Politicising inclusive learning environments: how to foster belonging and challenge ableism?

Abstract

Inclusive learning environments have been described as a crucial factor for fostering disabled students' sense of belonging in higher education. However, few empirical studies have elaborated on how learning environments contribute to disabled students' belonging. In this study, we have taken a socio-political approach and widen the theoretical understanding of 'belonging'. We analyse three Finnish disabled students' narrative interviews concerning their experiences of learning environments through a narrative approach. Our findings highlight the complex interplay of learning environments and belonging in the context of STEM and large class sizes. We discuss the role of active learning environments for supporting disabled students' belonging. The narratives show how not belonging might be more productive for these students, as the learning environments are often built on ableism. We redefined inclusive learning environment design and their research as sociopolitical endeavours: If teachers wish to promote belonging through learning environment design, such design needs to disrupt the broader ableist discourses of higher education.

Remote and In-Person Learning: Utility Versus Social Experience

“…Conceptualising belonging in a time–space context makes the transition from belonging to un-belonging more intelligible. Students may feel closer to the university space at a certain period of their life, attaching themselves to in-person teaching, while in another period, they may feel that the university is not an important setting for them to belong to [ 72 , 73 ]. Some of the text answers emphasised the contextual factors (timing, family or job obligations) to explain their preference for remote teaching.…”

Synthesizing disabled physics students' pathways to access: a call for more access talk

“…In fact, the accommodations model can be seen as a way to maintain the status quo of ableism in higher education. Nieminen and Peronen (2021) write, "such approaches have been claimed ableist as they frame disabled students as the problem to be fixed, not the inaccessible design itself" [14]. In our work, we have seen physics instructors rely on this framing to place the blame for struggling in a course on the disabled student.…”

What I Wish My Instructor Knew: How Active Learning Influences the Classroom Experiences and Self-Advocacy of STEM Majors with ADHD and Specific Learning Disabilities

“…To our knowledge, how students using accommodations are affected by these two-stage collaborative exams is not yet known. Previous research shows that students using accommodations can feel singled out when they perceive their peers are aware that they use accommodations for exams ( Nieminen and Pesonen, 2022 ; Pfeifer et al. , 2021 ).…”

“…, 2020 ; James et al. , 2020 ; Nieminen and Pesonen, 2020 , 2022 ). In an interview study with 37 campus disability resource center (DRC) directors, several aspects of active learning were identified that could negatively influence the experiences of STEM undergraduates with disabilities ( Gin et al.…”

“…, 2017 ; Miller and Downey 2020 ; Friedensen et al. , 2021 ; Nieminen and Pesonen, 2020 , 2022 ; Batty and Reilly, 2022 ). Inherent ableism, or the “stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and social oppression toward people with disabilities,” exists within many STEM contexts, which contributes to a sense of non-belonging for students with disabilities ( Bogart and Dunn, 2019 , p. 650; Nieminen and Pesonen, 2020 , 2022 ).…”