Inclusive Digital Education: Contexts, Practices and Perspectives

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has referred to inclusive education as ‘a dynamic approach of responding positively to pupil diversity and of seeing individual differences not as problems, but as opportunities for enriching learning’ (UNESCO, 2005, p. 12). More recently, UNESCO (2017, p. 7) referred to it as a ‘process of strengthening the capacity of the education system to reach out to all learners’. Since the Salamanca Declaration, education systems have been contending with how to put these principles in to practice, given the complex interplay between policy, pedagogy, curriculum, assessment and resourcing, as well as teacher knowledge, skills and understanding around effective inclusive practice (Slee & Tait, 2022). One perennial element in the mix has been the potential for educational technology to make a contribution. Just as with the wider field (Mishra et al., 2009), the question has been how to ensure that the promised potential of technology can be brought to actual fruition in terms of supporting educational inclusion. We focused in the call for this special issue on the term ‘digital inclusion’, partly because this albeit still evolving phrasing tends to be associated with a wider definition which as well as considering educational technology in the classroom also addresses wider policy issues such as the provision of infrastructure, training and the consideration of how structural societal issues might impact on differential access to technology. So we agree with Hamburg and Lütgen (2019) who argued that “The term digital inclusion is still quite new and addresses issues of opportunity, access, knowledge, and skills at the level of digitalization policy … (it is) a complex social problem that transcends several policy domains, each with its own—often conflicting—views and agenda in relation to felt responsibility, need and kind of action”.

Digital inclusion in education could be considered to draw on several policy frameworks:

1. Human rights law, for example: the UN Declaration of Human Rights 1948, the Salamanca Declaration 1994, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006.

2. Educational policy and legislation which varies depending on jurisdiction.

3. Legislation related to digital technology services and use (for example, the EU Web accessibility directive 2016 (EU Web Accessibility Directive, European Parliament/European Council, 2016), information compliance and data protection.

As noted, policy is just one element, yet a crucial one, in a complex mix of factors that impinge on how technology translates in to actual outcomes in terms of inclusion and inclusive practice in schools and other educational settings. Whether focused on policy, infrastructure, or local practice, digital inclusion is not a value neutral term. In particular, the potential of diversity, and the recognition that diverse populations are an untapped resource and a strength to be leveraged (Houdek, 2022) is a key value for digital inclusion. Ridley (2015) highlighted that neurodiversity is central for innovation and economic evolution, drawing comparisons between biodiversity and neurodiversity, as those who are not ‘neurotypical’ may well break the boundaries of traditional thinking, and be creative problem solvers. However, policy and structures often mean that these learners struggle in traditional educational systems. This results in many marginalized learners having low self-efficacy and self-esteem (Thomas, 2013). However, many thrive in the workplace or third level when project work, creativity, inquiry and problem solving become a facet of their daily life. The challenge for digital inclusion is to consider how technology can help address barriers to entry, participation, engagement and recognition of learning for diverse and marginalized groups. Digital technologies may well have the capacity to support education in becoming inclusive in relation to these challenges, but a critical perspective on their use and the policy framework for use will be needed if promise is to translate in to actuality. Thus, in the call for this special issue, we asked for papers that challenge traditional discourse around digital inclusion particularly in the context of access, disability and inclusion as deficit. Given the primacy of policy and structure, broadening inclusion from othering to belonging and ‘all encompassing’ can be difficult for educators who often have to align with rigid education systems and standards that have evolved over time. In the context of digital inclusion, we need to consider the importance of differences and what they bring to a learning environment. A learning experience is not uniform and is different for each person. Depending on the topic, mode of delivery and personal circumstances one person may thrive and another may struggle. Inclusion is a complex interplay between ones’ own context, personal circumstances, abilities, interests and preferences for a learning environment. As such, digital technology can provide modalities that enable educators to orchestrate a learning environment that supports learners to succeed. After all ‘The aim of teaching is simple: it is to make student learning possible’ (Ramsden, 2003).

This special issue contains contributions which address empirical, methodological and theoretical aspects related to digital inclusion from a variety of perspectives. The first paper is a narrative literature review by Declan Qualter on the topic of parental involvement in the transition from digital exclusion to digital inclusion. The review highlights the link between parental involvement and home-based digital learning, and highlights the risks, for some marginalized groups, of parental digital exclusion. The identification of practical steps, from the literature, for how schools can support parents at risk of such exclusion and thus support them in promoting home based digital learning, are a key element of the review.

Continuing the focus on parents, the second paper in the issue, from Mary Rice, is a diffractive review of parents’ roles in inclusive digital education. Adopting a decidedly critical stance, the review employs a post humanist theoretical framework. Through a close secondary analysis of cases presented in the literature, Rice traces how systemic structures and practices position parents and children in relation to technology use, and identifies aspects such as anxiety threaded through the accounts in the wake of the pandemic, setting out a vision for how we can perhaps set a research agenda that can somehow see past these systemic restrictions.

Moving from the current state of the art in the literature, the third paper in the special issue, by Ciara Molloy and Rachel Farrell, reports on a participatory research project involving autistic children in primary (elementary) schools in the Republic of Ireland. Using a Universal Design for Learning approach, an immersive technology solution was trialed with autistic children who were experiencing barriers in their learning environment. One of the interesting findings in the study was that the reduction of teacher demands afforded by the immersive technology may have contributed to reducing the pressure felt by students to respond to such teacher demands, and thus allowed them more space for self-expression and creativity—an example of the potential for digital inclusion, if carefully considered, to make a difference.

