We use film, technology and creativity to produce innovative teaching for all children
In Denmark, you can find inspiration for truly ground-breaking teaching and a genuinely inclusive school. However, we, like most countries, face major challenges in coming up with inspiration and good teaching that meets the needs of all the children. Therefore, the Inclusion Center was set up to combine the best from educational research with innovative technology, state of the art cameras and creative school development. We have developed a collection of films and texts that you may use as inspiration in your work. We aim to collaborate across all borders, so we hope that you will get in touch with us so we can start sharing. We believe that all children everywhere should have the opportunity to be inspired, challenged and supported, regardless of who they are or what their strengths and weaknesses might be.
Children and youths spend a vast amount of time in school and day-care, yet many languish at the outskirts of their social groups. Some are bored and lack a challenge, while others feel adrift or find it hard to keep up. It can be frightening, if you do not feel you fit in. Every person has a right to be recognised and to be sufficiently challenged.
That is why we established the Inclusion Center, and ’we’ are a number of researchers, filmmakers, pedagogues, teachers and artists who develop concrete methods and inspiration for inclusive learning in day-care, schools and upper secondary education.
The Inclusion Center is an independent non-profit organisation that promotes social inclusion for children and youths – and for their adults. The Center is based on solid educational research, and provides professional outreach by filmmakers and artists. We use the best that modern technology has to offer, and use multimedia, especially film, to develop and support inclusion, creativity and innovation in collaboration with children and teachers.
The vision method
We see a potential in every child and adult. In fact, our methods are based on a vision: A vision of that which is hard to see; of seeing new possibilities to include everyone, of how this can be done – in a practical, everyday manner.
We use film in three ways:
- We lend professional cameras to children, and teach them advanced filmmaking. The camera provides them new insights into their lives, and establish a new space for empathy and understanding. Once we have improved the social dynamics and collaboration in a class, we show the children how to learn their curriculum by means of filmmaking. A positive social environment and a dose of subject matter then adds up to provide both innovation and learning.
- We produce and distribute documentaries about the lives of children, and we help children and youths to tell their own stories and make their own films.
- We train teachers to understand children better, using UHD slow-motion video. Using high-definition, high-framerate video, we train teachers to decode and understand micro-expressions. As you may have seen in the American TV series ”Lie to me”, human expression has many universal features. We work on the basis of research by, among others, Paul Ekman, to teach teachers how to relate smarter to their pupils and students.
The camera as ’the common third’
The Inclusion Center uses video cameras in a number of ways. When students, teachers and pedagogues are taught to use the cameras to document events, such as interactions in the classroom, or to film creative narratives, they acquire both specific competences and meta-competences that support inclusion. The cameras become ’the common third’, which brings together students and adults in a shared exploration and creation. The films become topics of conversation that can form the basis for analyses, dialogue and discussions.
In collaboration with the teachers, we select topics from the various disciplines, e.g. Danish, math, science or English, that we find suitable for exploration by means of a camera. We help the teachers and students to better understand – and change – social interaction.
Our method is a vision
The Inclusion Center sees the potential in turning the perspective over to children and youths – and their closest adults. A vision is a new way of seeing: a camera allows you to see yourself in new ways. But because a camera can only look where you point it, we try to help the young filmmakers to look for the important things. We provide children, youths and their adults an opportunity to see that which is normally hidden away.
When we produce new visions, we use the newest professional equipment and media, but the technology is merely the magic wand. The real magic happens when the child sees itself and discovers something new; when a class gets help to develop a more inclusive social fabric, or when the teachers master a new tool to teach and reflect on their teaching.
Who are we?
The Inclusion Center comprises a number of researchers, filmmakers, pedagogues, teachers and artists who collaborate to develop concrete methods and inspiration for learning in day-care, schools and upper secondary education. The team is dynamic and constantly changing, but here are some of the regulars:
Søren Kjær Jensen – Founder
Søren Kjær Jensen is a documentary filmmaker and research communicator, and he has worked with educational research for almost 15 years.
”I established the Inclusion Center because I got mad every time I saw a child being excluded. But I quickly realised that anger wouldn’t solve anything, so I put together a team of dedicated problem solvers who have chosen to have fun in coming up with creative solutions to difficult problems. For my part, I draw on my experiences as an artist, research manager, inventor and professional assistant. My primary task is to establish a framework for other people to be creative.”
Helle Rabøl Hansen
Helle has worked with bullying since 1998, including a stint as academic officer in the National Council for Children. The topic of her PhD from 2012 was students’ and teachers’ lives and student bullying. Helle took part in a major research- and development project called eXbus (Exploring Bullying in Schools), and she has served as expert on bullying for a national TV-series called ’Mygind’s Mission’. Helle assists the Inclusion Center as the resident expert on bullying, and as co-developer of the concept ’Inclusive didactics’, which is a core element in the Center’s work.
Bjørg Kjær conducts research into pedagogics and inclusion in day-care. Bjørg’s bestselling book from 2010, ’Inkluderende Pædagogik’ (’Inclusive pedagogics’), provides great inspiration for both methodological reflection and development of practice among pedagogues. Bjørg is a source of inspiration and new ideas for day-care in the projects in the Inclusion Center.
Lasse is a teacher and union representative at Enghavegaard Skole, as well as a master student at Aarhus University’s Department of Education (DPU). Lasse developed the project ’Vores Klasse’ (’Our Class’) to boost social cohesion in lower secondary, at a point where many students find themselves stuck in fixed relations and under pressure from looming finals. Lasse develops teaching and coaches other teachers in the projects at the Inclusion Center.
Charlotte is a ‘professor with special responsibilities’ at the Department of Education (DPU) at Aarhus University, where she studies educational-psychological perspectives on diversity and inclusion in learning communities.
Malou is assistant professor of social psychology at the Department of Education (DPU) at Aarhus University, where she studies school management and the importance of architecture on learning.
Morten is assistant professor at Aalborg University, where he explores how to teach mathematics in new ways. Morten shows students new pathways to mathematical understanding through a combination of technology and a somatic approach. In the Inclusion Center, Morten helps the teachers in our projects to discover new ways to approach their students.