Denna masteruppsats syftar till att bidra med kunskap om lärares lärande och undersöka deras användning av kulturella redskap i en aktionsstudie. I studien undersöks processen i ett arbetslag där universell design för lärande (UDL) presenteras och diskuteras som en möjlig stödstruktur för undervisningen i form av en aktionsstudie. Målet med den är att bidra med kunskapsbildning om hur undervisning kan planeras och utformas med hjälp av den systematik UDL bidrar till.  För att kunna besvara studiens frågeställningar genomfördes en aktionsstudie med tre lärare på en F–6 skola. Studien är genomförd med en kvalitativ metod där loggboksanteckningar från aktionsstudiens sessioner utgör en del av empirin, åtföljd av enskilda, reflekterande intervjuer. Deltagarna undervisade två klasser i ett tre–lärarskap på ett mellanstadium och diskuterade och reflekterade över texter och filmer om universell design för lärande (UDL) under sex sessioner.   Resultaten från aktionsstudien visar hur språket och kommunikationen förändrades under sessionerna, vilka möjligheter och hinder för implementeringen av UDL som identifierades och inställningen till forskningsbaserade arbetssätt utkristalliserades. Hur deltagarna använde sig av kulturella redskap i sitt eget lärande likväl som i sin undervisning framkommer också som ett resultat av denna studie. / This master thesis aims to contribute with knowledge about teachers´ learning and investigate their use of linguistic tools in an action research study. In this, where UDL is presented and discussed as a possible scaffolding structure, the process in a team of teachers at a middle school is investigated. The aim of the action research study is to create knowledge about how the systematic work with UDL can contribute to the planning and forming process of teaching.   In order to answer the research questions in the study, an action research study was conducted with three teachers at a middle school. The study is conducted with a qualitative method, in which field notes from the sessions in the action research study is one part followed by separate, reflective interviews with the participating teachers. The participating teachers were teaching in two classes in a grade at a middle school and have during six sessions discussed and reflected on texts and films about Universal Design for Learning (UDL).   The results from this action research study showed how the use of language and communication changed during the sessions, which possibilities and obstacles could be identified in implementing UDL and how the attitude towards research based approaches could be seen. How the participants used sociocultural tools in their own learning as well as in their teaching can also be seen as a result of this study.

Studiens syfte är att analysera hur pedagoger, elever och skolledare vid en gymnasieskola uppfattar fenomenen inkludering och tillgänglig undervisning genom att undersöka deras syn på möjligheter och utmaningar med att som elev inskriven i gymnasiesärskolan delta i undervisning på nationella program på gymnasieskolan. Vi har genomfört sju semistrukturerade intervjuer med målet att finna variationer i uppfattningarna kring inkludering och tillgänglig undervisning hos de olika aktörerna. Tidigare forskning har visat att begreppet inkludering används på olika sätt vilket resulterar i att skolors arbete med inkluderingsprocesser tar sig olika uttryck beroende på vilken definition man utgår ifrån. Studier visar även att heterogena grupper kan ha en positiv effekt för både elever i behov av särskilt stöd och för elever utan samma behov samt att särskiljande lösningar ofta har en stigmatiserande effekt. Trots detta anser många lärare och rektorer att just heterogeniteten i klassrummen är en av de största utmaningarna. Tillgänglighet handlar om hur väl en verksamhet fungerar för personer med en funktionsnedsättning. En tillgänglig lärmiljö handlar om att ge alla elever förutsättningar att vara delaktiga och inkluderade i utbildning. En väl genomtänkt undervisning som är varierad, utmanande och i förväg anpassad efter alla elevers behov kommer att leda till att minska antalet elever i svårigheter. Ett sätt att göra detta är att använda sig av Universal design for learning, en uppsättning principer som utgår ifrån att alla elever lär på olika sätt och att läraren därför behöver använda sig av olika metoder för att möta alla elevers behov. Resultatet av vår studie visar att informanterna uppfattar att ett gemensamt förhållningssätt är viktigt för att kunna möta alla individer. Skolan ses som ett litet samhälle där alla ska ges möjlighet att möta mångfald och olikheter. För att inkludering och tillgänglighet ska kunna uppnås uppfattar informanterna att det krävs en vilja att inkludera alla elever samt att det är viktigt att olika professioner på skolan samarbetar. En annan viktig förutsättning för en lyckad inkludering är ett relationellt perspektiv samt en vilja att anpassa undervisningen efter de elever man som lärare har framför sig.

