DrBen Whitburn

Ben Whitburn holds the position of Senior lecturer (inclusive education) in
the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University. Ben's research and
teaching motivations are spurred by a concern that educational participation
is not made accessible to all: that participation in public and private
institutions is dependent on apparent abilities and norms. Informed by
critical disability studies, Ben engages multiple collaborative partnerships
between people with disabilities and their families, teachers and school
leaders, university educators and public policy makers, and resource
developers to consider how accessibility to--and participation in--education
can be advanced.
Ben's PhD by publication (conferred in 2015) concentrated specifically on the
experiences of young people with disabilities enrolled in mainstream schools
located in Australia and Spain. This transnational comparison drew extensively
on students' perspectives to learn the effects of divergent policies and
practices that seek to develop inclusive schooling systems, such as the
provision of paraprofessional support, accessible resources, curriculum and
pedagogies. Ben supervises research students with aligned interests, including
PhD students on various national and international significance such as
intercultural competence of school leaders in Australia, Migrant teacher
identities in Victoria, inclusive school community development in Vietnam,
practices of secondary teachers in Indonesia, and policy development and
enactment in early years learning in the Maldives.
Ben coordinates the inclusive education pathway units of the Master of
Teaching at Deakin University (EIE701-4). Ben uses teaching opportunities in
this program to support preservice teachers to develop critical awareness of
how inclusion can be developed, through an understanding of their
responsibilities to design accessible and engaging learning experiences. He
draws on his own experiences teaching in both special education contexts in
Australian schools as well as English as a Second Language (ESL) overseas. Ben
is a member of REDI (Research for Educational Impact) in the School of
Education.

Research Groups
Inclusive Education Teaching and Research Group
http://www.deakin.edu.au/education/research/inclusive-education-teaching-and-
research-group