The penultimate paper in the collection is a further report on the results of technology use in the classroom. This time situated in Italy, Noemi Mazzoni and colleagues discuss “BESt-DaD”, a distance learning platform for students with special educational needs developed and implemented during the pandemic. As well as demonstrating the impact of the platform on learner motivation, the study also reports on how engagement with the technology promoted teachers to reflect on and revise their wider teaching methods toward a more inclusive approach. Thus, digital technology in the context of digital inclusion is itself an active part of the complex interplay of factors that influence the experience of children in the classroom.

Our final paper deals with policy and structures to support digital technology use for inclusion. The prior papers all highlighted the key role of teachers, of school leaders, and of wider infrastructure, in ensuring successful digital inclusion. In a sense tying this all together, Mia Williams and colleagues’ paper focuses on how standards for teachers in the US do, or do not, support the integration of assistive technology to meet diverse learner needs. Although finding that there is some coverage in the standards, the authors propose that these need to go much deeper, ensuring that teachers develop the skills to actually adopt and make effective use of assistive technology to meet the needs of all learners. Their paper is premised on a belief, which is a necessary feature of the field of digital inclusion, namely that effective use of educational technology for inclusion requires the right structures and processes. Effective teacher education for inclusion (Mintz, 2022) is one important element of that wider ecosystem to support effective digital inclusion. Overall, this special issue shows that the field is cognizant of the need to grapple with critical perspectives on educational technology use for inclusion, and that it is possible to have a research program, internationally, that can explore what that might mean, within K-12 education.

Joseph Mintz
University College London, London, UK
Cornelia Connolly
University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
Emma O’Brien
Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland
Linda Daniela
University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
T. J Ó Ceallaigh
University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph Mintz

Joseph Mintz, PhD is an Associate Professor in the IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, at University College London (UK). His research interests focus on special educational needs, inclusive education, teacher education for inclusion, autism education, and educational technology for children with special needs. He has successfully led over 20 research and evaluation projects. Funding for these has come from the European Union, Department of Education in England, the National Council for Special Education in Ireland and the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science. He also has a track record in knowledge exchange, and has worked closely with a number of commercial, governmental and third sector organizations on development and evaluation projects. He is currently co-leading a project on using text analytics to support the learning of children with special educational needs with colleagues at the University of Cambridge and the Federal University of Rio Grande du Sol in Brazil. He is also co-leading a project on using a technology supported learning outcomes approach to support the learning of children with barriers in math learning, in conjunction with Kuwait University. He was on secondment to England’s Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) for 15 months from July 2023 and led on national research projects including an evaluation of careers guidance in special schools, special colleges and pupil referral units. He regularly publishes in leading academic journals and also regularly consults for government on a variety of areas. He is a member of the editorial boards of the European Journal of Special Needs Education, Frontiers Special Education and Education Sciences, and is Editor in Chief of Computers in the Schools.

Cornelia Connolly

Cornelia Connolly is an Associate Professor at the School of Education at the University of Galway. Her teaching, grant capture and publication record demonstrate the international excellence of her research which is multi-disciplinary by nature, drawing from related disciplines of education, technology, and computing to create engaging learning experiences, understand knowledge transfer to facilitate behavioral change in a variety of contexts. Cornelia has been invited to give keynote lectures in universities in the USA and Europe, and has achieved significant funding success with awards from Horizon 2020, SFI and industry. She has published extensively in leading international journals and is a member of the ACM Transactions on Computing Education, European Journal of Teacher Education and International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology editorial boards. She is also co-chair of the Association for Teacher Educators in Europe (ATEE) Teacher Education and Digital Technology Research and Development Community.

Emma O’Brien

Emma O’Brien is an Associate Professor and Director of Taught Postgraduate Studies in Education in Mary Immaculate College and is the programme co-ordinator for the Master’s in Education, and the Graduate Cert/Diploma and MEd in Digital Leadership in Education. Emma has worked in Digital Education since 2000, her research focuses on inclusive digital pedagogies, digital leadership and supporting learner agency within digital and hybrid learning environments. Emma is currently leading the Erasmus Plus Teacher Academy IDEAL Future-Integrated Digital Educational Leadership for the Future which is the first of its kind in Europe.

Linda Daniela

Linda Daniela is a Dean of Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology at University of Latvia, Chair of the Council for PhD Defence in Educational Sciences at University of Latvia. She also serves as Expert in Education at the Council of Sciences of the Republic of Latvia. Her expertise spans aspects of school education, Technology-enhanced learning (TEL), Educational technologies for learning, Educational robotics, Educational processes and solutions for reducing social exclusion from the educational processes. Her main interests are connected with different aspects of technology-enhanced learning. She has developed a master’s study program “Technological innovations and design for education” where students learn how to organize technology enhanced learning, how to develop digital learning materials and how to research learning outcomes in TEL. Professor Daniela is an author and coauthor of more than 100 publications about processes in all dimensions of education and more than 50 of them are devoted to different aspects of TEL. Professor Daniela is also very active in editing books on different aspects of TEL for publishing houses Springer, Taylor & Francis, Emerald and IGI Global. She has been involved in more than 30 research projects about different aspects of education. Professor Daniela supervises 12 PhD students.

T.J Ó Ceallaigh

T. J. Ó Ceallaigh is an Associate Professor at the School of Education, University College Cork, Ireland. His research examines teacher education, development and leadership, with particular reference to language immersion and bilingual contexts. His research interests also include transformative digital pedagogies and learning design. T.J. is an appointed member of the European Commission Working Group on Digital Education: Learning, Teaching and Assessment (DELTA). He is also an elected member of the Administrative Council of the Association for Teacher Educators in Europe (ATEE) and is co-chair of the ATEE Teacher Education and Digital Technology Research and Development Community.