Why UDL is valuable

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“Without a systematic way to interrupt current practice in the classroom the impact of these barriers is repeatedly faced by each generation without significant forward motion to break the cycle once & for all.”

Bae, S., Ofiesh, N. S., Blackorby, J. (2018)

UDL quote

@chrissiebutler CORE Education CC BY NC 4.0

Enables equity in education

“Providing high quality education is a matter of social justice” (Ministry of Education, 2019). As teachers and leaders our bottom line is that no-one will be left out or discriminated against. As everyone learns differently, finding ways to create flexible, barrier-free learning environments is of critical importance if all students are to thrive (ibid.)

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can help us in this work. It gives us a framework to design learning environments that are “flexible, and where barriers to learning can be identified and removed at the outset (Ministry of Education, 2019). It can help us towards equitable access and participation in education.

A culturally inclusive framework

Although UDL was conceived in US, it has value for us here in Aotearoa because it takes “a people-first approach to planning learning” (Ministry of Education, 2019). UDL invites us to think about “WHO we will teach and what those learners bring with them BEFORE we think about WHAT we will teach” (ibid.)

“UDL is focused on ensuring all learners get a chance to learn in ways that work for them. It is about removing barriers and opening doors to learning. It is driven not only by the findings from neuroscience and educational research but by a vision for equity” (Ministry of Education, 2019).

universal-design-for-learning-udl-in-aotearoa

@chrissiebutler CORE Education CC BY NC 4.0

Everyone benefits

When UDL is implemented intentionally across a community it can bring coherence to teaching practices that are inclusive of all learners. This approach benefits everyone.

Students can be confident they will have:

  • equitable access to learning opportunities
  • the tools and supports they need to demonstrate their learning in ways that work for them across all classes
  • responsive teachers who welcome their self-advocacy and seek feedback on their teaching
  • knowledgeable teachers who value and have an understanding of learner variability.

Whānau can trust that:

  • their ideas and questions will be welcomed
  • the uniqueness of their child will be valued and seen as a source of strength for the community
  • their child will be taught in a way that works for them and their learning needs will be met
  • their child will not be singled out or separated from their peers.

Teachers have a framework to guide decision-making. It supports them to:

  • identify and minimise barriers to learning and wellbeing hidden in their teaching
  • consider how to offer useful options and supports that can be built into the learning environment at the outset
  • problem solve with colleagues, students and whānau using the shared language of UDL.

Leaders have a framework that will:

  • help them support the presence and participation of every learner (child to adult) and ensure their rights as a learners are upheld and protected
  • support consistent, coherent inclusive teaching and learning practices across their school
  • set expectations around “what inclusive can look like”
  • guide the design of more inclusive systems and processes, staff hui, community events and building projects
  • provide a shared language that can be used with all stakeholders, across all contexts.

Find out more:

Acknowledgements

Bae, S., Ofiesh, N. S., Blackorby, J. (2018) A Commitment to Equity: The Design of the UDL Innovation Studio at the Schwab Learning Center

Marotta, M. (2018) Tips, Tricks and Tools to Build Your Inclusive Classroom Through UDL

Ministry of Education (2019) UDL guide, Inclusive Education website

Illustrations by @chrissiebutler CORE Education CC BY NC 4.0

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Spiral of Inquiry: It’s a new year, should we start again?

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spiral-of-inquiry

 

Teaching as Inquiry: where teachers inquire into their practice and use evidence to make decisions about ways to change that practice for the benefit of the learners.

 

A common question that comes from collaborative inquiry teams at this time of year is: Should we start again?

A better question to ask would be: What progress did we make with our collaborative inquiry last year and where to next?

Scenario:

A teaching team worked together last year to scan their learners widely – building up a picture of learners’ social, emotional and cognitive wellbeing, strengths and areas for exploration. They used the evidence to focus on a theme that emerged and to consider their practices attached to that theme. A focused inquiry came to light and the team engaged in learning together and took some initial action in the classroom to change their practices and to make a difference for learners. By December, the team had taken some action but had not yet engaged in learning for long enough to embed new practice. While they checked learner progress and achievement, they hadn’t really checked widely to see if they’d made enough of a difference overall.

The new year:

What progress did we make with our collaborative inquiry?

An influx of new learners in the new year doesn’t have to mean ‘new inquiry’ for the team. Collaborative inquiries morph and change over time based on the evidence you gather about teacher practice and learner progress. One way to confirm that your inquiry is still useful and relevant for your team is to ask yourselves if you’ve gathered enough evidence to show that:

  • Your learners have experienced success and you’ve made enough of a difference for them (what data shows this? Whose voices are represented? What do your Māori learners and whānau think?)
  • Your teaching practice has changed and the new practices are fully implemented and embedded (what observations and other data show this? What were the criteria for success that you used? What research evidence supports the new teacher practices you implemented?)

Other questions teams can use to evaluate the progress of their collaborative inquiry include:

  • What evidence did we seek to know we were making a difference? What research and other knowledge informed this?
  • When did we check and how often? How did we check in a way that allowed for adjustment – right away?

“Checking is about beginning to set the stage for what comes next” (Kaser and Halbert, p. 7, 2016). That means that once a focused inquiry is underway, it never really “ends” – it simply shifts focus over time based on new evidence and clarity over whether or not changed practices have made a difference and have become embedded into our learning environments

But what about our new learners?

