OUR VISION
Inclusive education is a fundamental human right that enables all other rights. It involves the provision of equitable learning opportunities to all students across all levels of education through the removal of barriers to access and participation, whether those barriers are physical, logistical, pedagogical, social or cultural.
Upon ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD; United Nations, 2006), inclusive education became a right that the Australian government is legally bound to uphold through Article 24: Education. The international empirical evidence consistently shows that high-quality inclusive practice benefits all students, yet the reform necessary to achieve these benefits has been piecemeal and slow.
Realisation of the right to inclusive education is dependent on the knowledge and skills of all stakeholders involved in education: students, educators, parents, academics, allied health professionals, policy officers and public servants.
Ensuring the requisite knowledge and skills across these groups to achieve the systemic reform outlined in General Comment No. 4 to the CRPD (United Nations, 2016) requires a sustained and concentrated program of work across multiple fronts.
QUT’s Centre for Inclusive Education (C4IE) contributes to this internationally significant goal by conducting high-quality research across four programs of research.
Engagement and Learning
Engagement and Learning is a key focus area because learning is made difficult for many children and young people by the presence of barriers that prevent access and participation. If learning is not pitched at the right level or delivered accessibly, learners disengage. Disengagement can lead to underachievement and behaviour problems, both of which can lead to early school leaving, barriers to further education, under/unemployment and cyclical disadvantage. Identifying factors that positively or negatively impact the engagement and learning of diverse learners will produce evidence enabling schools and systems to better respond to the needs of priority equity groups.
Inclusion and Exclusion
Inclusion and Exclusion is a key focus area because we need to know how best to address access barriers through the development and use of inclusive practices. Research in this program takes a two-pronged approach: (i) investigating exemplar schools and producing evidence to inform school improvement reform, and (ii) documenting and analysing exclusionary practices; e.g., gatekeeping, use of in/formal suspension and exclusion, partial enrolments, and segregation.
Safety and Wellbeing
Safety and Wellbeing is a key focus area because we know that positive school cultures and teacher-student relationships are key protective factors. However, schools are also places where young people experience bullying and peer/teacher aggression. Rates of bullying, anxiety, depression and violence are higher in schools with low student ratings of connectedness to school and teachers. Mental health problems are rising rapidly amongst school students (as well as teachers and principals) and schools are beginning to employ student voice to help identify and address factors affecting students’ wellbeing.
Australian Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives
Australian Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives is a focus area because Indigenous Australians constitute the world’s oldest continuing civilisation with ancient knowledges and cultures, yet Indigenous young people are disproportionately suspended, excluded and segregated in schools. There has been very little research that critically analyses and identifies the social and structural mechanisms and western ideologies through which this occurs, and which often results in Indigenous experiences and ways of being, knowing and doing being excluded and marginalised. A top priority of this Centre is to change that by privileging and amplifying a strong Indigenous voice, working with and building research-capacity in communities, and promoting cultural competence in collaborative teams.
OUR PURPOSE
The purpose of The Centre for Inclusive Education is to develop and nurture a critical mass of talented researchers with a common passion:
…reducing exclusion and increasing inclusion to provide all children and young people with equitable opportunities to learn and develop as independent and valued human beings.
OUR OBJECTIVES
The Centre’s objectives are:
- to produce high-quality impactful research that can make a difference in the lives of those for whom we conduct our work,
- to educate the public through informed debate and strategic issues profiling, and
- to work with and learn from our Indigenous colleagues to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of Indigenous young people.