- Title
- Navigating ambiguities of curriculum inclusion for students with severe intellectual disabilities or profound and multiple learning difficulties in Australia
- Creator
- Rendoth, Tess
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2024
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Secondary-aged students with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties have highly differentiated and personalised educational, health and communication support requirements. Teachers are at the centre of this adaptive curriculum design and implementation process. Curriculum inclusion for all students is a central driver of Australia’s dedication to inclusive education for students with disabilities. The complex level of adaptation required to support the needs of these students to standardised curriculum frameworks can cause challenges for educators when developing and implementing curriculums that meet the needs of their students and families while balancing curriculum inclusion and meeting their professional obligations. In addition, most students with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties are enrolled in specialist educational settings, often referred to as schools for specific purposes. This means both the students and their teachers experience high levels of geographic exclusion away from their peers on a day-to-day basis. This research aimed to investigate how teachers perceive and practically engage with Australia’s standardised curriculum frameworks (national and state-based). Further, the study aimed to articulate the personal and professional factors of influence over teacher identity and decision-making regarding curriculum content for their students and how these manifests in individualised curriculum design. Although research into these areas has been undertaken internationally, this study represents the first exploration of this topic from an Australian perspective. With international findings used as comparative guides, this study articulates how these areas of research manifest in Australia and, by doing so, demonstrate the current structural and systemic readiness for true curriculum inclusion for teachers and students alike. This exploratory research study was undertaken using a two-stage mixed methods approach. First, a national survey was followed by case studies detailing the experiences of five individual teachers. Results show that Australia’s curriculum structure (and associated professional planning obligations) and its content progressions do not support teachers or their students in meaningful curriculum or broader educational inclusion. Findings also indicate multiple inherent conflicts between teachers' educative priorities, practices, and professional identities and those prioritised and privileged within Australia’s current state and national curriculum frameworks. This study advances knowledge about this topic, supporting future inclusion, curriculum studies and teacher professional learning research. This contribution is made through the provision of recommendations in six priority areas, 1. Refining our definition educational inclusion, 2. Influencing factors in teacher decision-making, 3. Curriculum reform, 4. Curriculum planning and mapping, 5. Professional learning and support, and 6. Future research opportunities. Each recommendation is contextualised within the research findings, and motivations for their proposition explored. Each recommendation is designed to support the work of policymakers, teachers, and researchers alike.
- Subject
- inclusion; curriculum; complex disabilities; teachers; decision-making; teacher Identity; curriculum-making; thesis by publication
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1508460
- Identifier
- uon:56127
- Rights
- Copyright 2024 Tess Rendoth
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 330 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |