Bronfenbrenner and Universal Design - A Tale of Two Theories for Inclusion

Abstract

Let’s be honest! Your job as an educator is multi-faceted – from having to know about numeracy and literacy, assessment of learning (AoL) and assessment for learning (AfL), to other important things you probably have not been taught about in your initial education course – how to deal with a myriad of issues such as bereavement, bullying, and tiredness. But at the heart of your work is the important question posed by Sapon-Shevin (2003): “what kind of a world do we want to create, and how should we educate students for that world?” (p. 26). In this chapter, we encourage you to be a reflexive and inclusive reader. So, as you read, firstly reflect upon your own experience of educational inclusion – either from your own experience as a learner, or with the role you now have in education. Secondly, as you reflect upon your own experiences, have a think about how the content of this chapter can help you to become a more inclusive practitioner. We will show you that theories are, simply put, just a collection of good ideas that can help your practice. We will first introduce you to the great thinking tool Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1986) provided us with to consider the learner – not just in terms of their physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development, but importantly, how the learner is influential in – and by – people and social structures around them (e.g., friends, family, neighbourhood, government, world issues). That is, Bronfenbrenner’s work helps us to see the learner “In context”. The second thinking tool are framed by Universal Design (UD) (Story, Mueller, & Mace, 1998) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (Rose & Meyer, 2002); approaches that support future development of inclusive practice. These approaches help our work to be as inclusive as possible for the great variety of learners we encounter.