There has a been an exponential development – if not an explosion - of inclusive policies and practices adopted within the elementary and secondary sectors in most Global North jurisdictions over the last two decades. While the discourse around inclusion has grown as a result, it would be unwise to assume that inclusive practices have become the norm or that they have been seamlessly integrated: there is still a lot of tension and unease among teachers seeking to implement inclusive practices; this translates into hesitation and sometimes even a push back from school leaders; there remains much confusion at times as to the intentions and theoretical principles that ground these efforts. The session will offer insights into a study which sought to determine to what extent an introduction to the Social Model of Disability was effective and impactful in allowing elementary and secondary school teachers to ground their work in the field of inclusive practices with conceptual clarity. It is argued that this has so far been the missing piece in pre-service teacher training as well as in-service professional development. The inclusion discourse within the primary and secondary landscape, both in terms of policy documents and field resources, has not explicitly or effectively integrated Disability Studies - and more specifically the Social Model of Disability - when framing and formulating inclusive provisions. As a result, teachers’ theoretical understanding of the foundations for inclusive reforms as they relate to the rights of children with disabilities is shaky at best and this affects these classroom professionals’ commitment to broad transformative pedagogical reforms. Bio-medical and deficit models prevail, and other lenses and constructs offered by the Disability Studies literature remain absent from this professional reflection. The session explores qualitative data collected among K-12 teachers as they were being introduced to the key features of the social model of disability. The data analysis gauges to what extent this transformed their views on inclusion in the classroom. This fully interactive session will lead the participants, in a hands-on fashion, along the journey experienced by these teachers and allow for an experiential understanding of the degree to which any material developing awareness of the social model of disability can have immediate impact on the clarity and effectiveness of inclusion efforts in the primary and secondary sectors. More widely, a discussion will be triggered in the session around the urgency of including Disability Studies scholarship in pre-service teacher training.

1. Gauging the impact of social model awareness
among elementary and secondary school
teachers seeking to adopt inclusive practices
Frederic Fovet, PhD.
May 12th, 2023 – NNDR 2023, Reykjavik, Iceland

2. Land Acknowledgement
• Thompson Rivers University
campuses are on the traditional
lands of the Tk'emlúps te
Secwépemc (Kamloops campus)
and the T’exelc (Williams Lake
campus) within
Secwépemc'ulucw, the
traditional and unceded
territory of the Secwépemc. The
region TRU serves also extends
into the territories of the
St’át’imc, Nlaka’pamux,
Tŝilhqot'in, Nuxalk, and Dakelh

3. Objectives of the Session
• Acknowledge the confusion and tension which persists in the primary and secondary sectors
around inclusive policies and practices – despite a now well developed scholarship.
• Develop awareness of some of the causes of this hesitation and frequent push back from
educators
• Examine the phenomenological experiences of the presenter in relation to professional
development focused on the social model of disability, delivered to in-service teachers
• Gauge briefly the impact of the pandemic on this topic/ phenomenon and the lessons learnt
• Consider the complexity of management of change in relation to the development of wider
and bolder training on the social model to pre-service and in-service teachers.

4. Format of Session
• It is always difficult to be fully interactive when online for a brief session. It
can also be challenging to be entirely UDL in short presentations.
• The slides have been shared on SlideShare and posted to my LinkedIn and
Twitter account.
• Happy to continue engaging online with participants through social media
after the talk.

5. Personal lens
• Unique positioning as a scholar: have
perspective both an Accessibility Services
manager and a faculty member
• Was involved in large scale UDL
implementation from 2011 to 2016 across
a campus – experienced this process in its
full complexity
• Have also been Academic Lead/ Program
Head at UPEI and RRU, and have needed
to guide contract faculty around inclusive
teaching and the use of UDL.
• Act as a UDL consultant with colleges and
universities in Canada.
• My research and scholarship also focuses
on UDL
• I will be drawing from these multiple and
varied perspectives

6. Methodological stance
• The broad theoretical paradigm is phenomenology and represents an exploration of
meaning making within my practice – existentialist at times as inclusion is at the
heart of my practice and its implementation in the field feels like Sisyphean task at
times.
• The methodology adopted is auto-ethnography and examines my journey as a
practitioner, addressing this gap in teacher training and its impact.
• Two-fold approach to data:
- Notes and records of my work as a consultant in schools, offering in-service PD
events
- Course content and interactions with in-service teachers within certain of my MEd
courses.

7. A snapshot:Exponential - but complex- developmentof
Inclusivepoliciesand practicesin the primaryand secondary
sectorglobally
• Exponential development – if not an explosion - of inclusive policies and practices
adopted within the elementary and secondary sectors in most Global North
jurisdictions over the last two decades.
• Discourse around inclusion has grown as a result, but inclusive practices are not the
norm yet.
• Have not been seamlessly integrated
• Tension and unease among teachers seeking to implement inclusive practices
• Translates into hesitation and sometimes even a push back from school leaders
• Degree of confusion at times as to the intentions and theoretical principles that
ground these efforts.

