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Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Special and Inclusive Education in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous (Vuca) World

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International Perspectives on Inclusive Education

Series Editor: Chris Forlin

Recent Volumes:

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International Perspectives on Inclusive Education Volume 20

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Special and Inclusive Education in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous (Vuca) World

Edited by

Pennee Narot

Khon Kaen University, Thailand

And

Narong Kiettikunwong

Khon Kaen University, Thailand

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2023

Editorial matter and selection © 2023 Pennee Narot and Narong Kiettikunwong.

Individual chapters © 2023 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80382-530-4 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-529-8 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-531-1 (Epub)

ISSN: 1479-3636 (Series)

About the Editors

Pennee Narot retired after 30 years as Associate Professor in International and Development Education at the Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. After receiving a PhD in International and Development Education from the University of Pittsburgh, she has been teaching and conducting research in various areas such as teachers' development, non-formal, informal education and inclusive education, and aged situations society analysis. She has continuously been conducting research intensively in inclusive education, with work like: a professional learning programme for enhancing the competency of students with special needs, a model professional learning programme for enhancing the competency of students with special needs, inclusive education in Thailand, understanding inclusive education practices in schools under local government jurisdiction and different paths for inclusion in Thailand: improving and promoting special teachers as leaders in the development of inclusive education.

Narong Kiettikunwong is an Associate Professor in the College of Local Administration at the Khon Kaen University where he has been a faculty member since 2014. He completed his undergraduate studies at Eastern Connecticut State University (BSc in Business Administration) and Chulalongkorn University (LLB), postgraduate studies at Chulalongkorn University (Master of Public Administration) and Leuphana Universität Lüneburg (LLM in Competition and Regulation). He is also an attorney-at-law. Prior to joining the college, he had worked with the US Department of State and several other private companies including his own – where he was a founder and CEO. Narong Kiettikunwong serves as an editor and author of collective monographs. His latest scientific peer-reviewed book relevant to this topic was Education for the Elderly in the Asia Pacific. Narong Kiettikunwong's current research interests lie in the topic of competition and regulation in the energy sector, energy transition (Energiewende), e-Government, and special and inclusive education.

About the Contributors

Dr Suang-I Anunthawichak was awarded a Doctor of Business Administration in Industrial Business Development and Human Resources from King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, where he currently holds a full-time Assistant Professor position in Faculty of Business Administration in Service Industry. Prior to joining academia, Suang-I had worked as a Human Resource Manager in various well-known organisations in Thailand. He was appointed as an associate judge in the labour court. His field of expertise includes organisation development and management, labour law, leadership development, human resource development and statistics using AMOS.

Prompilai Buasuwan is an Associate Professor in the Programme of Educational Administration College of Education, Kasetsart University (KU). Her research interests focus on development and international education, innovation and educational leadership, and educational policy analysis and evaluation. She has done various projects with international organisations, research funding agencies, university networks and consortiums. She was a co-editor for the books Higher Education Access in the Asia Pacific: Privilege or Human Right and Asia Pacific Graduate Education: Comparative Policies and Regional Developments. In 2019, she received the Outstanding Emerald Literati Award from Emerald Publishing on Rethinking Thai Higher Education for Thailand 4.0.

Mr Pongmanut Deeod graduated in 2018 with Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) Second-Class Honours, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. In 2019, he graduated with Bachelor of Political Science (B.POL.SC.), Ramkhamhaeng University, Thailand, and acquired Master of Public Administration from Khon Kaen University. He also obtained a Licence for Professional Practice (Attorney-at-Law licence), Lawyers Council of Thailand (Under the Royal Patronage), Thailand, in the same year. He has been working as a full-time lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Mahamakut Buddhist University Isan Campus, Thailand, since 2020. His research interests include: Law – Personal Data Protection and Public Law; Public Administration – Ageing and Education Policy; Education – Inclusive Education and Home Schooling. He is now a PhD candidate in Public Administration at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University.

Witcha Feungchan is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Engineering (Computer Engineering), Khon Kaen University, Thailand, where he has been a faculty member since 2002. He completed his PhD in Electronic Systems Engineering at the University of Regina, Canada, in 2009. Witcha is the author of the VIDEO GAME DESIGN textbook featuring good guidelines for designing a video game. He has made contributions to many publications in the areas of Video Games Design, Serious Games, Ubiquitous Computing, Virtual Reality, and Educational Technology. Witcha has also collaborated actively with multidisciplinary teams in engineering, computer science and education.

