Abstract
Responding to student diversity has become a key policy priority in education systems around the world. In addition to international and national institutional policies, major changes are underway in instructional practices and pedagogy in many national contexts. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has become a key pedagogical approach used in education systems which seek to promote inclusive and equitable education in response to student diversity. Despite Ireland’s policy commitment to inclusive education, UDL has been traditionally focused on the higher education sector with little discussion about the role UDL can play at primary and second-level education to achieve inclusion. Furthermore, there has been no research to date on the extent to which education policy reforms are introducing part, or all, of the aspects of the UDL framework. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which UDL is gaining momentum in Irish primary and second-level education through an analysis of curriculum policy. This paper examines the development and evolution of UDL in Irish education policy over the past decade by exploring the use of UDL in national educational curriculum frameworks. The paper highlights how UDL is slowly and implicitly emerging in education policy at a national level but suggests further momentum could be gained from its inclusion in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and professional development programmes. By exploring the development of UDL within existing policy contexts, the paper argues for a more explicit commitment to UDL as part of ongoing curriculum reform at the primary level, the review of Senior Cycle, and Ireland’s broader inclusive education agenda.
Highlights
And in Ireland, education systems are being challenged to respond to diverse student populations with a growing recognition that students may come from different socioeconomic, ethnic, cultural, and learning backgrounds, as well as students with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ students [1,2,3]
In one study on emergent-literacy development, the findings suggest that Universal Design for Learning (UDL) benefits every student regardless of ability or need because the content and learning is enhanced for every emerging-literacy learner through providing students with a variety of materials and learning formats [27]
The exploration of recent curriculum developments in Ireland indicates a shift in mindset towards UDL as a framework for inclusive education in Irish schools
Summary
And in Ireland, education systems are being challenged to respond to diverse student populations with a growing recognition that students may come from different socioeconomic, ethnic, cultural, and learning backgrounds, as well as students with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ students [1,2,3]. International policies such as the United Nations Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities [3], United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child [4], and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [2] stress the need for countries to provide inclusive and equitable education for everyone. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which UDL is gaining momentum in Irish primary and second-level education through an analysis of curriculum policy over time and across sectors
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