9. Some of the causes of this tension: The
bumpy road of Inclusive Education
• 1970s – First use of this concept
• First appearance of Human Rights approach to educational inclusion
• 1980s – Wider global philosophical/ holistic commitment to inclusion
• 1995 – Salamanca Statement
• Late 1990s - Move towards de-segregation (mostly grounded on social capital theory), in
parallel to the wider societal move towards de-institutionalization (incarceration, mental
health and psychiatric services, community services, etc.)
• Realization in early 2000s that Human Rights approaches also perpetuate deficit model
thinking – Contradictory tension
• Post-modern approach to eroding categorizations through focus on language and its
inherent impact on power dynamics/ hegemonic discourse (removal of ‘special needs’
terminology from policy)
• Emergence of social model of disability approaches to inclusion
• Within this last perspective, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has made a recent
appearance – It translates the social model into action in the classroom.
• Urgency to widen the social model discourse to address the needs of the full spectrum of
diverse learners.

10. Some of manifestation of the tension
experienced by stakeholders
• Ambivalence in teachers’ perceptions and lived experiences
• Teachers are experimenting concurrently with approaches that are theoretically
contradictory
• Hesitancy and fear
• Misunderstanding and phenomena of ‘perpetuated myths’, particularly in relation
to funding models
• Little leadership support or conceptual clarity from school leaders and managers
• A search from empathy from community and parents: spreads theoretical confusion
• Weak connections between academia and the field – no conceptual clarity available
from this relationship
• Issue of the PD stardom phenomenon: expensive, with little depth, no philosophical
or theoretical commitment, few opportunities for follow-up or application.

11. Examiningthe analysisof the presenter’sphenomenological
journeywith in-servicePD on socialmodel
• The session explores qualitative data collected among K-12 teachers as they
were being introduced to the key features of the social model of disability.
• The data analysis gauges to what extent this transformed their views on
inclusion in the classroom.
• Considering the usually limited time available for in-service PD, these
introductions to the social model were brief.

12. Examiningthe analysisof the presenter’sphenomenological
journeywith in-servicePD on socialmodel (contd.)
• Took the form of a short workshop exercise (approximately an hour) that used:
- 8 minutes of video (Butler, 2011)
- An interactive exercise where participants themselves extract the essentials of the
social model from the segment
- Two more short videos to anchor the concept once defined (Adam-Spink, 2012;
Scope, 2017)
- A discussion that re-contextualized the discussion beyond physical impairment to the
classroom as a whole
• Interactive in nature. Allows for candid self-questioning and authentic sharing.
• Does tend to become a collective moment of awakening. Important in terms of
impact on school communities: momentum for change, creation of communities of
practice, presence of support in this journey.

13. Examiningthe analysisof the presenter’sphenomenological
journeywith in-servicePD on socialmodel (contd.)
• Gauging the impact of the material/ dialogue: very tangible reactions live,
abundance of questions, thinking aloud happening in sessions, immediate
connections to practice being made (particularly in relation to the diagnostic
documentation requirements), frequent questions via email and social media
beyond the PD event itself.
• Also second visit to site on some occasions, and evidence of emergence of
communities of practice, and work drawing on the first session.
• Clear that teachers have almost never been exposed to the social model of
disability in their pre-service training, and have rarely encountered it in their
in-service PD

14. Examiningthe analysisof the presenter’sphenomenological
journeywith in-servicePD on socialmodel (contd.)
• Introduction to the Social Model of Disability was effective and impactful in
allowing elementary and secondary school teachers to ground their work in the field
of inclusive practices with conceptual clarity.
• Enables them to grasp the theoretical tension that exists between the goals of
inclusive education (practices such as Universal Design for Learning, authentically
grounded in the social mode) and its current predicament (heavily based in medical/
deficit model perspectives in funding processes, policy documents, and enforcement
measures [Even human rights litigation currently basically perpetuates the bio-
medical lens through the over-reliance on diagnostic documentation])
• Clear that this represents a Eureka moment for many teachers.
• Does not need to be long or complex as a PD exercise. Equips teachers with a basic
grasp, some autonomy for exploration, an acute awareness of theoretical
implications on their practice.

15. Outcomes
• So far has been the missing piece in pre-service teacher training as well as in-
service professional development.
• The inclusion discourse within the primary and secondary landscape, both in terms
of policy documents and field resources, has not explicitly or effectively integrated
Disability Studies - and more specifically the Social Model of Disability - when
framing and formulating inclusive provisions.
• As a result, teachers’ theoretical understanding of the foundations for inclusive
reforms as they relate to the rights of children with disabilities is shaky at best and
this affects these classroom professionals’ commitment to broad transformative
pedagogical reforms.
• Bio-medical and deficit models prevail, and other lenses and constructs offered by
the Disability Studies literature remain absent from this professional reflection.