I det här arbetet har begreppet kreativitet utifrån den konstnärliga området undersökts ur ett pedagogiskt perspektiv. Det empiriska materialet som består av svar från två enkätundersökningar och bilder från deltagare i en fokusgrupp har analyserats hur en bild med “rätt” resurser bidrar till en mångfald av idéer och skapar en kreativ bild. Detta för att belysa hur vi kan öva upp vår egen kreativa förmåga inom den konstnärliga området med hjälp av visuellt material, i det här fallet “Handbok för kreativitet”. I undersökningen framkom det att en kreativ bild är en bild som består av en bildkonstruktion och teckensammansättning som ger en mångfald av tolkningar och associationer och är öppen för transformering. Detta bidrog till vidare förståelse för hur ett kreativt synsätt i skolan är viktigt för att nå en mer jämlik skola mellan det verbala och textuella och praktiskt utförande. Undersökningens gestaltande del utgörs av egna visuellt framtagna bilder som är tolkade utifrån de bilder som ansågs som gynnsamma för kreativitet och skapande i en av enkätundersökningarna. Hela gestaltningen är i form av en bok, “Handbok för kreativitet” på 58 sidor och består, nästan enbart, av visuellt material.

Thesis advisor: David Scanlon / There is limited research on the relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement. While successful teaching is often defined through test scores, good teaching encompasses the moral elements of teaching (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005). This study, building on the work of Mitescu, Cochran-Smith, Pedulla, Cannady, and Jong (2011), is a secondary analysis examining the relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement. A subsample of 4th and 5th grade English/language arts (ELA) teachers (n=107) and students (n=2587) was taken from the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2013). Classroom videos were coded using the Teaching for Social Justice Observation Scale (TSJOS) of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol-Plus (RTOP+) (Mitescu et al.) to measure socially just teaching practices. Unadjusted linear regression analyses indicated a positive significant correlation between teachers’ mean TSJOS score and the class averages on standardized state ELA exams and the class average on an assessment of higher-order thinking skills. This relationship was also found when the same analysis was conducted on 4th grade classrooms as well as 5th grade classrooms. A hierarchical multiple linear regression found a positive significant relationship between TSJOS scores and student achievement after accounting for location, teacher, and student predictor variables. The relationship between socially just teaching practices and student achievement for subgroups of students is discussed. The study analyzed the significance and magnitude of the relationship between socially just teaching practices after two widely used classroom observation protocols, the Framework for Teaching (FfT) and the Protocol for Language Arts Observation Scale (PLATO), were entered into the model. Teacher mean TSJOS scores were found to explain a significant and unique proportion of the variation in state assessment scores after accounting for average FfT ELA observation scores and teacher average PLATO observation scores, separately. This study adds to the literature on the connection between socially just teaching practices and student achievement, in that it provides compelling evidence that socially just teaching practices are not only related to the good, or moral, side of teaching, but also have a positive and significant relationship with increased student achievement for all students. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

År 2014 kom en ny lag gällande arbetet med extra anpassningar. I lagen tydliggörs den undervisande pedagogens skyldighet att sätta in extra anpassningar i ett skede där eleven inte ses nå målen. Ändringen i skollagen har medfört direkta och indirekta effekter på arbetet med extra anpassningar inom skolor i Sverige. Utifrån ramfaktorteorin såsom den skrivs fram av Dahllöf och Skritics teori om byråkratiska och adhocratiska organisationer var syftet med studien att undersöka olika professioners syn på arbetet kring extra anpassningar inom skolan som organisation. Utifrån en fenomenologisk kvalitativ intervjustudie med åtta deltagare fick vi några rektorers, lärares, speciallärares och specialpedagogers samt specialpedagogstudenters syn på fenomenet extra anpassningar sett utifrån den egna professionen. Resultaten tolkades mot bakgrund av Skrtics teori om att specialpedagogiska system kan uppstå inom skolan som organisation trots skollagens intention om inkluderande och tillgängliga lärmiljöer för alla elever inom skolan. Resultaten visade att medvetenheten och kännedomen om extra anpassningar som begrepp och fenomen kändes till av samtliga deltagare och att lagändringen år 2014 påverkade deltagarnas syn på sitt arbete med extra anpassningar. Deltagarnas olika syn på att organisera och leda arbetet med extra anpassningar tydde på att lagändringen tolkades olika beroende på profession och skola.

This project explores the possibilities of implementing a critical and liberatory pedagogy within the confines of the prison. Building upon the fields of critical prison theory, literacy studies, and (dis)ability studies, I assert that implementing small, organic, and tactical changes though the principles of Universal Design for Learning allows the prison educator to make impactful moves with liberatory goals. I conclude by reimagining what a prison education mission statement that takes this perspective looks like then imagine the liberatory applications of the principles of universal design for learning within the prison.

