inclusion in higher education a quest for epistemic access[1]

Inclusion in Higher Education: A

quest for epistemic access

SOTL Seminar Towards a Socially Just Pedagogy

21 August 2014

Tsediso Michael Makoelle (D Ed, Ph D)

Why inclusion?

Education for social justice Human right issue Access to economic viability Responding to global commitments to make the

world an equitable and inclusive society Embrace diversity

T Makoelle 21 August 2014

Conceptualization

Inclusive education means providing equitable education and widening participation of all learners regardless of their background (Ainscow (2010), Dyson (2012), Makoelle (2013)

Used interchangeably sometimes with social inclusion (which encompasses wider social context (Slee 2006)

Not inclusion: focus on only disability


Theoretical orientations to inclusive education practice Curriculum approaches: view of curriculum as a barrier to

learning (Clough & Corbett 2000) Disability: the physical or psychological attributes of the learner

render him/her a victim of exclusion e.g. a hard-hearing learner Medical model: model in which teaching and learning are

designed to address the perceived learner medically diagnosed shortcomings (according to this model there is something to fix on the learner

Social ecological model: was developed as a critique to the medical deficit model: the learners social context forms the core of accepting diversity and allowing participation of individuals regardless of the differences (Reindall 2008, Cesar & Ainscow 2006, Makoelle 2012


Developments in inclusion studies in South Africa and abroad

International move to inclusive education.

Studies on inclusion have focused on: philosophy of inclusion (Dyson 2001, Nind 2004, Slee 2005, Allan 2008, Makoelle 2013 ), developing inclusive institutions ( Ainscow 2010, Booth 2002, Miles 2011) teaching strategies, disabilities and Special needs (Rief 2006, Farrell 2002, Kellett 2003)Inclusive Pedagogy (Florian 2007, Makoelle 2012, Makoelle 2013)Policy (Engelbrecht 2012, Barton 2001,)Sexuality, gender, Race and inclusion (Phasha 2010)

While several studies focused on these aspects, few actually analysis Inclusion in Higher Education settings


Problematizing inclusion in SA

• In South Africa, as a result of the policy of separate development for different racial and ethnic groups (Apartheid) by the previous government in 1948 educational institutions were established along racial, ethnic and disability lines

• Institutions became entities of particular races and symbolised a particular, ability group

• As a consequence a distinct “Habitus” which is socialized norms or tendencies that guide behaviour and thinking (Bourdieu 1977) continue to influence thinking around inclusion


What is an issue

• Since 1994 after the advent of the new educational dispensation educational institutions including Higher Education began to accommodated learners from different abilities and needs in response to the policy of equity, inclusion and non-discrimination enshrined in the new constitution of the country (Makoelle 2013).

• Despite the advent of the new political dispensation, the hallmarks of a segregated educational system are still visible in educational institutions to date.


observation is that learners with diverse abilities and needs in Higher Education environment have two options:• to attend and strive to succeed through minimal support or• risk not been well accommodated into HE context, therefore make little academic progress.

How can inclusion be operationalized in Higher Education settings to enhance Epistemic access?

5 key areas in HE were identified


What is the Problem

1 Structure and inclusion in Higher Education Settings

My thoughts and actions were guided by Anthony Giddens’s Structuration Theory. (1994, 2013)

Like Giddens I thought people are agents within social structures. That the activities of people within social structures constitutes their agency

(the ability of an individual to operate within the social structure) I became aware that structures have constraining effect on agents and

thus could determine the nature of agency. I also noted that individuals through agency also have the ability to

construct and reconstruct the nature of the structure. Thus agency and structure have a reciprocal relationship which Giddens and

myself call duality. This principles were used to guide our analysis of the role of the learner as

an individual within HE pedagogic settings


Dealing with structural constrains in HE context Enhancing Resilience through student agency: resilience is known to be

the capacity of individuals to negotiate and navigate their pathways towards the resources that sustain well-being, the capacity of the individual’s physical and social ecologies to provide resilience resources, and the capacity of individuals, families and communities to negotiate culturally meaningful ways to share health-promoting resources (Ungar, Masten, Malindi 2005) thus resilience HE contexts would therefore mean learners emerging triumphant from structurally associated adversity.

Transforming institutional Culture : changing values, traditions, social and political relationships and worldview created, shared and transformed by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors that can include a common history, geographic location, language, social class and religion (Nieto 1999: 6)

Architectural changes in planning physical space and provision of resources that enhance access


2 Inclusive Pedagogy & Epistemology in Higher Education

Inclusive pedagogy: totality of teaching, learning, beliefs and attitudes to facilitating the process of knowing (Florian 2009; Makoelle 2013;2014)

Characteristics of inclusive pedagogyEmancipatoryEmbraces differencesSeeks to empowerNon- judgmentalAll learners can learn but differently


Approaches in inclusive pedagogy and their influence on pedagogic choices

Special needs approach

Assumption: view inclusion as limited to those diagnosed with a special need usually derived from medical deficit model

Practice: application of procedures, techniques, strategies (proven to remedy or fix the need (Farrell 1997, Rief 2006)

Characteristics: usually prefers separate pedagogic setting: the focus is on the learner

Critique : usually humiliating, subjugating and disempowering


Approaches in inclusive pedagogy and their influence on pedagogic choicesInclusive approach to pedagogy

Assumption: all learners are accommodated regardless of differences

Practice: usually rely on creativity and apply different strategies in respond to the diverse needs of learners in an inclusive setting

