Universal Design for Learning across Formal School Structures in Europe—A Systematic Review

Abstract

Over the past two decades, there has been a global movement towards creating more inclusive education systems and learning environments, which involves adopting transformative pedagogies, such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL). However, empirical research on UDL conducted across Europe has primarily focused on the higher education context, resulting in limited knowledge or publications on formal school settings. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to highlight empirical studies conducted across Europe that specifically focus on UDL in the formal school years. The study employed a systematic literature review, conducting an extensive search across three databases (Libsearch, Ebsco and Scopus). Empirical studies were selected based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the results were analyzed using descriptive narrative synthesis. The results revealed that the included articles mainly explored students’ and/or teachers’ perceptions of various phenomena related to the learning process, predominantly employing a qualitative approach. The findings suggest a need for further research in this area, with a particular emphasis on explicit learning outcomes. Moreover, there appears to be a lack of research on UDL implementation in preschool and early years education.

Programación didáctica adaptábel do ensino das ciencias en secundaria para perfís de alumnado con TDAH, TEA e dislexia

“…Na última década houbo múltiples iniciativas de implantar unha educación inclusiva baixo o marco teórico do deseño universal de aprendizaxe (DUA), tamén mencionada na LOMLOE, que favorece o uso de diversas formas de implicación, múltiples medios de representación da aprendizaxe e diferentes medios de expresión (Alba Pastor, 2017). Sen embargo, estas iniciativas tiveron moita máis incidencia na educación primaria que en secundaria (Fovet, 2020;Plantin Ewe & Galvin, 2023).…”