Exploring Equity, Inclusion and Agency in Education: Theory, Policy and Practice

This book focuses on themes such as inclusion in action, schooling during challenging times, engaging teaching spaces, social justice standpoints, student/teacher agency, preservice teacher voices, criticality in educative spaces and children and agency. It provides a lens into educational contexts that fuel or hinder human flourishing. This book explores a range of social justice themes through the power of learning spaces, institutional educative standpoints and teaching approaches. Cultural, social and economic injustices that perpetuate cycles of disadvantage and oppressive narratives are also examined and discussed. This book celebrates, critiques, and reimagines different theoretical frameworks that underpin equitable and inclusive educative landscapes. Attention is directed towards building the capacities of educators to understand and respond to national and global factors that impact on emancipatory education. This book is a ‘Call to Action’ for educators to stand in the shoes of our least advantaged learners and communities, and the chapter authors embody and enact a political and moral mindset that privileges all voices in respectful and proactive ways. It highlights how transformative learning spaces are made up of educators who understand the importance of engaging in scholarly reflection and practice.

Prof. Marcelle Cacciattolo is a full Professor and the Associate Director of Research
Training in the Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities at Victoria
University, Australia. She received her Ph.D. from Monash University in 2002.
Over the last 24 years her research has been cross-disciplinary involving health
sciences and education-based research. Other research projects that Marcelle has
been involved in include young people and their wellbeing, refugee relocation, trauma
aware standpoints, social justice and innovative teaching and learning pedagogies
within tertiary settings. Marcelle works closely with preservice teachers and schools
to examine how inclusive pedagogies can support students and families who are the
least advantaged.

Prof. Jenene Burke is a full Professor and the Deputy Dean in the Institute of Education, Arts and Community at Federation University Australia. She commenced as a
lecturer in teacher education in 1998 after a successful career as a secondary teacher.
Jenene is the Past-President of WFATE and a Board Member representing Australia.
Jenene is the co-Leader of the WFATE Inclusion and Social Justice in Teacher Education in Global Contexts research development group. She is best known for her
world-class research into play spaces as inclusive environments for children and
their families. Along with this, she has broad interest in other areas of education
which intersect with disability studies in education and inclusive education, such as
rural and regional teacher education.