Shahid Karim is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). Before he embarked on his PhD journey at EdUHK, he served at the Aga Khan University Institute for Education Development (AKU-IED), Karachi, as a research associate. He obtained his MA in Muslim Cultures at the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC), London, England.

Professor Myint Swe Khine currently teaches at Curtin University, Australia. He has more than 30 years of experience in teacher education. He worked at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Emirates College for Advanced Education in the United Arab Emirates. He has wide-ranging research interests in teacher education, science education, learning sciences, psychometrics, measurement, assessment and evaluation. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of international academic journals and edited several books. These include Large Scale School Reform and Social Capital Building (Routledge, 2013), Emerging Trends in Learning Analytics (Brill, 2019), Contemporary Perspectives on Research in Educational Assessment (Information Age Publishing, 2020) and Handbook of Research on Teacher Education: Innovations and Practices in Asia (Springer, 2022).

Narong Kiettikunwong is an Associate Professor in the College of Local Administration at the Khon Kaen University where he has been a faculty member since 2014. He completed his undergraduate studies at Eastern Connecticut State University (BSc in Business Administration) and Chulalongkorn University (LLB), postgraduate studies at Chulalongkorn University (Master of Public Administration) and Leuphana Universität Lüneburg (LLM in Competition and Regulation). He is also an attorney-at-law. Prior to joining the college, he had worked with the US Department of State and several other private companies including his own – where he was a founder and CEO. Narong Kiettikunwong serves as an editor and author of collective monographs. His latest scientific peer-reviewed book relevant to this topic was Education for the Elderly in the Asia Pacific. Narong Kiettikunwong's current research interests lie in the topic of competition and regulation in energy sector, energy transition (Energiewende), e-Government, and special and inclusive education.

Kanokwan Kunlasuth is an instructor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and is now a committee member of a bachelor's degree in Chinese for Service Career at Suan Dusit University, Thailand. Her research publications include ‘The Effects of Online Learning Management towards English Grammar Achievement of Business English Students’ published in Suan Dusit Graduate School Academic Journal, and ‘A Quality Development of Thai Youth for the Future Society through English Camp Process’ in Journal of MCU Peace Studies. Her academic interests are communicative language teaching, technology implementation in language teaching, English camp management and teacher training.

Dr Yang Liu is a lecturer at the Shanghai Maritime University in China. He received a Master's degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and a PhD from Curtin University, Australia. His published work includes investigating students' conceptual learning of science by using visual representations, content analysis of science textbooks and exploring the effective teaching strategies when multiple modes of visualisations are presented in secondary school science classrooms. He further developed measuring instruments as well as instructional strategies for teachers based on the close examination of teachers' teaching practices. His past research has been presented at national and international science and science education conferences. Yang continues to give significant attention to teachers' instruction and teacher education.

Dr Ratika Malkani is an independent researcher having previously held teaching positions in India, Georgia and the United Kingdom. Her research has included an ethnographic investigation of education provision for first generation learners in Maharashtra State in India, an investigation of preparation for adulthood for young people with special educational needs in an English Local Authority, and a project to research and evaluate support provided to families of children with disabilities in Mahabubnagar district in Telangana State. Dr Malkani's work has been published in several international journals and books, and she contributes to a programme of research training for novice researchers in India.

Dr Jayanthi Narayan is Visiting Professor of Inclusive Education at the University of Northampton, UK. She was previously the Deputy Director of the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped (NIMH, currently, NIEPID). As a Fulbright senior research fellowship, she carried out a Post-Doctoral programme at Boston College, Massachusetts, USA. In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Northampton. As a consultant in special and inclusive education, Dr Narayan has trained teachers in special and inclusive education and has also carried out situation analysis of education of children with disabilities, in various international locales, hired by UNICEF, UNDP, WHO and international agencies such as Perkins International and Helen Keller International. Her work has been published in many international journals.

Pennee Narot retired after 30 years as Associate Professor in International and Development Education at the Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand. After receiving a PhD in International and Development Education from the University of Pittsburgh, she has been teaching and conducting research in various areas such as teachers' development, non-formal, informal education and inclusive education, and aged situations society analysis. She has continuously been conducting research intensively in inclusive education, with work like: a professional learning programme for enhancing the competency of students with special needs, a model professional learning programme for enhancing the competency of students with special needs, inclusive education in Thailand, understanding inclusive education practices in schools under local government jurisdiction and different paths for inclusion in Thailand: improving and promoting special teachers as leaders in the development of inclusive education.

