Module 2: Arguing theoretical perspectives

Introduce the subject area - not on curriculum.

Not on places like BBC Bitesize material that young people access as OER.

UDL ‘for’ learning and supporting learners with diverse needs, but no teaching ‘of’ accessibility firmly established.

Prototype and pilot materials and activities to support teaching and learning.

The fact it’s missing could suggest it’s considered an ‘add-on’ as it’s about making adjustments for a person with a disability (medical or functional model) yet the government strategies say social model - society making an environment that doesn’t disable, which is more suggestive of the need for this knowledge to be mainstream. (Studies show that currently these are add on or optional units - with a call from 1999 onwards that this should be mainstream - still echoed today).

As an add-on it comes with unlearning, retrofitting. Because it’s an add-on there are minimal textbooks and materials to support it as a mainstream subject. This research aims to address that within the primary curriculum.

Doing it by default in the learning of young people makes it part of what they learn and do - not the medical model but preparing them with knowledge to adopt the social model. 

Social model of disability - disability is lived experience or perceptions - already established as a topic that the understanding of it is socially constructed or interpreted.

Positivism has its place to support findings by identifying and measuring the learning and assessment.

Equality diversity and inclusion gap - digital skills gap. Social model of disability comes out of society having a moral obligation to be inclusive, social justice (1975) - society is the disabling factor.

Social justice and moral obligation to advocate - humanism - social construction and (critical theory) - Sonka (and others)

Gap in knowledge of young people - perspective of ‘action research’ from me teaching it and exploring the subject. This could be like Sonka to change perspectives and mindsets around meeting the needs of disabled people, currently an add on or oversight. Advocates angle.

However the gap in knowledge is for both students and teachers - so would be more effectively as co-production lending itself to ‘design based research’. Teaching and learning toolkit to support the delivery of the topic.

Multiple stakeholders therefore help to build and review the curriculum rather than argue and analyse the results from justice point of view.

Meaning making - teaching lens as a new topic, not politically or justice driven.

Cross disciplinary topic.

STEM subject - digital discipline.

Pedagogy at the heart of teaching it - authentic learning to guide the analysis - meaning making and real-world learning. Science, craft and art of teaching.

Pragmatism ‘what works’ from pedagogical framework to understand the subject find out and refine iteratively. Mixed methods to include anything to find out what works. Adds some evidence from the positivist domain.

Lesson study to illuminate bias - observe lessons, student work, teacher learner reflections and interviews. Mainly interpretive and socially constructed knowledge.

Authentic learning as a framework to explore deductive rather than inductive (grounded theory). Although it’s a new topic with little data around how primary children might learn this area. I believe it needs a structure to find out what and how teachers and learners are getting out of it e.g. is it meaningful, can they see the link to real life etc. This would help measure the impact of materials from some key perspectives for analysis.

Design based research to account for multiple disciplines.

Voices - Personal experiences of constructing knowledge - teachers and learners. Act as a toolkit to support the potential development of the prototype of materials and activities into a curriculum intervention or addition.

Without a political agenda of social justice this would be more likely a neural addiction to the curriculum or educational policy. Awareness of a topic rather than activism.

This is not about disability rights but about the pedagogy of teaching a new subject.

Regulations are there to support web content, new career paths and roles, but little in education to support these agendas or initiatives.