Imagination for Inclusion: Diverse contexts of educational practice

Imagination for Inclusion offers a reconsideration of the ways in which imagination engages and empowers learners across the education spectrum, from primary to adult levels and in all subject areas. Imagination as a natural, expedient, and exciting learning tool should be central to any approach to developing and implementing curriculum, but is increasingly undervalued as learners progress through the education system; this disregards not only imagination’s potential, but its paramount place in informing truly inclusive approaches to teaching and learning. This book presents a new theory of imagination and includes discussion about its application to teaching and learning to increase the engagement of disaffected students and reinvigorate their relationships with curriculum content. Chapters include key ideas and discussion surrounding the benefits of introducing imaginative practices into the classroom for learners from a range of marginalised backgrounds, such as young people with disabilities and adult learners from socio-economically disadvantaged environments. In exploring imagination in the practice of inclusive education, the book includes chapters from researchers and practitioners in education who have fresh ideas about how learners and teachers have benefited from introducing imaginative pedagogies. The diverse collection, featuring writers with backgrounds from early childhood to adult education, will be essential reading for academics and researchers in the fields of education, inclusive education, social policy, professional development, teacher education and creativity. It will be of particular interest to current and pre-service teachers who want to develop inclusive practice and increase the engagement of all students with formal education.

Table of Contents:
Contents List of figures & tables Acknowledgments Contributors Editor’s preface Chapter 1: Introduction: Reimagining imagination Part 1. Fantasy Why is it so? An introduction to fantasy Chapter 2: Playful pedagogies: Promoting active learning through play and imagination in the early years of school Susan Irvine Chapter 3: Petting zoos and little dark spaces: Fantasy to inform school design Derek Bland Chapter 4: Letters of gratitude: A pedagogy of hope for teachers of young people with disabilities. Jennie Duke & ‘Fitz’ Part 2. Creative imagination Up the creek without a metaphor: An introduction to creative imagination Chapter 5: ‘Just use your imagination’: A teacher educator’s explorations of assessment Gill Rutherford, with Lucy Collins-McKenzie, Alex McLeod, Courtney Ross, & Aisha Williams Chapter 6: Creativity for engagement and inclusion Carly Lassig Chapter 7: Imagining ourselves as 21st century learners: Making space to learn Jill Willis Part 3. Critical imagination "And keep your eyes wide": An introduction to critical imagination Chapter 8: The power of creative, critical and empathetic imagination to shape transformative opportunities in the teaching of literacy Vicky Duckworth Chapter 9: Re-imagining Indigenous education through flexi-schooling Marnee Shay Chapter 10: Feeling futures: The embodied imagination and intensive time Anna Hickey-Moody, Valerie Harwood, & Samantha McMahon Part 4. Empathic imagination Crossing the empty spaces: An introduction to empathic imagination Chapter 11: Ethical imagination and the inclusive education agenda: The case of low-income countries Bill Atweh & Mellony Graven Chapter 12: Imagination for Inclusion : Shared understandings across diverse contexts of educational practice Donna Tangen & Louise Mercer Chapter 13: From stone to stone across the unknown sea John J. Cimino, Jr. Afterword: The challenge of imagination for inclusion Index