Thomas Andreasen, Visiting Scholar, University of Southern Denmark
Date: May 19, 2015
Time: 12:30 – 2:00 pm
Venue: Scarfe room 1209
Event Organizer: Centre for the Study of Teacher Education
Abstract:
The purpose of this research is to investigate how inclusion as a politically motivated idea intervenes in teachers’ everyday practice. In Denmark the political idea of inclusion in general education means that children with special needs can no longer avail of special needs education. As a result, there has been an intensified political and pedagogical focus on how to understand and manage inclusion. Research projects and books show numerous methods and techniques to handle inclusion. However, drawing from teachers’ stories and descriptions I will show that inclusion is not something teachers handle or manage but a pedagogical condition that faces them in their everyday practice. Drawing on one teacher’s description of an everyday classroom situation – a conflict between students – I illustrate how the event may be understood pedagogically as a unique moment of inclusion wherein the teacher must exercise practical reasoning in relation to particular children and their particular predicament.
Short Bio:
Thomas Andreasen is a PhD student at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense. He has been a Primary School Teacher and holds a Master in Education from Aarhus University, Denmark. His research addresses the notion of inclusion and what it means for teachers’ everyday practice, the profession, and teacher education.
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