What are the 7 Pillars of Inclusion?

The 7 Pillars of Inclusion is a broad framework that provides sport clubs or organizations a starting point to
address inclusion and diversity. Each pillar represents the common aspects of inclusion–the things that are
similar regardless of who we seek to involve in sport. Importantly the 7 Pillars focuses on habits, the things we
do, that either enable inclusion or don’t. By identifying these habits, we can begin to make changes that enable
and promote inclusion. In this way the 7 Pillars provide a starting point for achieving diversity and can be used
to address the ‘how to’ of achieving inclusion.

ACCESS
Access explores the importance of a welcoming environment and the habits that create it.

This is about what your participants experience when getting to and inside the place your sport happens, but
it’s more than physical. It’s also about the feel, the environment, the culture that’s in the place that you’re in.
Your club could have a ramp up into the foyer of your sports facility that a person could use to get inside, but if
the person who greets them makes them feel un-welcome or the coach says they’re not willing to coach that
person then the ramp is really irrelevant. You’re still not going to participate. So it’s important to explore what
access really means in the physical and non-physical environment.

ATTITUDE
Attitude looks at how willing people are to embrace inclusion and diversity and to take meaningful
action.

So ask yourself, how willing are you to actually make it happen? In pulling the Seven Pillars together it was
identified that there was a gap between simply wanting to be inclusive and actually doing something about it.
So your attitude isn’t about just being positive, it’s about having a willingness to take real action.

CHOICE
Choice is all about finding out what options people want and how they want to get involved.

This is about identifying what a participant can do. Choice is the friend of inclusion. If you offer lot of options to
take advantage of then you are likely to get more diverse people involved in your activities.

The Inclusion Spectrum is a related idea that can help you take action on choice, learn more here.

PARTNERSHIPS
Partnerships looks at how individual and organizational relationships are formed and how effective
they are.

A partnership could be as easy as an introduction, conversation and a handshake. It can be really informal.
You’ve just got to connect people. It could be more formal with agreements and MOUs and contracts but
partnerships are what bind us together and join our communities.

Understanding the influencers in your networks will help you identify key partners, learn more here.
 COMMUNICATION
Communication examines the way we let people know about the options to get involved and about the
culture.

So think about who you are telling and also how are you telling them? Is it suiting their needs of
communication.

POLICY
Policy considers how an organization commits to and takes responsibility for inclusion.

Policy is about holding yourself, your club or organization and your stakeholders to account for inclusion. It’s
about saying “Inclusion is important” but more than that it’s about saying, “This is how we’re going to address it
and this is what it means for us” and then having mechanisms to actually deliver on those statements.

OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunity explores what options are available for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This is similar to choice but it’s not the same. Opportunities is about “what do you want to do”. So this explores
the habits that dictate the opportunities that are actually available in the place that you deliver your sport. As an
example, I have a whole range of things that I might want to do but can I actually take advantage of that
choice. I’ll use swimming as an example, referring to the ramp scenario. I may have the choice to join a
swimming club in my local town because there’s a pool there. There’s a coach there with a really great
program who’s really willing and welcoming but I get to the facility and there is no ramp. I use a wheelchair. I
want to go into that really great program. They want me to come in there but I have a real access issue so the
actual opportunity doesn’t exist for me. The choice is there but I don’t get the opportunity.

Definitions of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation involves doing something because it's personally rewarding to you. Extrinsic
motivation involves doing something because you want to earn a reward or avoid punishment.

What Is Intrinsic Motivation?

When you're intrinsically motivated, your behavior is motivated by your internal desire to do something for its
own sake -- for example, your personal enjoyment of an activity, or your desire to learn a skill because you're
eager to learn.

Examples of intrinsic motivation could include:

 Reading a book because you enjoy the storytelling

 Exercising because you want to relieve stress

 Cleaning your home because it helps you feel organized

 What Is Extrinsic Motivation?

When you're extrinsically motivated, your behavior is motivated by an external factor pushing you to do
something in hopes of earning a reward -- or avoiding a less-than-positive outcome.

Examples of extrinsic motivation could include:

 Reading a book to prepare for a test

 Exercising to lose weight

 Cleaning your home to prepare for visitors coming over

 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: What's the Difference?

