Inclusive education in universities: why it is important and how it might be achieved

Abstract

The current market-oriented environment of higher education is hostile to the development of inclusive education in universities. The paper argues that issues about inclusion and exclusion underpin concepts such as civil society, citizenship and public good, and that these concepts inform a set of purposes of education. Liberal and critical views of inclusivity are explored and a conceptual framework for progressively making university education more inclusive is proposed. The framework is about curriculum and the graduates that it intends to produce and covers purposes, actions, and values of teachers and students. The framework embodies critical and socially reconstructive views about inclusion and it is argued that educational practices and outcomes arising from its implementation challenge and replace traditional notions of educational excellence—a consequence of this is its contestation within a university setting. An understanding of the framework is achieved through a number of exhibits that have been used to inform a university community.