Overcoming Obstacles for the Inclusion of Visually Impaired Learners through Teacher–Researcher Collaborative Design and Implementation
Teacher preparation to address the needs of disabled learners in mainstream mathematics classrooms is quintessential for the implementation of the inclusive educational policies that governments are often committed to. To identify teacher preparation needs, we draw on data and analyses from the doct...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/10/973 |
| _version_ | 1797574044187361280 |
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| author | Angeliki Stylianidou Elena Nardi |
| author_facet | Angeliki Stylianidou Elena Nardi |
| author_sort | Angeliki Stylianidou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Teacher preparation to address the needs of disabled learners in mainstream mathematics classrooms is quintessential for the implementation of the inclusive educational policies that governments are often committed to. To identify teacher preparation needs, we draw on data and analyses from the doctoral study of the first author, who endorsed sociocultural and embodied perspectives in an investigation—first exploratory, then interventional—of visually impaired (VI) learners’ experiences and their teachers’ inclusion discourses. Here, we focus on the intertwined contributions of physical and digital resources in the mathematical learning experiences of VI pupils, as these resources co-existed simultaneously in the observed mathematics lessons. We first summarise findings from the exploratory phase that highlighted inclusion issues related to resource use in the mathematics classroom. We then offer a critical account of the circumstantial and systemic obstacles that impeded the successful intertwinement of digital and physical resources and discuss teacher–researcher collaborative design and implementation of classroom tasks (auditory, tactile) in the intervention phase. We conclude by making the case that well-meaning individual teacher–researcher collaboration is a necessary condition for such interventions to succeed but not a sufficient condition for these interventions to be scaled up and have longevity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T21:18:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7c5d384dff3f43db8a66789935558203 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T21:18:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-7c5d384dff3f43db8a667899355582032023-11-19T16:16:20ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022023-09-01131097310.3390/educsci13100973Overcoming Obstacles for the Inclusion of Visually Impaired Learners through Teacher–Researcher Collaborative Design and ImplementationAngeliki Stylianidou0Elena Nardi1School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UKSchool of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UKTeacher preparation to address the needs of disabled learners in mainstream mathematics classrooms is quintessential for the implementation of the inclusive educational policies that governments are often committed to. To identify teacher preparation needs, we draw on data and analyses from the doctoral study of the first author, who endorsed sociocultural and embodied perspectives in an investigation—first exploratory, then interventional—of visually impaired (VI) learners’ experiences and their teachers’ inclusion discourses. Here, we focus on the intertwined contributions of physical and digital resources in the mathematical learning experiences of VI pupils, as these resources co-existed simultaneously in the observed mathematics lessons. We first summarise findings from the exploratory phase that highlighted inclusion issues related to resource use in the mathematics classroom. We then offer a critical account of the circumstantial and systemic obstacles that impeded the successful intertwinement of digital and physical resources and discuss teacher–researcher collaborative design and implementation of classroom tasks (auditory, tactile) in the intervention phase. We conclude by making the case that well-meaning individual teacher–researcher collaboration is a necessary condition for such interventions to succeed but not a sufficient condition for these interventions to be scaled up and have longevity.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/10/973inclusiondisabilitymathematics teacher educationmainstream classroomsvisually impaired learnerstactile and auditory mathematical tasks |
| spellingShingle | Angeliki Stylianidou Elena Nardi Overcoming Obstacles for the Inclusion of Visually Impaired Learners through Teacher–Researcher Collaborative Design and Implementation Education Sciences inclusion disability mathematics teacher education mainstream classrooms visually impaired learners tactile and auditory mathematical tasks |
| title | Overcoming Obstacles for the Inclusion of Visually Impaired Learners through Teacher–Researcher Collaborative Design and Implementation |
| title_full | Overcoming Obstacles for the Inclusion of Visually Impaired Learners through Teacher–Researcher Collaborative Design and Implementation |
| title_fullStr | Overcoming Obstacles for the Inclusion of Visually Impaired Learners through Teacher–Researcher Collaborative Design and Implementation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Overcoming Obstacles for the Inclusion of Visually Impaired Learners through Teacher–Researcher Collaborative Design and Implementation |
| title_short | Overcoming Obstacles for the Inclusion of Visually Impaired Learners through Teacher–Researcher Collaborative Design and Implementation |
| title_sort | overcoming obstacles for the inclusion of visually impaired learners through teacher researcher collaborative design and implementation |
| topic | inclusion disability mathematics teacher education mainstream classrooms visually impaired learners tactile and auditory mathematical tasks |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/13/10/973 |
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