Including all students through the educative processes is instrumental to their success. Each student's journey through education is therefore impacted by the ways they are included in the classroom. As such, social inclusion, and academic inclusion underpinned by a general sense of belonging are key elements impacting students' successes in schooling. Both globally and nationally school systems face challenges in enacting policies, pedagogies, and practices to meet the needs of increasingly diverse student populations. Student voice which has historically been absent from the literature can be a valuable tool in accounting for the lived experiences of diverse students with or without a formal label of dis/ability. Student voice can (re)present a revelatory tool that can be acted upon in responding to these diverse needs. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore how secondary students in Grenada with or without a label of learning dis/ability but who are considered as part of responsive inclusive education, experience a sense of belonging through academic and social inclusion. This qualitative study using critical narrative inquiry pursued through semi-structured interviews with students, their teachers and parents revealed resonant threads of strained responsive education, childism and coloniality, the pedagogy of nice and an elusive inclusive education. Recommendations are therefore made to center student voice and choice, further the decolonization of schooling, create improved systems of evaluation and diagnosis of specific learning challenges, and to provide extensive teacher training so that the needs of diverse learners can be met. The findings have the potential to encourage and introduce collaborative educational practices amongst teacher-practitioners, students, and Grenada's Ministry of Education and thereby improve responsive models for secondary learners of diverse abilities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1944356 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Henry-Packer, Caroline Jacinta |
| Contributors | Eddy, Colleen, Pazey, Barbara, Blackman, Stacey, Templeton, Tran |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | Text |
| Rights | Public, Henry-Packer, Caroline Jacinta, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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