Inclusive Pedagogy

This paper reports on a study designed to examine teachers' craft knowledge of their practice of 'inclusion' in terms of what they do, why and how. The research approach offers an important alternative to studies of students with 'additional needs' and the search to articulate the specialist knowledge and skill required to teach them. Through classroom observations and interviews with 11 teachers of students across the full age range in two Scottish primary schools, we investigated how teachers make meaning of the concept of inclusion in their practice by exploring theoretical assumptions drawn from the literature about inclusive pedagogy. The analysis enabled us to identify practical examples of inclusive pedagogy that met the standard of extending what is generally available to everybody, as opposed to providing for all by differentiating for some. Examples of the inclusive pedagogical approach are provided.

This paper draws from a novel study of graduates from a one year Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) course at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. The study explored how beginning teachers in their various contexts used the theoretical ideas of inclusive pedagogy. Observation and interview data were analysed to reveal linkages between the principles that informed the course and the practices of programme graduates. By drawing on examples from the data that illustrate inclusive pedagogy in action, questions are addressed about how teachers in diverse classrooms create learning environments with opportunities that are available to everybody.

Abstract: This article shows the educational strategies developed by faculty members that their students with disabilities considered as excellent for carrying out an inclusive pedagogy in Higher Education. One hundred and nineteen faculty members from 10 Spanish public universities participated in the study, 24 of whom were from the field of Arts and Humanities. Through a qualitative methodology, individual semi-structured interview was used for data collection. The data were analyzed inductively through a categories and codes system. The results show how the participants considered students' opinions when designing their methods. Moreover, the study shows the teaching strategies that the participants used to ensure the participation of all their students. Lastly, the article describes how the participants attended to the concerns of students with disabilities. Finally, we discuss these results with previous studies, and we consider the main elements for an inclusive pedagogy that may serve as an example for other faculty members.

Abstract: Feminist pedagogy, originating in social constructivism and critical theory, offers an instructional approach for a more democratic and diverse curriculum and pedagogy. Extending from feminist pedagogy is Black feminist pedagogy, which offers a more specialized instructional approach for underrepresented populations in education. Both feminist pedagogy and Black feminist pedagogy foster a unique intersection for institutions of higher education whose historic mission integrates race and gender as part of its targeted efforts. This study examines ways feminist pedagogy and Black feminist pedagogy are integrated into the undergraduate music program at Spelman College, a historically Black college for women. Using Barbara Coeyman’s four principles of traditional feminist pedagogy for women’s studies in music and the general music curriculum (i.e., diversity, opportunities for all voices, shared responsibility, and orientation to action) as a theoretical framework, the following three components were examined for this study: content (curriculum and course design), context (structural influences of gender and race), and pedagogy (classroom instruction and learning outcomes). The analysis of data ascertained through triangulated measures of interviews, observations, and document collection provided suggestions as to how music educators can design and teach within a music environment that is socially and culturally inclusive for all students.

Abstract: Faculty development of inclusive teaching practices has become more common in response to significant differences in STEM student retention between underrepresented minorities in the USA and students from other ethnic groups. Approaches to solve this have shifted from focusing on student deficits to changing campus culture, including the mindsets of instructors who teach STEM courses. In this article, I argue that based on the literature informing the conceptual frameworks used for faculty development in inclusive teaching, faculty developers should reframe the message of their workshops to focus participants more on the scope of the journey, and shift the direction of overall efforts some to redevelop pedagogical training at the graduate and postdoc levels. Informed by historical as well as recent theories on the role of higher education to society, I highlight the areas of the literature that can effectively inform our current approaches to inclusion. I also briefly review the reasons why this approach is needed, and include suggestions for new faculty development approaches for long-term sustainable change in STEM inclusive education at the postsecondary level.

Abstract: The focus of this paper is to explore the advice given to colleagues by 119 Spanish faculty members who engage in inclusive pedagogy, to help them plan and implement actions aimed at including students with disabilities. We carried out an exploratory qualitative study with individual interviews. We analysed them using a system of categories and inductive codes. The results revealed five recommendations: listen to students and get to know them and the needs deriving from their disability; be empathetic and emotionally engaged and strive to facilitate students' learning; establish a universal, accessible, flexible and open syllabus; view having students with disabilities in class as an opportunity and part of the job; and actively seek information and training. The analysis includes a series of recommendations that may help other faculty members eager to make their planning and practice more democratic, fair and inclusive.

Abstract: Open social annotation, while offering opportunities for the creation of new knowledge, empowerment, and dynamic dialogue for learning, also contains inherent risk of safety for marginalized student populations navigating open knowledge practices. In this paper, we will explore both the opportunities for subverting traditional knowledge structures offered by open social annotation, while also bringing to the surface the critical tensions that may make engaging in social annotation more dangerous or ineffective for students from historically marginalized backgrounds. Finally, we will offer a framework for constructing social annotation assignments for the college classroom that functions to maximize the potential for equity while taking into account ways to minimize harm in the inevitable tensions of an inherently unsafe online environment. Critical social annotation will be explored as an alternative pedagogical approach.

Abstract: This article reflects on the relevance and transformative possibilities of incorporating a framework of “guerilla praxis” into digital humanities curricula in the early twenty-first century. Engaging in guerilla praxis in the classroom creates opportunities for students to use devices such as laptops and smartphones as tools for research and critical analysis and also for creating and sharing knowledge in ways that work with, rather than against, the technological shifts and social movements of the early twenty-first century. Turning classrooms into digital research hubs for studying and sharing knowledge about current grassroots movements for social change allows students and educators to collaboratively participate in advocating for new visions of democracy and participatory education. In addition to transforming the way students and educators approach the work in the classroom, critical digital humanities pedagogy that incorporates a framework of guerilla praxis has the potential to reorient twenty-first-century institutions of higher education as spaces of critical social engagement and public service.