EUN623 Inclusive Education: Concepts, Policy and Practice


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Unit Outline: Semester 1 2026, Online

Unit code:EUN623
Credit points:12
Equivalent:EUZ623
Assumed Knowledge:

It is assumed that students understand educational practices in education settings and have practitioner experiences within a related education field or support profession.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of the teaching period.

Overview

This unit steps through the fundamental knowledge that educators need to meet their legal obligations and to understand inclusive practice. It provides a strong foundation for the three other core units in the inclusive education specialisation. Inclusive education is a process of systemic transformation that begins with educators acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure that all learners can access and participate in high-quality, age-appropriate curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in regular classrooms and early childhood education and care settings. This includes learners with a disability for whom inclusive education is a human right under international law and who are entitled to reasonable adjustments under national anti-discrimination legislation.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

  1. Critically analyse education contexts in relation to inclusive education concepts, policies, educators' obligations and research.
  2. Design and justify universal strategies and adjustments for accessible, age-appropriate learning experiences in inclusive environments.
  3. Plan for and demonstrate consultation and collaboration about inclusive practice with learners, parents, allied health professionals and teacher aides.
  4. Create multimodal resources for specialist and non-specialist audiences to advocate for shifting educational practice to be more inclusive.

Content

This unit will cover the following:

  • Historical developments responsible for the shift from special to inclusive education
  • Fundamental concepts (ie., social model of disability) underpinning inclusive education 
  • International and Australian disability policy documents guiding the implementation of inclusive education 
  • Children’s rights to an inclusive education 
  • Understanding student diversity and intersectionality issues related with disability and cultures (i.e., First Nations Australians) 
  • The empirical evidence for inclusive education
  • Inclusive school reform, ethical school leadership, professional collaboration, maximising teacher aides, teacher-parent partnerships
  • Universal approaches to designing accessible curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.
  • Adjustments for supporting learners with disability

Learning Approaches

In this unit you will learn through engaging in the following:

  • Presentations with leading inclusive education experts and guest speakers
  • Online modules and activities
  • Weekly readings
  • Online recap tutorials to prepare for assessment
  • Online consultation sessions
  • Authentic assessment tasks designed to support real-world application of unit content.

This unit employs interactive and discussion-based learning, case study based activities and critical reflection on the intersection of theory and experience.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Feedback in this unit is provided to you in the following ways:

  • a range of formative activities undertaken throughout the unit
  • self-reflection on learning and own experiences
  • peer feedback as you discuss issues raised throughout the unit
  • comments about summative assessment tasks included with your grade

Assessment

Overview

This unit has two assessments:

1. Case Study - this task draws on the inclusive education concepts, policies, educators' obligations and research to analyse your education context and inform a resource advocating for inclusive practice.

2. Inclusive Practice Proposal - this task applies universal design strategies and adjustments to create inclusive practice proposals to remove barriers for identified learners with disability.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Case Study

You will undertake a case study of your educational setting to inform your creation of an advocacy resource for inclusive practice. Your case study will include critical analysis of your education context in relation to the concepts, policies, educators' obligations and research related to inclusive education.

Drawing on your analysis, you will create a resource with recommendations advocating for a shift to more inclusive practice in your education context. Your resource will be suitable for specialist and non-specialist audiences in your context.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Weight: 50
Length: 2500 words
Individual/Group: Individual
Due (indicative): Week 7
Related Unit learning outcomes: 1, 4

Assessment: Inclusive Practice Proposal

You will record yourself discussing the barriers for two learners with disability drawn from your own experiences and your educational context. You will use this to inform your Inclusive Practice Proposal. In your proposal, you will design and justify how universal strategies (e.g., Universal Design for Learning) and reasonable adjustments to curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and educational environments can eliminate these barriers.

You will include recorded evidence of consultation with the learner/s and/or their parents in the process of identifying barriers and designing adjustments. You will also consider how best to use teacher aides and collaborate with allied health professionals.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Weight: 50
Length: 15 minutes + evidence of consultation
Individual/Group: Individual
Due (indicative): Week 13
Related Unit learning outcomes: 2, 3, 4

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.

The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

The following resource is required to be purchased for this unit. Other resources will be available in the unit's Canvas site.

Resource Materials

Prescribed text(s)

Graham, L.J., (Ed) (2023). Inclusive education for the 21st century: Theory, policy and practice (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Risk Assessment Statement

In this unit, you will discuss sensitive topics that may have significant impact for you, your peers and/or the teaching team. The teaching team will aim to create a supportive and safe environment for all students and will support you to develop the appropriate skills to engage respectfully. If you are concerned that the content of a unit may impact your completion of the course, please contact the unit coordinator. You can also access free student counselling through QUT Counselling via the QUT Student Homepage.

Course Learning Outcomes

This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.

EU60 Graduate Certificate in Education

  1. Critically analyse and evaluate activities, contexts, and phenomena related to professional practice in the discipline of education.
    Relates to: ULO1, Case Study
  2. Design and justify innovative solutions to authentic problems of educational practice through the application of discipline-specific knowledge and skills.
    Relates to: ULO2, ULO3, Inclusive Practice Proposal
  3. Employ a range of communication modes to transmit knowledge, skills, and ideas to others.
    Relates to: ULO4, Case Study, Inclusive Practice Proposal

EU74 Master of Education

  1. Critically analyse and evaluate complex activities, contexts and phenomena related to professional practice and scholarship in the discipline of education.
    Relates to: ULO1, Case Study
  2. Design and justify innovative solutions to authentic problems of educational practice, drawing on discipline-specific knowledge and skills to lead and influence positive change.
    Relates to: ULO2, ULO3, Inclusive Practice Proposal
  3. Employ a range of communication modes to transmit knowledge, skills and ideas to specialist and non-specialist audiences in professional and scholarly contexts.
    Relates to: ULO4, Case Study, Inclusive Practice Proposal