Mirna Nel is deputy dean for research and innovation in the Faculty of Humanities, North-West University (NWU), South Africa, and a researcher in the Optentia Research Focus Area. She was the South African project leader for an international collaborative research project between South Africa, England, Finland, China, Lithuania and Slovenia with the topic: A Comparative Analysis of Teachers' Roles in Inclusive Education. Several publications resulted from this project. She and other NWU colleagues were rewarded European Union funding to conduct research on teacher education for inclusion in collaboration with De Vlaamse Vereniging voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking en Technische Bijstand (VVOB), the Universities of the Witwatersrand, Free State, Fort Hare and Inclusive Education South Africa (IESA). She has published several articles in national and in international journals, written numerous chapters, co-edited and sole edited textbooks and supervised and delivered Master's and PhD students. Conference papers were presented at national and international conferences. She has also been invited to do workshops and presentations in several European countries, as well as keynote presentations at various national and international conferences on a variety of topics relevant to inclusive education.

Meechai Orsuwan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the College of Education, KU, Thailand. His research interests focus on the economics of education, educational policy and higher education. He has previously performed teaching and consulting work related to the learning experience of at-risk and vulnerable students in the United States, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. He earned his PhD from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Nutthaporn Owatnupat is an Assistant Professor in Linguistics (Translation and Interpreting). At present, she works at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and is a committee member of a master's degree programme in Teaching English at Primary Education Level at Suan Dusit University, Bangkok, Thailand. Her recent publications include an academic paper, ‘A Review of Blended Learning Implementation in the English Language Classroom’ in ASEAN Journal of Education and an academic paper relating to language learning in older adults in ‘Education for the Elderly in the Asia-Pacific’, one of Springer Book Series Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects. Her research interests include English learning development, teaching English as a foreign/second language, ageing situations, self-directed learning intervention and translation.

Krit Pattamaroj is an Assistant Professor in operations management at Thammasat Business School. His research interests are mainly in the fields of operation management, logistics management and agile project management. He also worked with the Thammasat Logistics Research Center and IDE-JETRO on ASEAN logistics and supply chain studies. Apart from academic experiences, he also works as a strategic consultant on lean transformation, digital and innovation management, agile adoption, strategic management and business management with experiences in various industries. He has a master's degree in Business Administration from Thammasat University. He is currently working on his Doctorate of Philosophy in Multidisciplinary Studies at Thammasat University.

Professor Dr Nopadol Rompho joined the Thammasat Business School in 2003 as a Lecturer in the Department of Operations Management. His main research interest is in the area of performance measurement. Before joining the university, he worked in oil and gas companies as an engineer and business analyst. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering (second class honours) from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, in 1995, a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Oregon State University, USA, in 1997, a Master of Business Administration degree from Thammasat University, Thailand, in 2001 and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Management from the University of Glasgow, UK, in 2006.

Dr Richard Rose is Professor Emeritus of Inclusive Education at the University of Northampton, UK. He previously held posts as a teacher and school principal in several parts of England and was seconded to a project on curriculum development for learners with special educational needs at Cambridge University. He has conducted research for international agencies, including UNICEF, Sightsavers, The Commonwealth Commission and ACCESS (Australia) in many parts of the world including India, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Malta, Georgia and Ireland. He has also conducted consultancy and research for national governments in the United Kingdom and several European countries. He is the author of more than 100 publications in the area of inclusive education, research methods and children's rights.

Dr Michael Shevlin is Professor in Inclusive Education and Director of the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities in Trinity College Dublin. His teaching and research has focused on facilitating the inclusion of children and young people with special educational needs within mainstream schools, promoting the voice of marginalised people within decision-making processes that affect their lives, and addressing access issues for young people with disabilities within compulsory and higher education. He has completed longitudinal national studies investigating the provision of inclusive education in the Republic of Ireland. Michael is involved in policy-making initiatives within Irish education in relation to the development of inclusive learning environments in schools and higher education. As Director of the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities he manages the delivery of an accredited education into employment transition programme for young people with intellectual disabilities.

