DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP………………………………………………………………………………………………………… i
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… i
Chapter 1: Starting a reflexive journey: the dialogue between reality and imagination 1
Introduction: the initial encounters and the research project………………………………………………………… 1
The research journey in episodes………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 2
Episode 1: The encounter between the girl and the woman with a flowery hat……………………………. 3
Episode 2: On how she became the woman with the flowery hat…………………………………………………. 5
Episode 3: On when she lost the purple flowers and became a dual woman……………………………… 11
Episode 4: the metamorphosis: from flowers and butterflies to research project………………………… 14
The embodiment: The research project that emerged from the reality of this story……………………….. 18
The telling: Structuring the thesis that emerged from the project……………………………………………….. 20
Concluding remarks………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 21
Chapter 2: Connecting with and developing the literature: a reflexive review…………… 23
Introduction: Reviewing the literature as part of the dialogue…………………………………………………….. 23
The presentation of self and the representation of identities…………………………………………………………. 26
This is me, that is you: visual and verbal representation of self and other………………………………….. 28
The use of visual and verbal metaphor………………………………………………………………………………………. 29
The position I adopt…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 32
Representations of dis/ability: two contrasting epistemologies…………………………………………………….. 33
The individual medical model of disability…………………………………………………………………………………. 34
The social model of disability……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 35
The position I adopt…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 41
Representations of learning difficulties: seeking a conceptualisation…………………………………………… 44
Learning difficulties: a scientific view…………………………………………………………………………………………. 46
Learning difficulties: a social justice perspective…………………………………………………………………………. 48
The position I adopt…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 52
Context matters: the relationship with representations of dis/ability…………………………………………… 55
The legacy of special education: A less inclusive past…………………………………………………………………. 56
The achievements of inclusive education: is it a more inclusive present?……………………………………. 57
Concluding remarks………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 61
Chapter 3: Designing the methodology: the emergence of the dialogical inquiry………. 63
Introduction: the re-encounter with Freire and the inquiry design……………………………………………….. 63
The dialogical inquiry: an alternative to the banking approach…………………………………………………….. 64
The dialogical inquiry life cycle…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 71
Starting-point…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 73
Interview activities……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 73
Consultation activities………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 73
Interval for reflection………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 74
Completing the cycle………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 74
Writing up the findings………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 74
Word-based representations: verbal voice…………………………………………………………………………………….. 76
Image-based representations: visual voice…………………………………………………………………………………. 77
Language, communication and metaphor in action…………………………………………………………………… 79
Voice modulations and tone variations in context……………………………………………………………………… 80
Narrative and experience……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 81
Multimodal data collection: combined approaches to capturing narrative………………………………….. 83
Participants: voices of the interlocutors……………………………………………………………………………………… 84
Settings: small worlds where interactions take place………………………………………………………………….. 89
Methods: content and form of the dialogue………………………………………………………………………………. 90
Binary data analysis: two takes in listening/seeing/reading, and showing/telling the data………….. 94
Factual/literal descriptive analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………… 95
Fictional/metaphorical reflexive analysis……………………………………………………………………………………. 95
Concluding remarks………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 96
Chapter 4: Presenting and representing voices: findings through the dialogical inquiry 99
Introduction: the descriptive and reflexive perspectives………………………………………………………………… 99
Agents and settings of the dialogical act: the interlocutors in context……………………………………… 107
Findings through the factual/literal descriptive analysis…………………………………………………………… 112
Summary of primary findings…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 112
Approaches to analysis: the pathways to the findings…………………………………………………………….. 113
Synthesis of the analysis considering the three focuses of the study………………………………………… 135
Findings through the fictional/metaphorical reflexive analysis………………………………………………….. 140
Summary of secondary findings……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 141
