Learning about Inclusive Education: Exploring the Entanglement between Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction (Event)

Description

One of the leading movements in the international educational arena is inclusive education. It aims to meet the learning needs of all learners and promote equitable education for a more cohesive society (UNESCO, 2017). There are two pedagogical frameworks with the potential to achieve this aim in the literature - Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) (OECD, 2018; UNESCO, 2016).
This dissertation aims to develop a more thorough theoretical and empirical underpinning for UDL and DI inclusive frameworks. To that end, two research objectives are addressed: to empirically test the UDL framework, and to theoretically and empirically test the interrelationship between UDL and DI frameworks. To address the research objectives a mixed method approach was used. Results addressing the first research objective show that the UDL framework which includes both teachers’ philosophy and praxis of teaching has empirical validity. However, we also found evidence that the implementation of UDL as an all-embracing framework may become problematic, as meeting the learning needs for some students can create barriers for others. Results addressing the second research objective show that three conceptual interrelationships between UDL and DI exist in the literature (i.e. complementary, embedded and incompatible). Based on these findings, we moved forward into empirically contrasting both frameworks and found that both UDL and DI practices share their most important predictors (i.e. ongoing assessment, self-efficacy and self- regulation and motivation to teach) and have a complementary interrelationship. Finally, we present future avenues of study towards an integrated model of both UDL and DI.

Period	2020
Event title	Learning about Inclusive Education: Exploring the Entanglement between Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction
Event type	PhD defence
Location	Brussels, Belgium