TY - BOOK

T1 - The role of disability services in the development of inclusive teaching and learning

T2 - a critical realist analysis

AU - Beck, Suzy

PY - 2025/5/8

Y1 - 2025/5/8

N2 - Since the 2016/17 reforms of the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA), progress toward inclusive teaching and learning underpinned by a social model of disability has been slow. Previous research has focused on commonly recognised barriers to change such as poor communication, lack of buy-in at senior level, agenda fatigue, and the knowledge and attitude of academics. What has not been examined is the role of disability services and existing models of disability support in this phenomenon.This study aims to contribute to our existing understanding of why English universities have been slow to adopt inclusive teaching and learning as a way of supporting students with SpLDs by focusing on the role of disability services. As this research aims to provide an explanatory rather than simply a descriptive account, a critical realist-informed methodology was adopted. Data resulting from interviews with thirteen disability practitioners were analysed in an attempt to expose underlying structural mechanisms. Findings from this study show that a series of unresolvable tensions mean that disability services face an impossible situation. Disability services preside over a deficit-based model of supporting students with SpLDs, which they adhere to in absence of a truly inclusive approach. The effort taken to maintain this current model results in less time available to advocate for and develop the inclusive approaches that could reduce the need for the current model. Ultimately, disability services face a Catch-22 situation from which there can be no immediate reprieve without a shift in the underlying structural mechanisms that generate these constraints. These findings are important because they help to explain why the move to a social model of disability remains ‘aspirational’ and why inclusive approaches to meeting the needs of students with SpLDs have not become embedded in English HEIs. A number of recommendations are made for addressing the constraints identified.

AB - Since the 2016/17 reforms of the Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA), progress toward inclusive teaching and learning underpinned by a social model of disability has been slow. Previous research has focused on commonly recognised barriers to change such as poor communication, lack of buy-in at senior level, agenda fatigue, and the knowledge and attitude of academics. What has not been examined is the role of disability services and existing models of disability support in this phenomenon.This study aims to contribute to our existing understanding of why English universities have been slow to adopt inclusive teaching and learning as a way of supporting students with SpLDs by focusing on the role of disability services. As this research aims to provide an explanatory rather than simply a descriptive account, a critical realist-informed methodology was adopted. Data resulting from interviews with thirteen disability practitioners were analysed in an attempt to expose underlying structural mechanisms. Findings from this study show that a series of unresolvable tensions mean that disability services face an impossible situation. Disability services preside over a deficit-based model of supporting students with SpLDs, which they adhere to in absence of a truly inclusive approach. The effort taken to maintain this current model results in less time available to advocate for and develop the inclusive approaches that could reduce the need for the current model. Ultimately, disability services face a Catch-22 situation from which there can be no immediate reprieve without a shift in the underlying structural mechanisms that generate these constraints. These findings are important because they help to explain why the move to a social model of disability remains ‘aspirational’ and why inclusive approaches to meeting the needs of students with SpLDs have not become embedded in English HEIs. A number of recommendations are made for addressing the constraints identified.

U2 - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/2746

DO - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/2746

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

PB - Lancaster University

ER -