multi-disciplinary approach, where outside agencies such as PPT (educational psychologists) work with schools and families to create an inclusive environment that allows every student to thrive. 

To this end schools work in partnership as outlined in this document with different agencies to support student’s learning. Moreover the expertise of these agencies is relied upon when professional judgement is required in considering how best to address student needs.

Practices and procedures

The inclusion policy is in line with Norwegian legislation and based on the Inclusion Policy of the county (Innlandet region). The student or their parents/guardians can ask the school to investigate whether the student requires support. 

Teachers must also consider if a students’ performance is a cause for concern. In such cases, the councilor will organize appropriate testing to determine if support is required. Elverum vgs cooperates closely with the Educational and Psychological Counseling Service (PP-tjenesten) to establish the needs of students and to assist students with special educational needs.

In case of academic, personal, or social problems that might affect a student’s ability to succeed in school, the student has the right to counseling, monitoring, and support by the Educational and Psychological Counseling Service PPT in cooperation with the school. 

The inclusion policy is in line with Norwegian legislation and based on the Inclusion Policy of the county (Innlandet region). The student or their parents/guardians can ask the school to investigate whether the student requires support.

Potential Limitations to Inclusion PPT can help address include:

• Language difficulties and speech impairments
• General barriers to learning or problems in a specific subject area
• Reading and writing difficulties
• Difficulties with mathematics
• Problems with concentration
• Social and emotional problems
• Behavioral disorders
• Vision and hearing problems

Elverum vgs is further cooperating with the lower secondary schools in the area, and information concerning special needs is transmitted by the student’s previous school and communicated to teachers involved in order to facilitate and adapt the learning environment for the student.

PPT will advise and support the school on how to best match the needs of the individual student. This can include the use of audio books, audio induction loops, differentiation of learning methods and allocation of extra time.

Diverse methods of differentiating learning process, either in terms of accessing the curriculum or providing formative assessment instance are subject to individual consideration. 

Students enrolled in the IB-programme at Elverum vgs follow the policy of IBO and must request for a special arrangement. This request must be accompanied by documentation including medical certification and pedagogical evidence for addressing the need for support where appropriate. The request must be sent to the IB coordinator before the student enrolls on the IB programme or as soon as they become aware of an issue. 

Elverum vgs is fully accessible through elevators and ramps. 

Elverum vgs follow the IKO model as an early warning system implemented in Norwegian upper secondary schools. 

The acronym «IKO» stands for identification, assessment and follow-up. The primary goal of this model is to improve schools’ abilities to identify and support students who are at risk of dropping out during the school year and offers concrete guidance for faculty members.

Procedures to support students

Identification:

Teachers and school staff use various indicators to identify students who might be at risk of dropping out. These indicators include attendance patterns, academic performance, behavior, and social factors.

The goal is to recognize warning signs early so that timely interventions can be implemented.

Assessment:

Once a student is identified as at-risk, a more detailed assessment takes place.

The assessment considers individual factors such as family background, motivation, mental health, and personal challenges.

The school counselor, mentors, and other professionals collaborate to understand the student’s situation better.

Follow-up:

Based on the assessment, a personalized support plan is developed for the student.

The plan may include targeted interventions, additional tutoring, counseling, or adjustments to the student’s learning environment.

Regular follow-up meetings occur to monitor progress and adjust the plan as needed.

Collaboration:

The IKO model emphasizes collaboration among teachers, school leaders, parents, and external support services.

The schools work closely with families to involve them in the student’s educational journey.

External agencies, such as social services or mental health professionals, may also be involved.

Data Collection and Evaluation:

The school collect data on student progress, attendance, and well-being.

Regular evaluations assess the effectiveness of the IKO model and identify areas for improvement.

Guidance for teachers

• Map of the situation: student conversation/contact with home
• Engage: seek other information about the student
• Collaborate: with colleagues and contact teacher. Class meeting, possibly adviser/specialist/school health service/support staff/others
• Test out various educational and/ or social educational tools: make som experiences, make notes along the way
• Discussed with the head of department: it is considered whether concerns should be written to the IKO team. The head of department has a documents concern in relevant form.
• If the case possibly applies to bullying as defined in the Norwegian Education Act, notification must go immediately to the school's management.

Language policy

As outlined in our language policy and consistent with a universally designed curriculum, students previous language experience and lack of current competence in the host language (Norwegian) or language of instruction (English) should not negate students ability to succeed in the IBDP.

Consequently different language options and learning strategies are employed to support inclusion.

Admission policy

Our admissions policy is designed to help support student achievement. To this end there is a required grade average, which based on experience is an appropriate indicator of student’s ability to succeed when entering the IBDP.

At the same time our policy recognises the individual nature and circumstances of students previous experience. The policy therefore outlines how, at the discretion of the coordinator, students with a lower than expected grade average can also be considered for the diploma programme.

Moreover our policy explains how students progress is reviewed before advancement to DP2 and where appropriate alternative arrangements are made to help students achieve.

Asessment policy

Assessment at Elverum IBDP is based on principles supporting inclusion as described in a policy that embraces individually tailored assessment. This approach helps ensure relevant and appropriate feedback/feedforward irrespective of a student’s current level of learning.

Furthermore active student participation in assessment through self and peer evaluation helps to ensure students feel included as part of the process of assessment for/as learning of their work rather than assessment as something that is done to them.

This approach is not only seen as important to promote learning and understanding but helps a sense of student ownership of their learning which is deemed to further support inclusion.

More information

More information is to be found on ibo.org: Equity and inclusive education in the IB or by contacting the IB-coordinator.

This inclusion policy document will be reviewed after each school year. the IB-coordinator is responsible for the reviewing process of the document.

This document was last reviewed in June 2024.