PRACTICAL CASE STUDY: Designing an inclusive learning situation in a mixed-age classroom (Year 3/Year 4) in a rural setting: a Level III response for a pupil with ASD in the area of English.

SCHOOL CONTEXT

Type of school: Colexio Rural Agrupado (CRA) "O Castiñeiro", located in a mountainous inland area of the province of Ourense (Comunidade Autónoma de Galicia), characterised by geographical dispersion and depopulation. The case study takes place in the school building of one of the villages, which has three active units: a mixed Early Childhood Education unit, a mixed-age unit for Year 1/Year 2 of Primary Education and a mixed-age unit for Year 3/Year 4 of Primary Education.
Setting: Rural, of medium-low socioeconomic level, strongly linked to farming, livestock and rural tourism activities. There is a close relationship between the school and the town council aimed at enlivening the cultural life of the village.
School Educational Project (PEC): The school stands out for its lines of innovation centred on project-based learning (PBL), the sustainable use of natural resources and the digitalisation of the rural environment. It takes part in the organic school garden programme as an interdisciplinary thread.
Language programme: Authorised under the framework of the legislation in force in Galicia (Decreto 79/2010 de plurilingüismo en la enseñanza no universitaria de Galicia and Lei 3/1983 de normalización lingüística). The school is a Galician-Spanish plurilingual school with an English bilingual section and applies a design of languages of instruction that guarantees linguistic balance, assigning to the area of Foreign Language: English a total of 3 weekly sessions in the mixed-age Year 3/Year 4 classroom, using English as the sole language of instruction in that subject.
Specialised support classroom: The CRA does not have a specialised support classroom in this building, so all pupils with specific educational support needs (NEAE) are enrolled under full inclusion in their respective mainstream reference classrooms, receiving specialised support in an integrated way.
Role of the candidate: Specialist teacher of Foreign Language: English at the CRA (travelling between two of the school's buildings). This school year you also hold the post of Digital Projects Coordinator (TIC) for the school, and are a member of the pedagogical coordination committee (CCP).

CLASS GROUP

Year and group: Mixed-age classroom bringing together Year 3 and Year 4 of Primary Education.
Number of pupils: A total of 14 pupils (6 pupils in Year 3 of Primary Education and 8 pupils in Year 4 of Primary Education). The distribution by sex is 8 boys and 6 girls.
Initial assessment and Transition Plan: The analysis of the initial assessment and the information from the previous year's Transition Plan reveal a group with strong social cohesion, owing to living together in a small rural setting, but with great heterogeneity in learning rates and in the level of communicative competence in English. Widespread difficulties are detected in oral production (speaking) and in acquiring systematic routines of autonomous work, accentuated after the summer break.
Previous programmes: In previous years the class has taken part in language stimulation programmes and in projects promoting reading in foreign languages (such as the use of storytelling methodologies and small drama projects).

PUPILS

The group presents a high level of diversity, with the following specific profiles standing out:

Lucas (Year 4 of Primary Education) - ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder): Pupil with a psycho-pedagogical report and a proposal for a Level III Educational Response (specialised). He presents ASD Level 1 (formerly termed high-functioning). He stands out for his excellent visual memory and a keen interest in technological devices, but he shows severe difficulties in the pragmatics of communication (understanding double meanings, figurative language and unstructured social interactions), sensory hypersensitivity to unexpected noises and marked cognitive rigidity, which causes him anxiety when routines change without warning. He requires the design and implementation of a Personalised Action Plan including an Individualised Curricular Adaptation (DIAC/ACI) in the area of English.
Carla (Year 3 of Primary Education) - Global developmental delay: Pupil with learning difficulties and a one-year curricular delay in the language area. She has the support of the Special Education Assistant (EEE) during 2 of the 3 weekly English sessions to facilitate her participation in cooperative activities and her access to adapted materials.
Mateo (Year 4 of Primary Education) - Situation of emotional vulnerability: Pupil in temporary foster care. He presents frequent episodes of low self-esteem, lack of motivation towards learning and socially withdrawn behaviour during group activities in the foreign language.
Olena (Year 3 of Primary Education) - Late enrolment: Pupil of Ukrainian origin who joined the school midway through the previous year. She has a basic command of Spanish for everyday communication, but her competence in Galician and in English is still emerging (Level A1.1 of the CEFR). She shows a very positive attitude and excellent performance in visual and artistic tasks.
Sofía (Year 4 of Primary Education) - High Intellectual Abilities: Pupil with a very fast learning rate, excellent oral communicative competence in English and great personal initiative. She becomes bored easily with mechanical or repetitive tasks, and therefore calls for extension activities, research work and positive leadership roles in the classroom.

