ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on what is meant by inclusive teaching and inclusive curriculum and how these are conceptualised and connected. Inclusive teaching often refers to teaching that recognises and accommodates all pupils or students, while an inclusive curriculum has been seen as having a key part in the role of education in society and the promotion of social inclusion. This leads to a discussion about how inclusive curricula are opposed to a ‘one size fits all’ model, while there is still a commitment to teaching a common curriculum by different teaching strategies and learning materials and media. The chapter considers the central issues and challenges confronted from an inclusive perspective to curriculum and teaching; the curriculum commonality–differentiation dilemma. The implications of the tensions between curriculum commonality and differentiation are also considered in this chapter. It is suggested that the debate about disability inclusion has been about whether to prioritise location (the where) or curriculum (what is taught and learned). Current ideas about universal design for learning (UDL) are then discussed in the context of the curriculum commonality–differentiation dilemma and questions about the universality of UDL.
