Actors and their Collaboration in the Implementation of Inclusive Education in México

• In Event: Parents and Communities as Holistic Support Systems for their Students

Proposal

In an effort to increase the inclusion and equitable practices for all students, we must continue to grow the understanding of the collective work involved in inclusive education policy implementation. This research examines the actors and collaboration involved in the implementation of policies and practices at the macro, meso, and micro levels including university and professional training, for persons with disabilities in México. With the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the United Nations has advocated for the inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of society. Among the many rights of people with disabilities, the CRPD asserts the rights of persons with disabilities to have employment and rehabilitation options as well as education at all levels.
In 2007, México ratified the CRPD, agreeing to work for the many rights afforded to people with disabilities within the document. Then, in 2011, a previous law for people with disabilities was updated to be the General Law for the Inclusion of People with Disabilities. The update included a focus on inclusive education with specific goals and indicators for this inclusion. To better understand the collective work involved in the implementation of this policy, this research is guided by the following questions: Who and what are the actors (institutional, individual, and relational) that are utilizing and building up these networks? How do these actors support each other and students utilizing these programs?
Theory
This research uses Actor Network Theory (ANT) as the foundation for understanding policy implementation and the many actors involved in policy implementation. Bartlett & Vavrus (2014) argue that ANT allows researchers to focus on the networks created by actors and the interactions between those actors without focusing on the layer they are a part of (macro, meso, or micro). It provided the framework necessary to analyze the many assemblages and to examine how actors are working together to provide inclusive education.
Methods
A Vertical Case Study was adapted to examine the actors, collaboration, and supports across the macro (global), meso (government), and micro (local) levels of this policy in practice (Bartlett & Vavrus, 2014). Qualitative analysis was used to analyze two types of data: documents and interviews. First, the researcher analyzed the General Law of Inclusion and the CRPD. Next, 25 interviews were conducted with those working in key government entities, program directors, and adult students with disabilities in higher education or vocational formation programs to understand what supports them in the implementation of this inclusive policy. In-vivo and descriptive coding was used to chunk or classify sections of the interviews that included mentions to different actors involved in implementation and different supports provided to or by participants (Seidman, 2013). Once these actors and supports were identified, ANT, was used to analyze how these actors, if at all, were working together in implementation.
Results
Across all levels of implementation in México, there are five groups of actors involved: government, relevant institutions, community, resources and schools and programs. Government actors include government entities, policies, and working groups. Relevant institutional actors are comprised of the private sector, civil sector, and international organizations, while the community actors include family, partners, and friends. The group of resource actors encompasses several nonhuman actors including technology, information, funding, materials, trainings, and strategies. Finally, school and program actors include teachers, the program team, universities, students with disabilities and their peers.
There are a multitude of actors needed to implement inclusive transition education in México, both human and nonhuman, institutional and relational. Government, institutional, and schools and program actors are institutional, human actors that are working towards inclusive education. Community actors are relational, human actors who support students in their education from outside of an institution. Nonhuman actors are heavily identified within the resource group of actors. Across levels, it is clear that a variety of different actors is necessary for this implementation with both nonhuman and human actors having big roles in implementation. Across the levels of implementation, program teams act as boundary spanners and bridges, bringing these actors into the work of inclusive education in the larger implementation network (Manev & Stevenson, 2001; Long et al., 2013; Wohlstetter et al., 2015).
Significance
This work responds to questions about how we might work collectively to implement inclusive education. It builds on previous methodology and theory in order to develop an understanding of the multitude of actors, human, nonhuman, institutional and relational, involved in the implementation of inclusive education. It also speaks to the boundary spanning being done by program teams and can be used to show the need for developing and supporting these teams in their work within these institutions.

Author

• Melissa Mendoza, Texas Christian University