Context: Situated in a context where 'international policy directives for the development of inclusion in and through education (UNESCO 2005) signal important social changes away from deficit-centric responses to diverse learner needs' (p. 159). However, authors argue that practice rarely meets inclusive ideology (Moore & Slee, 2012).
Aim: 'To explore how notions of temporality operate as decisive forces in the lives of educators in both the compulsory and post-compulsory sectors' (p. 159).
Theoretical frame: Not specified in study.
Methodology: Essay.
Findings: 1)(Re)Conceptualising inclusive education over time - beginnings of inclusive education: accompanied the introduction of UNESCO's Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994); the Salamanca Statement viewed 'diagnosed need' as 'special', consequently offering the political context for inclusive education to be perceived in 'delineated terms' (p. 162); In 2005: UNESCO redefined inclusion in education - a broad 'process of addressing & responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures & communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education' (UNESCO, 2005, p. 13); UNESCO thus highlights that the concern of inclusive education is on 'how to transform education systems in order to respond to the diversity of learners' (2005, p. 15); Problems with evolving definitions of inclusive education: distortion of the 'clarity of purpose', with 'divergent positions taken through UNESCO policy' (p. 163); competing pressures often hinder the 'latter ideals' (p. 163) regarding inclusive education; Despite UNESCO's (2005) inclusive education policy, the passing of time shows evidence of the continuous increase in special education practices which separate some students from the rest (Armstrong, 2002; Slee, 2011; Tomlinson, 2012); Authors argue that educators often experience time constraints, lack responsibility, but are accountable for students' educational outcomes, in a 'temporal spiral of performance achievement', while the influence of UNESCO is lost under similar 'marginalising conditions' (p. 163); 2)Temporal productions in initial teacher education - Barton (2003) argues for a 'rejection of exclusionary forms' (p. 17) and highlights the need for 'significant changes' (p. 23) in current teacher education, as well as education in general; Authors argue that the influence of neoliberal policies on the field of ITE in Australia has resulted in teacher education programmes which are 'expertly conditioned to operate within limited industrialised conceptions of western clock time' (p. 164); Central argument: the 'aggressive positioning of pre-service teachers who are 'imbued with Marxist resonances of time and labour value' (Lingard and Thompson 2017, 1) fundamentally detracts from learning the significance of considered pedagogical practices which foster relationships' (p. 164); authors therefore content that inclusivity in ITE necessitates a 'longer-term temporality than vogue policy imperatives, since 'schools are full of students who do not fit neatly into tidy boxes, but who are interesting, multi-faceted, often unpredictable, and transcend traditional groups of learners' (Jones, Fauske, & Carr, 2011, p. 10) (p. 166); 3)Temporal mediation of inclusive practices in schools - 'the ideology that inclusive education is the provision of equitable participation in learning for all students irrespective of any diversities - as per the UNESCO (2005) statement - falls well short of expectations in many schools' (p. 166); Done & Murphy (2016) - a 'new responsibilisation of teachers': 'a two-fold process' which conditions teachers to 'optimise school performance', while 'having to act ethically' (p. 166) simultaneously, in order to ensure that all learners can have equal educational outcomes; Ainscow et al. (2012) & Slee (2011) - inclusive schooling should be viewed as 'much more than a mere competing policy imperative' (p. 166); McKnight & Whitburn (2018) - the 'obsession with evidence' (Hattie, 2008, p. 237) of neoliberal policies often hinders opportunities for the practice of inclusiveness; 4) Towards a diffraction in time - A diffraction in time coupled with thoughtful integration of relational pedagogies is distorted when 'it is preferable to see inclusiveness as a process that takes place over time' (Reid, 2012, p. 13); Authors argue that 'time is a luxury not afforded to the classroom teacher, nor deliberated by the teacher educator' (p. 168); inclusiveness is therefore argued to remain 'illusory', and socially just practices are only 'in name' (p. 168), which is 'ominous' to the practice of inclusive education; central argument: the concept of inclusion in schools have become 'confused, shallow & dispersed' (p. 168); Diffraction - 'provides a disruptive metaphor and has been taken up by many who seek to pursue non-representational research agendas' (Lynch et al., 2016, p. 4) by providing a 'way of thinking with materials' (Pacini-Ketchabaw, Kind & Kocher, 2016, p. 14); Embracing a diffraction in time will enable a focus on 'the relational in education between the pedagogue and the student (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2017).
Core argument: Promoting new ways of acknowledging the development of inclusive education could be 'made possible through the diffraction of time' (p. 169). It is therefore crucial that 'diffractions in time are realised to ensure the democratisation of educational practices against a tide of pathologising which wants to 'use categories that are fictions' (Bhaskar, Danermark, and Price, 2017, p. 95) (p. 170), which group students into socially constructed groups that only exacerbate their marginalisation.