Trends in universal design approach in education (2)

Consideration from the practice of Japanese language education from an inclusive perspective

Abstract

Based on the two approaches of universal design in education so far, this study reported the practice from the Japanese language education which corresponds to the third approach which supplements these problems. Two things are common to these practices. First, what children have experienced and are interested in daily life and their interests are directly reflected in the class, and they can express themselves in talking, moving and creating. Second, children’s learning in class is that they can feel otherness by mimicking the relationship with themselves, friends, and family, or by applying others to themselves, in relation to the characters and themes in the text. In the past, the two approaches of universal design did not refer to the contents of learning, but instead focused on the visualization of teaching materials and the use of movement as teaching methods, and shared learning contents. The third approach cited in this paper, however, is that instead of teachers deciding how to teach from the start, children emphasize child-centered learning by expressing themselves as needed through activations and by sharing and focusing on what they talk about with each other. The model of the universal design approach which incorporated the above three approaches was clarified.