Evolving Inclusive Learning: From Retrofitting Disability to Designing for Variability

Author

Monica Braat, Western UniversityFollow

Date of Submission

8-22-2021

Document Type

DiP

Degree

Doctor of Education

Department

Education

Keywords

disability studies in education, inclusive education, universal design for learning, adaptive leadership, inclusive leadership, implementation science

Abstract

The problem of practice (PoP) addressed in this organizational improvement plan (OIP) is that curriculum is not currently interpreted, designed, and delivered to be inclusive of the range of learner variability present in Sursum Corda School Division (SCSD) classrooms. Although all students are physically included in SCSD classrooms, the learning of those who cannot assimilate to current instructional practices is generally supported through alternative, and often disconnected, practices and materials. Researched and experienced concerns with this approach include an increased potential to isolate, limit, or stigmatize targeted students and the inhibition of innovative instructional practices more generally. This OIP aims for a divisional shift toward curriculum and instructional beliefs, practices, structures, and resources that support all students to access, participate, and make learning progress within the general education classroom and curriculum. Current divisional structures and initiatives that aim to support inclusive education will be discussed. This plan was developed through a review of the literature on inclusive education, including the impacts of educator beliefs about learning and learners, and an examination of documents and materials produced and disseminated by the provincial Ministry of Education. A disability studies in education lens is used to understand current practices and beliefs for supporting learner variability and to present a vision of using the universal design for learning framework to inclusively extend quality instructional practices to a broader range of learners. Tools and tactics of adaptive and inclusive leadership are used to present a plan guided by research in the field of implementation science.

Recommended Citation

Braat, M. (2021). Evolving Inclusive Learning: From Retrofitting Disability to Designing for Variability. The Dissertation in Practice at Western University, 185. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/oip/185