Dr Sujarwanto is a Lecturer in the Special Education Department, Faculty of Education, Universitas Negeri Surabaya (Unesa), Surabaya, Indonesia. Previously, he served as the Secretary of the Special Education Department (2002–2003), the Head of the Special Education Department (2004–2007), the Vice Dean of Academic Affairs of the Faculty of Education (2007–2014) and the Dean of the Faculty of Education Unesa (2015–2019). He has been appointed as Vice Rector of Planning and Partnership Affairs until 2022. He is also active as a board member in various organisations including the Harmoni Foundation, the Central Board of the Indonesian Special Education Professionals Association and the Advisory Board of Experts for the Inclusive Faith-Based Schools, as well as actively assisting some NGOs including Save the Children, HKI and MCPM Australia.

Series Editor Preface

The adoption internationally of inclusive practice as the most equitable and all-encompassing approach to education and its relation to compliance with various international Declarations and Conventions underpins the importance of this series for people working at all levels of education and schooling in both developed and less developed countries. There is little doubt that inclusive education is complex and diverse and that there are enormous disparities in understanding and application at both inter- and intra-country levels. A broad perspective on inclusive education throughout this series is taken, encompassing a wide range of contemporary viewpoints, ideas and research for enabling the development of more inclusive schools, education systems and communities.

Volumes in this series on International Perspectives on Inclusive Education contribute to the academic and professional discourse by providing a collection of philosophies and practices that can be reviewed by considering local, contextual and cultural situations to assist governments, educators, peripatetic staff and other professionals to provide the best education for all children. Each volume in the series focuses on a key aspect of inclusive education and provides critical chapters by contributing leaders in the field who discuss theoretical positions, quality research and impacts on school and classroom practice. Different volumes address issues relating to the diversity of student need within heterogeneous classrooms and the preparation of teachers and other staff to work in inclusive schools. Systemic changes and practice in schools encompass a wide perspective of learners to provide ideas on reframing education to ensure that it is inclusive of all. Evidence-based research practices underpin a plethora of suggestions for decision-makers and practitioners, incorporating current ways of thinking about and implementing inclusive education.

While many barriers have been identified that may potentially constrain the implementation of effective inclusive practices, this series aims to identify such key concerns and offer practical and best practice approaches to overcoming them. Adopting a thematic approach for each volume, readers will be able to quickly locate a collection of research and practice related to a topic of interest. By transforming schools into inclusive communities of practice all children can have the opportunity to access and participate in quality and equitable education to enable them to obtain the skills to become contributory global citizens. This series, therefore, is highly recommended to support education decision-makers, practitioners, researchers and academics who have a professional interest in the inclusion of children and youth who are potentially marginalised in inclusive schools and classrooms.

Volume 22 on Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Special and Inclusive Education in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) World considers an international perspective on the many changes that are occurring that impact directly on education. Such major changes are challenging for all systems, but as can be seen by the discussions in the chapters in this volume, these are even more challenging when aiming to provide effective teaching and learning for children and youth with special and diverse needs and disabilities.

The inclusion movement which has grasped a more equitable and sustainable approach to education over the past decades has now been faced with potential derailment due to the outcomes of many global VUCA complications. The writing of this volume has also been affected by the VUCA situation, and in particular the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors, nonetheless, have embraced this opportunity to reflect in very meaningful ways on how inclusion can continue to be realised in practical, justifiable and sustainable ways over the next decade.

To achieve the proposed education goals for Education 2030 (UNESCO), that ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all learners, will require some dramatic systemic changes. Acknowledging the current situation and identifying the indicators that can measure a country's progress towards improved inclusive education provides a strong foundation for planning avenues to address this. By critiquing practice across a range of country systems, chapters in this volume provide a selection of innovative approaches to overcome the VUCA challenges they face. The authors also provide constructive approaches that will maintain the inclusive momentum in a realistic way.

As all systems are working towards overcoming the VUCA challenges, I highly recommend this volume as essential reading for considering ways to establish equitable and sustainable inclusive education. This current volume makes a significant, pertinent and realistic contribution to the international dialogue about the way forward when dealing with such complicated and far-reaching global issues. It will make an excellent addition to the International Perspectives on Inclusive Education series.

Chris Forlin

Series Editor

Volume Introduction

In the post-modern world and in the midst of an unprecedented, severe geopolitical polarisation and decoupled capitalist economy, every country is struggling to create a development paradigm within the scope of its own context, be it in politics, public administration, economy, society and education. The complexities in the management of education in this era have changed drastically, especially in a direction towards manifesting excellence of education through the learning paradigm, which is deemed appropriate for the future achievement of learners, as opposed to the conventional instructional paradigm. This movement will help drive nation-states to be more prosperous in all aspects because an improvement in education will induce empowerment of the people in the nation; they will be able to react more intelligently in a volatile society and be more likely to be determined to develop ‘improvement’ in society through their knowledge. Despite this clear perception of how the mainstream education management in the twenty-first century should be reformulated, contrastingly a massive movement in the status quo, a substantial shift in special and inclusive education will continue to be stagnant.