RESOURCES

Human resources:
- Language Assistant: A native speaker (United Kingdom), assigned to the CRA. He provides support in this school building 1 day a week (Thursday, coinciding with one of the English sessions).
- Support specialists: Therapeutic Pedagogy (PT) teacher and Hearing and Language (AL) teacher, shared with other buildings of the CRA. They visit this building 2 days a week.
- Special Education Assistant (EEE): Available part-time at the school, she accompanies Carla in the English sessions indicated.
- Families: Highly willing to collaborate in practical workshops and community activities linked to the school garden and local traditions.
Material resources:
- Technological: An Interactive Whiteboard (PDI) in the mainstream classroom, a high-speed internet connection (fibre optic recently installed in the municipality), and a mobile trolley with 6 tablets for shared use in the mainstream classroom.
- Spaces and other resources: A classroom library with children's literature titles in English adapted by reading level (graded readers), an organic school garden adjacent to the school building and a basic educational robotics kit (Bee-Bots and Blue-Bots) managed by the TIC coordination.

TEACHING STAFF

Teaching team: Made up of the tutor of the mainstream Year 3/Year 4 classroom (who teaches the areas of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences in an integrated way), the Physical Education specialist, the Music specialist, and yourself as the Foreign Language: English specialist.
Coordination: There is one weekly coordination hour (on Friday afternoons) for the whole teaching team of the building, as well as monthly general coordination sessions for the CRA held online.
Characteristics: The teaching team is dynamic, with a recent generational turnover that brings high motivation for the use of active methodologies and the co-design of learning situations. The senior leadership team actively supports and encourages co-teaching and the flexible use of spaces and groupings in order to respond to inclusion.

QUESTIONS

Bearing in mind the context described, the point in the school year (first term) and the legal framework in force (including the LOMLOE, the RD 157/2022, the Decreto 155/2022 and the inclusion guidelines of Galicia, in accordance with the Decreto 229/2011 on attention to diversity), answer the following questions, giving reasons for your response:

CLASSROOM ORGANISATION AND RELATIONSHIP WITH FAMILIES:
How would you organise the spatial and temporal distribution (routines) and the groupings in this mixed-age Year 3/Year 4 Primary classroom in order to guarantee socialisation, emotional security and cooperative learning for Lucas (ASD), Carla and Mateo during the English sessions? Set out, likewise, which specific channels of communication and which direct collaboration actions you would establish with Lucas's family and with the Language Assistant in order to encourage a positive and coherent transition between home and classroom during this first term.
COMPETENCES AND METHODOLOGY:
Design a Learning Situation (LS) in English for this mixed-age group during the first term, using the school garden of the CRA as the guiding thread. Explain in detail how you will apply the principles and guidelines of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) so that both the Year 3 and the Year 4 pupils (including Olena and Sofía) simultaneously develop plurilingual competence and digital competence, making active methodological use of the robotics kit and the tablet trolley in your role as TIC Coordinator.
INCLUSION AND ATTENTION TO DIVERSITY (Main Thematic Block):
Taking Lucas's profile as a reference (ASD, Year 4 of Primary Education) and his proposed Level III Educational Response, justify the process of design, decision-making and implementation of his Individualised Curricular Adaptation (DIAC/ACI) / Personalised Action Plan for the area of English. Which organisational, methodological and cognitive accessibility measures (such as the use of visual timetables, anticipation and pictogram systems) will you implement in your English sessions in order to respond to his pragmatic and sensory self-regulation needs, ensuring that he is not isolated from the shared dynamics of his peer group?
CROSS-CURRICULAR ASPECT: FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT, CO-TEACHING AND DATA PROTECTION:
How would you plan and coordinate the process of formative and shared assessment of this Learning Situation together with the PT/AL teacher and the Special Education Assistant (EEE), ensuring that the individual progress of the pupils with NEAE (Lucas and Carla) is recorded? Specify which inclusive assessment instruments you will use and how, in your capacity as TIC Coordinator, you will resolve the ethical and organisational dilemmas concerning the protection of personal data and the safeguarding of digital rights (in accordance with the LOPDGDD and the applicable regional legislation) when recording evidence of learning (photographs, videos, audio) of minors in virtual learning environments shared with families.