Characteristics: a more inclusive setting is preferred

: focuses on the teacher, resources, learner

Critique: while emancipatory and seek to change beliefs and attitudes about differences, not implementable


Two views teaching which influences the pedagogic ’s approach

Process-product (Behavioristic) view of teaching

Derived from positivistic view of epistemologyRole of the teacher: master of knowledgeAim: objectives are set by the teacher (aimed at changing the behavior of the learnerContent: prescriptive and transmissionLearning: reproduction of factsAssessment: memorization of factsTeaching style: mostly deductive


Characteristics of behavioristic approach

Apply stimulus and response aimed at changing the behavior of the learner

View human in a mechanistic way recognize the learner’s prior knowledge to limited extent Not culturally relevant Teacher is in power (teacher-centred) Ignore the context of learning Pace driven Does not take into account the voices of learners


Implications for inclusion

Ignores the potential insights into learner’s understanding of teaching and learning process

Authority vested in the teacher could be potentially abused( exclusive tendencies)

Does not encourage free space for innovation and critical thinking

Learners may develop dependency learning habits Limit knowledge to that which the teacher knows


Two views teaching which influences the pedagogic ’s approach

Constructivist/ progressive view of teaching

Derived from post-positivistic view of epistemologyRole of the teacher: facilitates process of knowingAim: objectives are set jointly by the teacher and the learner (aimed at allowing the learner to construct own knowledgeContent: non-prescriptive and discovery learningLearning: understanding principles Assessment: application of knowledge rather than memorizationTeaching style: mostly inductive


Characteristics of constructivist approach

Apply learning through discovery View humans as constructing and reconstructing knowledge recognize the learner’s prior knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and

conceptions about knowledge culturally and socially relevant in approach Equal share of power between learner and teacher (learner-centred) context of learning is prioritized Not Pace driven takes into account the voices of learners


3 Cognitive Justice and inclusion in HE

Visvathathan coined the concept of cognitive justice in 1997. The concept came about as a result of a concern that western forms of knowledge and the way knowledge is acquired and validated seemed to perpetuate the dominant hegemonic discourse of the western cultures.

Therefore cognitive justice is a paradigm that seeks to critique the hegemonic paradigm of modern science. It proposes to give recognition to alternative paradigms especially those that are derived from indigenous forms of knowledge.

According to Odora Hoppers (2010, 2011) Van der Westhuizen (2011) indigenous forms of knowledge have to be part of knowledge production process and that they should not be subjected to standards and should not be forced to fit structures of western knowledge


Implication to higher education

To what extent does HE curriculum provision take into consideration the indigenous epistemologies

For example in his work entitled Post-colonial perspectives on education policy research in South Africa, Van der Westhuizen (2011) argues that epistemological tools used to conduct research have sort to perpetuate view of reality as seen by the colonizers


Dealing with cognitive Justice in HE

Equitable learning is a process of bridging the learning gap between those who are advantaged and those that are disadvantaged in terms of educational resources (UNESCO 2012)

However most arguments being put forth for equitable learning focus primarily on access to educational resources, very little is said and done about making learning itself an emancipatory process. Emancipatory in a sense that indigenous knowledge systems are recognized and incorporated into teaching and learning process to ensure cognitive justice (Makoelle 2014)

Adopting transformative epistemologies


4 Empiricism : A curtain on the mirror

According to Basker reality is constituted by three domains which are: Real: generative structures or causal mechanisms Actual: events resulting from various real tendencies and

countertendencies in specific initial conditions Empirical: observations or measurements of actual events and, in some circumstances, underlying structures or mechanisms

(Bhasker 1998).

According to Basker most of what happens at the level of the actual and empirical are controlled by relational and causal mechanisms operational at the level of the real. These mechanisms might not be readily accessible as they are mostly hidden from the empirical world. The implication is that which is witnessed at the level of the actual and empirical should be treated with caution ad they might not represent the true nature of reality


In what way

Is knowing and facilitating the process of knowing political?

How do knowledge holder use/ monopolizes knowledge (those holding the keys or epistemic tools

Recently Xholela Mangcu (UCT Associate Professor) wrote an article about “ the absence of Black-African Professors in institutions of HE (City Press 2014:20July )

His article was a indication that there are politics in HE which are in one way or another related to politics and this if not managed has the potential to transcend into pedagogic practices


5 Knowledge Economy

How do knowledge holder use monopolizes knowledge (those holding the keys or epistemic tools?

In his work Bernstein (2003) “structuring the pedagogic discourse” talks about Autonomous and market-oriented visible pedagogies.

Bernstein makes an analogues distinction between visible pedagogies that are autonomous which pursue knowledge for its value and dependent visible pedagogies which are dependent on their market relevance (born out of context of cost-effective education)

Because this are assumed to be creating jobs their knowledge tend to be prioritized leading to reproduction of hierarchies within and among institutions


Consumerism, profiteering and commodification in HE

Mass enrollments in the name of job relevant skills may compromise two aspects

Financial inaccessibility Adoption of more horizontal, segmented non cumulative

knowledge forms which access to are held by knowledge holders

Influence to sequencing and pacing hierarchical regulative rules which may disadvantage others within the pedagogic discourse

These provide a fertile ground for exclusion and marginalization

D Sekhukhune & T Makoelle 16 August 2012

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T Makoelle 21 August 2014 SOTL Seminar

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inclusion in higher education a quest for epistemic access[1]

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