16. Outcomes
• When teachers have not been exposed to the social model of disability, there
remains a fundamental contradiction where teachers parrot a transformative
discourse on equal rights and equity while perpetuating medical/ deficit model
practices in their classrooms.
• Tension is so palpable that teachers become confused, ambivalent, and affected in
their perception of their own professional competency.
• Even a small, limited exposure to the social model of disability erodes much of this
ambivalence and allows theoretical clarity
• Arms educators with a broader, more authentic understanding of transformative
approaches to inclusion such as UDL
• Allows them be aware of - and shift slowly away from – medical model reflexes,
mindsets, and gestures.

17. And then came COVID…

18. To what extent did the pandemic affect
this phenomenon?
• When gauged by me in large scale PD events, over the last year, have systematically
acknowledged a dichotomous view
• Half the room usually finds that things have improved in the field of inclusion, whereas the
other half finds that the pandemic has made things much more difficult
• Mirrors a dichotomous reality: some unprecedented experiments and some stupendous
failures have been observed.
• One consistent take away: the pandemic has widely increased educator’s implicit
understanding of inclusive design.
• In this sense they are also more receptive than ever to the notion of social model
• They became aware that:
- they do not simply deliver content
- They design the learning experience (and can do so well or badly)
- They understand that they have the power to disable or remove barriers (fundamentals of an
understanding of the social model)

19. Tips to begin a shift and erode some of this tension – A
realistic look at hands-on implications
• Need to infuse Disabilities Studies – particularly an introduction to the social model
of disability - into pre-service teacher training in order to better equip teacher
candidates navigate this complexity and tension.
• Wider urgency to increase the exposure of teacher candidates to the theoretical
foundations of inclusive education – instead of the current tendency to ‘over-
simplify’. Inclusion cannot be understood as a simple checklist of action items.
• Importance of in-service exposure to the same Disability Studies scholarship. There
are equity issues in expecting most mid-career teachers to access such training via
graduate education at their cost.
• Also an urgent need for the scholarship on inclusion itself to explicitly tackle
theory/ philosophical stances with clarity.
• Pressing need to acknowledge contradictions within the community itself. The word
‘Inclusion’ currently is so stretched that it includes antagonistic and radically
opposite practices (deficit and social model positions).

20. Take-aways
• The push back against inclusion currently
observed in educational landscapes is
dangerous
• Its existence is understandable because of
the theoretical confusion that persists in
the inclusion discourse
• It is urgent that Disabilities Studies - and
the social model of disability in
particular – be infused into pre- and in-
service teacher training.
• A lot of simple, hands-on, audio-visual
resources exist that can create almost
immediate impact.
• Transformative, authentic inclusive
frameworks, such as UDL, will stall unless
we first address this gap and this need.

21. Questions

22. References & Resources
Adam-Spink, G. (2012) Social Model Animation. [Video] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s3NZaLhcc4
Ashby C. (2012). Disability studies and inclusive teacher preparation: A socially just path for teacher education. Research and Practice
for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 37(2), 89–99. https://doi.org/10.1177/154079691203700204
Browning T. D. (2018). Countering deficit discourse: Preservice teacher experiences of core reflection. Teaching and Teacher Education,
72, 87–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.01.009
Bunbury S. (2019). Unconscious bias and the medical model: How the social model may hold the key to transformative thinking about
disability discrimination. International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 19(1), 26–47.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1358229118820742
Butler, J. (2011) Examined Life: Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor. [Video] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HZaPkF6qE
Capp, M. (2018) Teacher confidence to implement the principles, guidelines, and checkpoints of universal design for learning.
International Journal of Inclusive Education
Cook, S. C., & Rao, K. (2018). Systematically Applying UDL to Effective Practices for Students with Learning Disabilities. Learning
Disability Quarterly, 41(3), 179–191
Fovet, F. (2023) The Changing Landscape of Inclusive Education: A Shift toward Universal Design for Learning. In A. Beckett and Dr A-
M. Callus (Eds.) Handbook on Children’s Rights and Disability. Routledge
Fovet, F. (2022) Embedding Authentic and Effective Awareness About Mental Health in Pre-Service Teacher Training. In O. Al-Mahdi
and T. Purinton (Eds.) Global Perspectives on Teacher Performance Improvement. IGI Global.
Keefe, E. S. (2022). From Detractive to Democratic: The Duty of Teacher Education to Disrupt Structural Ableism and Reimagine
Disability. Teachers College Record, 124(3), 115–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681221086994
Scope (2017) What is the social model of disability? [Video] YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e24rfTZ2CQ

23. Contact details
• Frederic Fovet (PhD.)
• Associate Professor, School of Education and Technology, Royal Roads
University
• Frederic.fovet@royalroads.ca
• @Ffovet
• www.implementudl.com