The Common Core State Standards were written and implemented to prepare all students for college or career readiness including students with disabilities. Students with learning disabilities often have significant difficulties and face challenges when the instruction is framed within The Common Core State Standards. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of special educators on teaching students with learning disabilities using The Common Core State Standards. The two conceptual frameworks used in this study were the Universal Design for Learning and The Zone of Proximal Development. The research questions focused on teachers' perception regarding students with learning disabilities being instructed with Common Core instructions, how teachers perceive providing Common Core instructions to students with learning disabilities is preparing them for college and career readiness, and also, what teachers perceived to be the missing components for providing specialized instructions using Common Core to students with learning disabilities. In this qualitative case study participants were selected using recommendations of school district administrators. Data was collected using face-to-face interviews. Data collection also include observations and samples of students work. Additional data to establish trustworthiness of the study was obtained through observations and analysis of artifacts collected during the study. The intended outcome of the study was to bring about change in the instructional strategies adopted when using Common core State standards in teaching students with disabilities and that to ultimately pave a way for social change.

This qualitative study examines how principals support the implementation of the Three-Block Model of Universal Design for Learning (Katz, 2012a), a framework for inclusive school reform. The ways that principals can support inclusive practice may include the way they use systems and structures that fall under their control (Katz, 2012a). Instructional leadership also plays a crucial part in implementing inclusive school reform (Leithwood & Riehl, 2005). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five Manitoba principals involved in implementation of the Three-Block Model of UDL. Principals were asked about leadership and how they manage systems and structures under their control. Recommendations for practice are made, including the need for the school to be organized to support inclusive practice, for principals to make developing people a key task, and for principals to be highly involved in classroom instruction within the school.

Very little research is published on teaching music to students with learning disabilities. Nevertheless, federal law mandates that instruction of such students take place in all public schools. The purpose of this study was to investigate the lived experiences of four secondary instrumental music teachers who teach five students with learning disabilities. This study looked at the interactions between teachers and these students and examined how their experiences informed teaching practices. Phenomenological in design, this study included data collected from journals, as well as interviews, relevant artifacts, and direct observations of the teachers. My goal was to provide data for music teacher training programs and for these teachers to help each class of their students educate students with learning disabilities. Results showed that the teachers were aware of the needs of students with learning disabilities. Teachers became frustrated with occurrences of undisclosed diagnoses of such students and those with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and that they had received little guidance from Individualized Education Programs or other documents designed to inform teachers about accommodations for those with disabilities. Successful accommodations depended on the experience or training of the teachers and the severity of the disability, as well as how much the students had previously learned to cope with their learning disabilities. Students were rarely aware of specific interventions or adaptations teachers had made to accommodate a disability. Instructors employed general teaching techniques that aligned with Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Pedagogical information given in this study would benefit music education and add more data to the sparse amount of work being done on teaching instrumental music to students with learning disabilities.

abstract: According to national data, there continues to be an ongoing achievement gap between students with disabilities and their non-disabled peers (USDE, n.d.b). This data is representative of a continued disparity in academic performance for students in local Arizona school districts. To address this gap, many districts have implemented inclusion models in which students with disabilities spend increasing amounts of time in general education classrooms, in some cases for the majority of or all of their school day. However, the persistence of the achievement gap suggests that general education teachers working in inclusion models may be lacking systematic instructional methods for ensuring access to the curriculum for those with disabilities and other diverse learning needs. The purpose of this action research study was to examine the impact that a series of professional development workshops had on teacher beliefs and understanding of disability, intelligence, and accessible pedagogy. The study was conducted over the course of a school semester at a kindergarten through 8th grade school in a large, semi-rural school district in southeastern Arizona. Ten teachers from a variety of grade levels and subject areas participated in the study along with a school psychologist and two school administrators. Theoretical frameworks guiding this project included critical disability theory, growth mindset, universal design for learning, and transformative learning theory. A mixed-methods action research approach was used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data in the form of surveys, interviews, and written reflections. The workshop series included five modules that began with activities fostering critical reflection of assumptions regarding disability and intelligence and ended with pedagogical strategies in the form of universal design for learning. The results indicate that the innovation was successful in reshaping participant views of disability, intelligence, and pedagogy; however, changes in classroom instruction were small. Implications for future research and practice include more extended sessions on universal design for learning and a more diverse sample of participants. Workshop sessions utilized a variety of active learning activities that were well received by participants and will be included in future professional learning plans across the district. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2018