 At first glance, it might seem like it's better to be intrinsically motivated than extrinsically motivated.
After all, doesn't it sound like it would be ideal if you didn't need anyone -- or anything -- motivating you
to accomplish tasks?
 But, alas, we don't live in such a motivation-Utopia, and being extrinsically motivated doesn't mean
anything bad -- extrinsic motivation is just the nature of being a human being sometimes.
 If you have a job, and you have to complete a project, you're probably extrinsically motivated -- by your
manager's praise or a potential raise or commission -- even if you enjoy the project while you're doing
it. If you're in school, you're extrinsically motivated to learn a foreign language because you're being
graded on it -- even if you enjoy practicing and studying it.
 So, intrinsic motivation is good, and extrinsic motivation is good. The key is to figure out why you -- and
your team -- are motivated to do things, and encouraging both types of motivation.
 When Intrinsic Motivation Is Best
 Research has shown that praise can help increase intrinsic motivation. Positive feedback that is
"sincere," "promotes autonomy," and "conveys attainable standards" was found to promote intrinsic
motivation in children.
 But on the other side of that coin, external rewards can decrease intrinsic motivation if they're given too
willy-nilly. When children received too much praise for completing minimal work or single tasks, their
intrinsic motivation decreased.
 The odds are, if you're reading this blog post, you're not a child -- although children are welcome
subscribers here on the HubSpot Marketing Blog. But the principles of this study are still sound for
adults.
 If you're a people manager, be intentional with your praise and positive feedback. Make sure that
it's specific, empowering, and helps your direct reports understand your expectations and standards.
But make sure you aren't giving too much praise for work that's less meaningful for your team, or they
might lose intrinsic motivation.
  If you're an individual contributor, tell your manager when their feedback is motivating --
give them positive feedback, too. By providing positive feedback to your manager when they give
you praise that keeps you motivated, you, in turn, will extrinsically motivate them to keep managing you
successfully. (Meta, huh?)
 When Extrinsic Motivation Is Best
 Extrinsic rewards don't just involve bribery (although bribery can work). In some cases, people may
never be internally motivated to complete a task, and extrinsic motivation can be used to get the job
done.
 In fact, extrinsic rewards can promote interest in a task or skill a person didn't previously have any
interest in. Rewards like praise, commissions, bonuses, or prizes and awards can also motivate people
to learn new skills or provide tangible feedback beyond just verbal praise or admonishment.
 But tread carefully with extrinsic rewards: Studies have shown that offering too many rewards for
behaviors and activities that people are already intrinsically motivated to do can actually decrease that
person's intrinsic motivation -- by way of the over justification effect.
 In these cases, offering rewards for activities the person already finds rewarding can make a personally
enjoyable activity seem like work -- which could kill their motivation to keep doing it.
 If you're a people manager, use extrinsic rewards sparingly to motivate your team to take on
new responsibilities or achieve lofty goals. Bonuses, commissions, recognition prizes, and
promotions can be an effective way to motivate or reward your team for learning new skills, taking on
new challenges, or hitting a quarterly goal. But make sure you're giving your team members the time
and resources to explore skills and projects they're already excited about independently -- without
making them a part of their regular responsibilities, which could demotivate them.
 If you're an individual contributor, work for the rewards you want, but don't over-exhaust
yourself in the pursuit of extrinsic prizes. Make sure you're taking time, in your job or in your
personal life, to explore activities that you enjoy just for the sake of doing them, to keep yourself
balanced.

Inclusive Education and its Benefits

Inclusive education is about looking at the ways our schools, classrooms, programs and lessons are designed so that all
children can participate and learn. Inclusion is also about finding different ways of teaching so that classrooms actively
involve all children. It also means finding ways to develop friendships, relationships and mutual respect between all
children, and between children and teachers in the school.
Inclusive education is not just for some children. Being included is not something that a child must be ready for. All
children are at all times ready to attend regular schools and classrooms. Their participation is not something that must be
earned.
Inclusive education is a way of thinking about how to be creative to make our schools a place where all children can
participate. Creativity may mean teachers learning to teach in different ways or designing their lessons so that all children
can be involved.
 As a value, inclusive education reflects the expectation that we want all of our children to be appreciated and accepted
throughout life.
Beliefs and Principles
 All children can learn
 All children attend age appropriate regular classrooms in their local schools
 All children receive appropriate educational programs
 All children receive a curriculum relevant to their needs
 All children participate in co-curricular and extracurricular activities
 All children benefit from cooperation, collaboration among home, among school, among community
From Best Practices for Inclusion, New Brunswick Department of Education, 1994
Does Inclusive Education Mean That All Children Should Never Leave Their Regular Classrooms?
Inclusive education means that all children are educated in regular classrooms. It does not, however, mean that individual
children cannot leave the classroom for specific reasons. For example, a child may require one-on-one assistance in a
particular subject. This may or may not be happening during regular class time. Once schools are inclusive, serious
thought is given to how often a child may be out of regular classroom and the reasons that this may be happening It does
not mean that children with certain characteristics (for example, those who have disabilities) are grouped together in
separate classrooms for all or part of the school day.
Key Features of Inclusive Education
 Generally, inclusive education will be successful if these important features and practices are followed:
 Accepting unconditionally all children into regular classes and the life of the school.
 Providing as much support to children, teachers and classrooms as necessary to ensure that all children can
participate in their schools and classes.
 Looking at all children at what they can do rather then what they cannot do.
 Teachers and parents have high expectations of all children.
 Developing education goals according to each child’s abilities. This means that children do not need to have the
same education goals in order to learn together in regular classes.
 Designing schools and classes in ways that help children learn and achieve to their fullest potential (for example,
by developing class time tables for allowing more individual attention for all students).
 Having strong leadership for inclusion from school principals and other administrators.
 Having teachers who have knowledge about different ways of teaching so that children with various abilities and
strengths can learn together.
 Having principals, teachers, parents and others work together to determine the most affective ways of providing a
quality education in an inclusive environment.
The Benefits of Inclusive Education
Over the years, the benefits of providing an inclusive education to all children have been shown. Inclusive education
(when practiced well) is very important because:
 All children are able to be part of their community and develop a sense of belonging and become better prepared
for life in the community as children and adults.
 It provides better opportunities for learning. Children with varying abilities are often better motivated when they
learn in classes surrounded by other children.
 The expectations of all the children are higher. Successful inclusion attempts to develop an individual’s strengths
and gifts.
 It allows children to work on individual goals while being with other students their own age.
 It encourages the involvement of parents in the education of their children and the activities of their local schools.
 It fosters a culture of respect and belonging. It also provides the opportunity to learn about and accept individual
differences.
 It provides all children with opportunities to develop friendships with one another. Friendships provide role
models and opportunities for growth.