Approaches to analysis: the scenes behind the story……………………………………………………………….. 141
Encounters: the metaphorical reality of literal beings………………………………………………………………… 143
Reading the fiction: in pursuit of new perspectives on analysis………………………………………………… 151
Concluding remarks…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 154
Chapter 5: Discussing the dialogical inquiry: reflections in hindsight and foresight 155
Introduction: the challenges of the multifaceted praxis of dialogue as method of inquiry………… 155
The politics of researching inclusive education…………………………………………………………………………… 156
The challenges of access: of pathways, brick walls and shortcuts…………………………………………….. 157
The ethics of researching with………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 158
The challenge of marrying the research purposes and the fieldwork response……………………………. 160
The power of decision making: the disempowered researcher in contrast to the powerful schools 160
The impact of the adults: a necessary reflection……………………………………………………………………….. 161
The impact of the contingencies in the dialectic cycle: lessons to be learned…………………………….. 161
Looking back and forwards: discussing the outcomes through their situational emergence……… 162
Enabling findings: has the study succeeded in turning up the volume on participants’ voice?…. 170
The method of analysis:…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 170
Voices and silences though the factual/literal analysis…………………………………………………………….. 170
The visual and verbal voices: is there a consistent syntax?………………………………………………………. 171
Concluding remarks…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 172
Implications of the dialogical inquiry……………………………………………………………………………………….. 172
Limitations of the study……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 172
Implications for further research………………………………………………………………………………………………. 173
Postscript……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 175
References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 177
List of figures
Figure 2?1: José being carried first by me alone and then with the help of Umberto…………………………… 25
Figure 2?2: The disability creation process………………………………………………………………………………………….. 41
Figure 3?1: The dialogical inquiry life cycle…………………………………………………………………………………………. 72
Figure 3?2: Participants……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 86
Figure 3?3: Conceptualising Article 12 (Lundy, 2007, p.932)……………………………………………………………… 87
Figure 3?4: Interview emphases………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 92
Figure 4?1: Set of body parts used to create self-/portraits………………………………………………………………. 117
Figure 4?2: The thickness of the descriptions and the depth of the analysis……………………………………… 125
Figure 4?3: The relationship between the self-/portraits (author: Carl)…………………………………………….. 126
Figure 4?4: The relationship between the self-/portraits (aut: mainstream)……………………………………… 128
Figure 4?5: The relationship between the self-/portraits (authors: sisters)………………………………………… 131
Figure 4?6: The relationship between the self-/portraits (author: Lynne)…………………………………………. 134
Figure 4?7: Completion of the dialogical inquiry cycle……………………………………………………………………… 138
Figure 4?8: The dialogical inquiry cycle – revised………………………………………………………………………………. 139
Figure 5?1: Linear route to accessing participants…………………………………………………………………………… 157
Figure 5?2: Non-linear pathways to accessing participants……………………………………………………………… 158
Figure 5?3: Matrix A: Special school dynamics…………………………………………………………………………………. 163
List of tables
Table 2?1: Definitions of Learning Difficulties from different public sources……………………………………….. 46
Table 2?2: Learning Difficulties in Britain Part 1…………………………………………………………………………………. 54
Table 2?3: Learning Difficulties in Britain Part 2…………………………………………………………………………………. 55
Table 3?1: Principles of Social Justice and present research’s core values……………………………………………. 66
Table 3?2: Putting Article 12 into action…………………………………………………………………………………………….. 88
Table 4?1: The stages of the dialogical inquiry cycle in action………………………………………………………….. 105
Table 4?2: Learning difficulties (LD) depictions in self-/portraits: values on four variables………………. 114
Table 4?3: Depiction of dis/ability– focused on participants with LD……………………………………………….. 115
Table 4?4: on depiction of LD – focused on participants without LD…………………………………………………. 115
Table 4?5: The three foci analysis in relation to the site of the image and its modalities………………….. 116
Table 4?6: Reading-telling of the self-/portraits (author: Carl)…………………………………………………………. 127
Table 4?7: Reading-telling of the self-portraits (mainstream group)………………………………………………… 129
Table 4?8: Reading-telling of the portraits of others with LD (mainstream group)……………………………. 130
Table 4?9: Reading-telling of the portraits of others without LD (mainstream group)………………………. 130
Table 4?10: Correlational reading-telling of the self-/portraits (Family home group)……………………….. 133
Table 4?11: Correlational reading-telling of the self-/portraits (Lynne)……………………………………………. 135
Table 5?1: Role matrices…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 167
Appendices