This volume, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Special and Inclusive Education in a VUCA World, in the series on International Perspectives on Inclusive Education, addresses ‘outside-the-box’ disruptive thinking to the pertinent challenges in special and inclusive education from diverse interdisciplinary points of view in an unconventional way; the goal is to contrive the most probable combinations of variations for change in the status quo for special and inclusive education and compare them with current practice.

Each chapter offers new ideas to develop the path for innovation and readiness to cope with the changing world; interdisciplinary perspectives are expected to be models for coping with such circumstances. Readers will benefit from the insights and samples demonstrated in this volume which are based on various points of view from scholars in different disciplines, and are intended to help shape how special needs students, teachers and all the managerial components as a whole adapt to sustain and maintain inclusion in education in a VUCA world.

This particular volume focuses on building the foundations of a realistic, rational view of the basic assumptions and knowledge on which special education should rest. The book presents themes covering three major areas:

1. An analysis and empirical examination of the basic concept of special education, a discussion of specific exceptionalities, and constructive responses to common criticisms of special education including the challenges of educational reform after the principles of the Salamanca Statement are addressed.

2. An overview of the inclusive education movement towards the VUCA world, including cases from selected countries based on its implementation and the experiences of experts in the field.

3. The introduction of a model and apparatus developed through analysis of the possibility for managing inclusive education in the changing world. The volume also sheds some light on how the interplay of digital learning and the specially designed classroom can have a pivotal role in elevating the learning experience and outcomes of special educational needs students from different categories and backgrounds.

Pennee Narot

Narong Kiettikunwong

Volume Editors

Foreword

Policy documents from the OECD and UNESCO have stressed the need to prepare students for what has been termed a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world. The COVID-19 pandemic is an extreme case of a VUCA event that grants the opportunity to examine whether special and inclusive education is fully prepared for these complex situations. It brings together multi-disciplinary experts to produce a body of knowledge on how special and inclusive education must be re-shaped for the upcoming ambiguous future in a remarkable mission.

Each chapter offers clear strategies and models of practical implications to develop the path for innovation and be ready to cope with the changing world. Interdisciplinary perspectives are expected to be a model for coping with such circumstances. Readers should benefit from the insights and samples demonstrated in this book, based on various points of view from scholars in different disciplines, to help shape how special students, teachers, and all the managerial components as a whole should adapt to sustain and maintain inclusion in education in the circumstances of a VUCA world.

Interdisciplinary Perspective on Special and Inclusive Education in a VUCA World provides various ideas and experiences about how inclusive education can be organised. The analysis and investigation from case studies and document analysis are presented by international knowledgeable scholars who are from interdisciplinary fields to share their visions on education and inclusive education in the new era. The readers would gain a worldview of how inclusive education has been implemented along with the concepts, knowledge and guidelines for the future management of inclusive education.

This particular book focuses on building the foundation of a realistic, rational view of the basic assumptions and knowledge on which special education should rest. The book presents themes covering three major areas:

1. The analysis and empirical examination of the basic concept of special education, a discussion of specific exceptionalities and constructive responses to common criticisms of special education including the challenges of educational reform after the stipulation of the Salamanca Statement are addressed.

2. Overview of inclusive education movement towards the VUCA world: cases from selected countries.

3. Introduction of model and a thorough analysis of the possibility of including instruments and a framework for managing inclusive education in the changing world.

The book interweaves critical analysis, outlining the practical framework of models and the illustrations of lesson learnt of how future inclusive education action should proceed at different levels in society to ensure full entitlement of inclusive education in the VUCA world.

Pennee Narot

Narong Kiettikunwong

Volume Editors

Acknowledgements

It has taken over a year to develop this book. The success of the book comes from the support of various parties, in particular The Emerald Editorial Team led by Dheebika Veerasamy to whom we are most thankful. The book also benefits greatly from our contributors who are capable scholars from different fields; engineering, business management, law, linguistics, education; institutions; and geographical areas; they also served as first draft reviewers, and we appreciate their time and effort. Finally, we are indebted to Chris Forlin, the Series Editor of International Perspective on Inclusive Education, who helped and encouraged us to proceed and responded in a timely fashion to our obstacles and reviews.