Challenging the Universality of Inclusive Education: Theoretical and Methodological Insights From Research in Developing Nations

• In Event: Challenging the Universality of Inclusion: Context and Culture in the Transfer of a Western Principle

Abstract

The notion of inclusive education, despite its global presence attained over the past 25 years, is fraught with theoretical and methodological shortcomings (UNESCO, 1994). Specifically, most studies have been produced in the developed world although inclusion has multiple meanings that likely affect scholarship produced in developing nations (Grech, 2011). The work done in developed countries has focused on students with disabilities, ignoring other identity markers (e.g., social class, race, ethnicity, language); has emphasized where students are placed as a proxy for inclusive education; has neglected attention to sociocultural factors; and has ignored outcome measures (Artiles et al., 2006). We do not know whether these trends prevail in studies from the developing world (Ferguson, 2008).

The expansion of inclusive education efforts into the developing world over the past decade has been implemented at differing rates and with considerable controversy (Engelbrecht & Green, 2007). In some instances international agreements incentivized developing countries to embrace inclusive practices for learners with diverse needs, while in other countries non-governmental organizations have taken the lead (Srivastava et al., 2013). A review of inclusive education projects in developing countries pointed to a paucity of inclusion studies (Srivastava et al.,), indicating the need to advance inclusion research in the developing world, refine its conceptualization in such contexts, and examine how the foundational tenets of inclusion are being appropriated in contexts in which socioeconomic and educational inequities are the norm.

This research has two objectives: First, to refine the conceptualization of inclusive education research in developing nations to transcend the traditional a-contextual and a-cultural approach; second, to contribute a critical analysis of inclusive education research from the perspective of theoretical and methodological considerations in developing nations.

This year-long study was conducted in Malawi and Guatemala, two developing nations beginning to implement inclusive education. The purpose was to document inclusion perspectives at multiple levels of the education systems and identify factors that contribute to or deter inclusion implementation. Multiple data (interviews, focus groups, official documents, participant observation) were collected with key actors from the Ministry to classroom levels. We use insights from this study to identify theoretical and methodological issues that arise in research projects in developing nations. Based on an interdisciplinary perspective, we discuss: (a) Epistemological issues in inclusion studies—i.e., the legacies of colorblind paradigms; (b) the role of power in post-colonial contexts that mediate educational opportunity; (c) ecological validity design and fieldwork considerations, (d) intersectional and sociocultural considerations to document the fluid nature of ability differences and students’ multiple identities; and (e) a broader unit of analysis that accounts for individuals located in activity systems.

Our analysis has crucial implications for inclusion studies conducted in contexts where inequities are ubiquitous, such as research team composition, sampling decisions, data analysis and researcher roles. We aim to advance a view of research as situated cultural practice that will infuse a much-needed epistemic reflexivity in this field (Arzubiaga et al., 2008). Ultimately, this perspective challenges the colonial undertones that have implicitly permeated this literature (Singal & Muthukrishna, 2014).

Authors

• Alfredo J. Artiles, Arizona State University

• Petra Engelbrecht, North West University

• Myriam Hummel, Leibniz Universitat Hannover

• Marta Zoila Caballeros, Universidad Rafael Landívar

• Antje Rothe, Leibniz Universitat Hannover

• Rolf Werning, University of Hanover