Often we think our focused inquiry from the year before won’t be relevant for our new learners this year. However, remember that:

  • Collaborative inquiries are focused on the gaps in our practice as teachers, highlighted by the challenges our learners face.
  • Those gaps remain in our practice until we fully implement and embed change.
  • The Learning phase is not short term or quick fix

“The professional learning research evidence indicates that the integration of substantial new knowledge requires a minimum of a year of focused collaborative effort to make a difference. Two years is much better. With three years of engaged effort, movement towards a transformed learning environment is usually well under way. So space must be created for this to happen” (Timperley, Kaser and Halbert, p. 16, 2014).

Next steps

At the start of the year, when your team is part way through an inquiry from the previous year, consider a “re-scan”. Re-scans can be shorter and more focused. For example, four weeks of Scanning your newly selected learners with a particular focus on your existing team inquiry may be most appropriate.

If your team has changed significantly (staff re-shuffle or turnover), you may wish to do a wider, longer scan while also considering evidence from the previous year’s inquiry.

A re-scan and continuation of your existing inquiry can be your team’s opportunity to:

  • Improve the ways in which you gather whānau and learner voice
  • Better consider the place of culturally responsive practice in your change plans
  • Consider new approaches to identifying clear goals and outcomes for changed practice and ways for checking these

As your team discovers the results of initial scanning in the new year, you can then have a robust team conversation about whether the evidence is telling you to continue with your inquiry, or whether to adapt your Learning and Action to cater for new evidence. This is a “morphing” of your inquiry rather than dismissing all of the previous year’s learning and action.

Featured Image by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

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It’s better to be on the bus than on the road!

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“If you feel overwhelmed and confused by the global predicament, you are on the right track. Global processes have become too complicated for any single person to understand. How then can you know the truth about the world, and avoid falling victim to propaganda and misinformation?”

Yuval Noah Harari, introduction to part IV of 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

on-the-bus

In response to my indecision about how to face a particular challenge in my career, an old friend of mine once suggested, “it’s better to be on the bus than on the road!” I took that to mean that it is better to be a part of the change than simply allow it to ‘run over’ me and be overwhelmed by it all. An unfortunate consequence of the current state of relentless, exponential change, both locally and globally, means many of us feel we’re ‘on the road’ at times, simply watching everything pass us by and feeling helpless in what to do about it.

Being ‘on the bus’ holds much more appeal for me than being on the road – for a start, from the bus you get a different perspective of the challenges you face. You get to see more of the other things going on – from the various sights you’re passing to a view of the horizon. In addition, you do all of this with others – realising that you’re not alone in facing these challenges and that together, you’re in a better place to both appreciate the good and to find solutions.

In times of accelerating change it’s easy to fall victim to a ‘stable state’ mentality, thinking that if we simply wait a while everything may return to a state of ‘normal’ again. In a world where developments in technology, climate change, threats of war and political uncertainty all contribute to feelings of anxiety and indecision, it is more important than ever before that, as educators, and as responsible citizens of the world, we need to understand a return to ‘the stable state’ isn’t a likely scenario. We need to see ourselves as being ‘on the bus’, engaging our collaborative and critical thinking capabilities to help us make sense of it all, and to find solutions to the challenges we face.

Being ‘on the bus’ doesn’t imply a physical place to be – it’s a mindset. It involves resilience, fore-sight and critical thinking. Resilience because we need strategies that will allow us to cope with the feelings of uncertainty and threats to our personal comfort and security. Fore-sight because we need to be able to see beyond the present and be aware of what is on the horizon, and of the actions that are likely to make these things a reality. And critical thinking because we are living in a ‘post truth’ world, where what we are being exposed to through the media and other channels, requires us to be able to exercise the ability to critically examine and evaluate the factual evidence to form views and change our behaviours based on that.

Fundamental to this is ensuring we are well informed, that we have access to the information required, and that we view it from multiple perspectives. It doesn’t require too much searching in the popular media to find that for every opinion claiming a certain ‘truth’ or certainty, there is an equal and opposite point of view. Our view of foresight shouldn’t be based simply on what the latest guru or ‘influencer’ tells us we should believe. Our response requires us to draw on our ability to delve beneath the headlines and their simplistic message. We must take a critical stance that weighs multiple perspectives and tackles issues of complexity with an appropriate response.

There’s another benefit of being ‘on the bus’ – we are with other people. This is critically important, as our journey into the future must increasingly be regarded as a collaborative one, not something we’re left on our own to contend with. The strength of the collaborative group is that we’re able to debate and discern things as a collective – to challenge the status quo and at the same time, be there for each other as the change impacts us differently. Of course, this will work best if our ‘team’ doesn’t consist solely of like-minded individuals forming a sort of ‘echo chamber’ that reflects simply what we want to hear and what we feel comfortable with. Authentic change will require us to learn to work collaboratively in settings where we feel uncomfortable, and where a part of the solution will lie in being able to resolve differences and work through multiple perspectives.

Engaging with resources such as CORE’s Ten Trends provides a useful way of starting this journey. They have been developed with the intention of providing information about some of the things that are currently challenging educators and the contexts they work in, providing some insights into the things that are driving these changes and offering prompts to begin the process of reflection and action at the local level. Importantly, the trends link back to a central core of five key themes that apply across the whole of society, so that these changes and their impact can be seen in a wider context than simply education.

My challenge to readers of this blog is to use the Ten Trends as a way of ‘getting on the bus’, to understand more of the things that are impacting the work we do, and combine with others to critically engage in forming a response that is appropriate in the contexts in which you work, in particular, a response that will ensure you are preparing the learners you are working with for their future, not just as ‘workers’ but as citizens who themselves will be able to influence and shape what happens in this world we all inhabit.

CORE’s Ten Trends 2019 have been released.

Read them online or download the document now!

 

Photo by Pau Casals on Unsplash

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