Education & Pedagogy

The U.S. law governing special education, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), requires that students with disabilities be provided a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). However, given the interpretive latitude within the law and the wide discrepancy in how this law is applied, individuals making this determination within schools and district play a critical role in fostering inclusive educational systems for students with disabilities. This qualitative case study explores the role of local district-level special education leaders (DSELs) in interpreting LRE policy when attempting to create more inclusive environments. Findings reveal how LRE is implemented on the local level and highlight the unexplored role of DSELs. Implications for future research, policy, and practice are also discussed.

A key question in the field of educational theory is the question of what is 'educational' in education. Responses to this question in the field are often connected to some type of change that is to take place in the child: children are socialised, they become subjects, or learn. I argue that this way of understanding what is educational in education is not applicable to a specific type of educational practice, which I label as co-existential practices. Co-existential practices are often taken up by educators, but to understand what is educational in them, we need an understanding that does not rely on references to changing children. I build an alternative view of education with the help of Derrida's concept of hospitality. I show how this interpretation of what is educational in education may help the field of educational theory to develop a fuller understanding of the relation between ethics and education.

Given recent major geopolitical events in the European region, such as Brexit and the launch of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this article explores recent and under-researched shifts in the geopolitics of the European higher education space, focusing specifically on the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The analysis is informed by the critical geopolitics approach and relies on interviews with stakeholders in the four countries that established the EHEA (Germany, France, Italy and the UK), key recent EHEA official communications, and a thematic analysis of these datasets. The analysis has revealed three major recent overlapping shifts in EHEA geopolitics: regarding its borders, identity and values. These findings are significant, highlighting the existence and dynamics of the phenomenon of higher education geopolitics in Europe and addressing an under-researched area in the literature on European geopolitics and the role of higher education in it.

As educational sectors and stakeholders are increasingly engaged in the practice of international education, there have been many discussions regarding two persisting issues with the practice, which can be summarised as Western-centrism and elitism. Applying concepts from the study of political economy, this paper analyses major political constraints underlying these two challenges. The paper suggests that the origin of these political constraints is a Western-dominated neoliberal world order, with powerful effects on the educational choices made by advantaged groups in non-Western societies. The analysis highlights a political-economic cycle based on the West's export of educational products in exchange for human and economic capitals, which sustains the current ecology of international education. The paper also discusses possible ways to redress the political constraints for international education to be more inclusive and equitable. It concludes with notes on new challenges underway and their effects on the future directions of international education.

Countries globally are working towards the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Goal 4 affirms all students' right to a quality inclusive education. Yet achieving quality inclusive education continues to challenge education providers without reference to economic riches or location on the globe. This exploratory study examines the professional views of 20 teachers about the state of inclusive education in Pakistan with specific reference to learners with cerebral palsy. Using focus groups interviews, we systematically examined the data and identified two key themes: learning together for all and learning environment. In exploring these themes, tensions appeared between what was posed theoretically as inclusive education and the reality of implementation. Some of these tensions result from contextual factors, while others emerge through viewing inclusive education involving a transformation of culture and practice.

This article performs a discourse analysis on the recent interest of the Israeli Ministry of Education in vocational education by examining governmental and organisational texts. This article addresses two key questions. What is the government's justification for its renewed interest in vocational education? What are its discursive practices to promote vocational education in the context of the current neoliberal discourse on equality and meritocracy? Highlighting three major justifications and discursive practices in the Ministry of Education's current educational policy, this discursive analysis shows that the policy is related to culture, ethnicity, and class hierarchies in Israel. The analysis also underscores ambiguity as a governmental and organisational tool and the ramifications of the government's ethnic blindness related to the social construction of a specific reality in vocational education.

Educators working with students with disabilities must have a basic working knowledge of various special education laws. Any disconnect between classroom or administrative responsibilities and understanding of the law can negatively impact services offered in the classroom. This study explores graduate students' knowledge and perceptions of special education law, as measured by the "Knowledge and Perceptions of Special Education Law" (KAPSEL) survey. Results reveal that over 90% of participants reported a need for more training in special education legislation. Further, there was a statistically significant relationship between perceived knowledge in special education law and presented knowledge of the law. Recommendations discuss the importance of collaboration between teacher preparation programs and professional accreditation bodies in guiding educators' practical expertise in special education law.

This qualitative study examines how Asian (American) teachers learn about Asian (American) histories and cultures across K-12 schooling, teacher education programs, and at home and how these educational experiences influence their racialization. Using Asian critical theory (AsianCrit) as the theoretical framework, findings illustrate the (mis)education Asian (American) teachers have received, characterized by the marginal and stereotypical coverage of Asian (American) content in the K-12 curriculum and a sense of alienation as Asian (American) people. The teacher education they take reinforces the Asian (American) marginalization and alienation. The education some of the participants receive from their families perpetuates white dominance and cultural assimilation. Implications for centering Asian (American) voices in educational research and incorporating Asian (American) perspectives in teacher education curriculum and pedagogy are discussed.

