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Skinner, Sarah Yvonne

University of British Columbia

Despite the promise of inclusive and equitable learning opportunities for all students, many students with extensive support needs (ESNs) are not included in grade-level curricular activities (Rao et al., 2017). Students with ESNs are more likely to experience academic inclusion when multi-disciplinary school professionals engage in inter-professional collaborative practice (IPP; Bowman et al., 2020). However, IPP rarely occurs in schools (Bose & Hinojosa, 2008). The present study examined how multi-disciplinary school professionals engaged in IPP as they collaboratively designed learning materials and activities for a grade-level curricular unit that were accessible to an elementary school-aged student with ESNs. This qualitative study followed the multiple-case study method (two cases) outlined by Yin (2018), and data collection and analysis were guided by Cultural Historical Activity Theory (Engeström, 2000, 2014). School professionals who provided support to a student with ESNs were selected as participants. In each case, participants included: a classroom teacher, an education assistant, at least one learning support teacher, and a speech-language pathologist. Participants attended a half-day workshop where they took part in a presentation about inclusive education for students with ESNs and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Next, they developed curricular materials and learning activities for a science unit that were accessible to the student with ESNs, using principles of UDL to guide their planning. Sources of data included direct observations, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and documents. Within-case analysis was conducted using a process of reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006, 2022). Findings across cases were compared to an initial set of propositions using a pattern matching technique (Yin, 2018). Consistent with previous literature, findings demonstrated that as participants engaged in IPP, their collective expertise resulted in participants sharing both the workload and the responsibility of the design of an accessible curricular unit. Furthermore, some participants experienced a shift in perspective with respect to students with ESNs and a re-examination of their professional roles and responsibilities, including prioritizing opportunities for collaboration with classroom teachers. Finally, findings from Case 2 demonstrated how participants used principles of UDL to include a student with ESNs in curricular grade-level curricular activities.

Text

2024-03-19

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/87595

Special Education

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/