Abstract

Inclusive and inclusive focused professional practice increasingly requires educators and practitioners to engage not only with ‘what works’ but why and how their assumptions, identities and epistemological positions shape their actions, decisions and relationships. Traditional approaches to inclusive education may inadvertently reproduce systemic inequities when they do not critically examine the power dynamics embedded in educational spaces. Critical pedagogy, as articulated by Freire, insists that education should foster conscientização (critical consciousness) and transform oppressive power relations rather than reproduce them, challenging the banking model of education in favour of dialogue and co creation of knowledge. Freire’s work remains foundational to approaches that seek to situate learner and educator as co creators of meaning within contexts of power and privilege. Building on this, contemporary scholarship in educational philosophy suggests that critical and decolonial approaches can be synergized to confront coloniality, racism, and the entanglements of power that persist in educational institutions globally, offering richer possibilities for transformative praxis.

Decolonial frameworks emphasise that reflexivity and positionality are not just reflective exercises but ethical commitments: they shape what counts as valid knowledge, who is included or excluded, and how educators understand their responsibilities to others. These frameworks argue for a reflexive stance that attends to the incompleteness of dominant knowledges and centres accountability to communities historically marginalised by colonial and epistemic hierarchies. In parallel, literature on inclusive pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning highlights the need for flexible, anticipatory design that accommodates diverse learner needs and fosters genuine belonging across difference. The proposed workshop brings these research strands into an interactive, evidence informed format that supports participants in interrogating their own positionality and its implications for practice, particularly in contexts involving special educational needs, neurodiversity and wider inclusion work.