Creating an International Collaboratory for Leadership in Universally Designed Education: INCLUDE as a Global Community of Practice

Introduction

Higher education serves a crucial role in fostering strong global movements toward more inclusive educational resources around the world (Bracken & Novak, 2019). However, universities face numerous challenges in supporting the development of inclusive services for those with differing needs. Significant barriers, such as distance from service centers, funding for accessible technologies, knowledge regarding effective practices for design-based research and student-teacher relationships, and lack of available implementation models of evidence-based practices, continue to exist (Ewe, 2019; Messiou, 2017; Wilcox et al., 2021; Fovet, 2021). Many global factors have contributed to the developing worldwide awareness of and movement toward inclusive education. Historically, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has played a major role in expanding awareness of and guidelines for global inclusive education. As a result of the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand, UNESCO published the World Declaration on Education for All and Framework for Action to meet Basic Learning Needs (UNESCO, 1990). This declaration started a series of worldwide collaborations on inclusive education, resulting in the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Education Needs (UNESCO, 1994), the Dakar Framework for Action (UNESCO, 2000), and policy guidelines on inclusion in education (UNESCO, 2009). The world, through continued leadership from the United Nations, has continued to make positive strides in guiding disability rights (United Nations, 2006; 2016) and inclusive education (UNESCO, 2020).

While the many collaborative efforts listed above have provided great inspiration for community and educational system changes in countries around the world, educational professionals do not always know exactly what changes should be made or how to go about making these changes to make our systems of education more inclusive. Resources open to all and readily available online are one way to address these questions. Open Educational Resources (OER) can increase accessibility, but teachers need support and guidance to understand how to adjust these in order to guarantee accessibility for all students in their classroom (Tavares, Vieira & Pedro, 2021).

Additionally, online professional learning networks (PLNs) are widely sought as vehicles for connection, collaboration, and shared research toward mutual goals (Trust et al., 2016; Carpenter et al., 2022). In 2019, two education professors met at a conference and discovered that they had a shared interest and desire to establish a way for educators around the world who were interested in inclusive and universally designed education to connect with each other. Dr. Richard Jackson (Boston College, USA) and Dr. Sean Bracken (University of Worcester, UK) first conceptualized the International Collaboratory for Leadership in Universally Designed Education (INCLUDE). Drs. Jackson and Bracken are experts in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and established INCLUDE as a means of sharing UDL and other evidence-based diverse learning approaches with professionals throughout the world by leveraging the power of digital technology and online communications (CAST, 2022). Karin Muff (2014) defined a Collaboratory as an open space for all stakeholders where action learning and action research join forces, and students, educators and researchers work with members of all facets of society to address current dilemmas. This then was the objective for INCLUDE, to create a dynamic and innovative global space for educators, learners and practitioners to engage with a shared purpose of establishing a socially-just approach to advancing diversity, equality and inclusion within and beyond teacher education and higher education. To ground the efforts of INCLUDE and to establish clear targets for the work, several INCLUDE leaders and post-secondary educators researched and developed INCLUDE’s Action-Oriented Values (INCLUDE, 2020). These values guide the work of the collaborative and maintain our focus on open, globally available inclusive education for all.