As the interest in expanding adults' access to career pathways and in improving training and employment programs moves forward with initiatives such as the federal government's Talent Strategy (U.S. Departments of Labor, Commerce, and Education, 2025), information about the types of career and college readiness (CCR) activities that can help to advance learners' education and training could be beneficial to adult foundational education (AFE) staff. Although CCR activities have been part of AFE services for decades, research on the effectiveness of CCR activities is limited. This digest provides an overview of CCR activities that have been delivered in the context of AFE career pathways approaches and what is known about the effectiveness of these activities. The brief closes with steps that could be taken to strengthen the knowledge base on implementing CCR activities with AFE learners.

This study examines the integration of inclusive and intercultural education principles in the Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education at three Universities located in Spain, France and Colombia. An analysis of 116 course syllabi is conducted to identify the specific references to Universal Design for Learning, accessibility, inclusion, diversity and interculturality. A second content analysis was conducted to categorize the units of meaning into four categories and determine the predominant underlying approach to the use of the term 'inclusion' in each degree program. The results indicate that the concepts of accessibility and UDL are the least represented, followed by interculturality; and regarding inclusion, the curricular approach prevails.

This paper argues that recent initial teacher education policy in England, combining curricular control and marketisation, presents a case of systemic curricular injustice. The initial teacher education core content framework, the government mandated content for all initial teacher education in England, represents a centralised curriculum that ignores local contexts and needs. Combined with the impact of the accreditation process for all providers embedded within the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Market Review, these policies create a two-pronged system of exclusion: the core content framework restricts intellectual access to alternative ways of thinking about education, whilst the ITT Market Review restricts physical access to teacher education seeking to present such alternative approaches. Combining and mutually reinforcing social and spatial injustices, this paper argues that the policy space in England is actively producing and reproducing structural inequalities.

Since the inception of Technology Education, the learning area and its advocates have struggled for legitimacy. Part of this challenge stems from difficulties in articulating the nature of technology (NoT) and its unique contribution to education. This article presents a systematic review of NoT in educational research, analysing empirical studies that investigate teachers' conceptions of NoT. An analysis of the 22 included studies showed significant differences in the ways that NoT is theorised in educational research. In highlighting both the complexity of NoT and Technology Education as a learning area, 11 distinct aspects of NoT were identified in this study. This analysis also revealed tensions between a focus on specific "technology/ies" and "Technology-as-phenomenon," suggesting the need for conceptual coherence in future research. Implications are drawn for understanding NoT, Technology Education, and the position of Technology Education in broader education narratives.

This review examines empirical studies from 2014 to 2024 published in the Journal of Special Education Technology (JSET), focusing on technology's role in supporting individuals with disabilities. Removing non-empirical publications yielded 154 studies, which were analyzed for technology type, disability focus, methodologies, and content areas. Results highlighted the increasing diversity and individualized application of technology in special education. However, gaps in research remain, particularly for underrepresented disabilities and long-term intervention impacts. Future research needs to prioritize replication, broader disability representation, and evaluation of emerging technologies to bridge equity gaps and enhance educational outcomes for all students. Findings underscore technology's potential to foster accessibility and personalized learning in special education.

DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion, a social movement for promoting fair treatment and full participation in education and employment. Our comments are focused on how DEI might be interpreted and implemented in the context of special education's primary U.S. legal guide, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). We concentrate on the meanings of diversity, equity, and inclusion as they apply to policies regarding the education of individuals with disabilities. We argue that policies related to DEI deserve careful scrutiny as they apply to special education. Hewing to the notion of disability as a particular kind of diversity defined by the IDEA is essential to achieving an appropriate and equitable education and the most meaningful type of inclusion for children with disabilities.

Research highlights how, despite the sustained presence of citizenship education in the Australian curriculum for over a decade, it remains a site of tension, its fortunes and objectives shifting with changes in political party. This paper contributes in two ways. First, it outlines developments in citizenship education in Australia, including some dominant, recurring key tensions. Second, it explores three ways a governmentality perspective can contribute to our understanding of citizenship education developments and tensions, drawing out implications for future analysis and research. Importantly, a governmentality perspective calls attention to the conditions of production and reception of citizenship education. A greater understanding of these conditions can support the development of future forms of citizenship education that are increasingly reflexive regarding the workings of power and responsive to contemporary socio-political realities.