Valentina Migliarini
University of Birmingham, Education and Social Justice, Faculty Member
- Lecturer in Education and Sociologyedit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Inspired by Hip-Hop pedagogy and the Krip-Hop movement, this paper aims to address the limits of inclusive education for disabled migrant students, by drawing on the community event “I am Hip-Hop” that took place in June 2019 in Italy.... more
Inspired by Hip-Hop pedagogy and the Krip-Hop movement, this paper
aims to address the limits of inclusive education for disabled migrant students,
by drawing on the community event “I am Hip-Hop” that took place
in June 2019 in Italy. Through this community intervention, migrant and
disabled migrant youth were provided a creative platform to reflect critically
about their identity and journey. Ultimately, this paper offers teachers
recommendations to anchor disabled migrant culture in educational
practices.
aims to address the limits of inclusive education for disabled migrant students,
by drawing on the community event “I am Hip-Hop” that took place
in June 2019 in Italy. Through this community intervention, migrant and
disabled migrant youth were provided a creative platform to reflect critically
about their identity and journey. Ultimately, this paper offers teachers
recommendations to anchor disabled migrant culture in educational
practices.
Research Interests:
In this paper, we present a collection of decolonizing inclusive practices for elementary education that we have found effective when implementing them in postcolonial countries. The choice and implementation of such practices was... more
In this paper, we present a collection of decolonizing inclusive practices for elementary education that we have found effective when implementing them in postcolonial countries. The choice and implementation of such practices was informed by the intersectional and interdisciplinary theoretical framework of Critical Disability Studies (CDS) and Disability Critical Race Theory in Education (DisCrit), and guided by decolonizing methodologies and community-based participatory research (CBPR). The main purpose of this paper is to show how critical theoretical frameworks can be made accessible to practitioners through strategies that can foster a critical perspective of inclusive education in postcolonial countries. By doing so, we attempt to push back against the uncritical transfer of inclusion models into Southern countries, which further puts pressure on practitioners to imitate the Northern values of access, acceptance, participation, and academic achievement (Werning et al., 2016). Finally, we hope to start an international dialogue with practitioners, families, researchers, and communities committed to inclusive education in postcolonial countries to critically analyze the application of the strategies illustrated here, and to continue decolonizing contemporary notions of inclusive education.
Research Interests:
Amidst growing political turmoil and anti-immigration and anti-Blackness propaganda, this paper explores major shifts in the conceptualization of inclusive education in Italy, from its initial formulation with the policy of Integrazione... more
Amidst growing political turmoil and anti-immigration and anti-Blackness propaganda, this paper explores major shifts in the conceptualization of inclusive education in Italy, from its initial formulation with the policy of Integrazione Scolastica, to more recent neoliberal approaches. Drawing on the framework of Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), this paper shows how universalistic human rights and Leftist values, underpinning the policy of Integrazione Scolastica and Renzi's Law n. 107 of 2015, colloquially known as Buona Scuola, are essentially colour-evasive (Annamma, Jackson, Morrison, 2016). The lack of critical considerations of the intersection of racism and ableism within Italian inclusive education discourse has led to the proliferation among school professionals of neoliberal fantasies of inclusion of migrants and refugees. Following the recent creation of a coalition government between the Five Star Movement and the far-right party Northern League, these fantasies have evolved into more populist, overtly racist, and discriminatory narratives. Ultimately, the paper advances an intersectional approach to inclusion in Italy, aimed to disrupt the reproduction of spaces of ableism, racism, and exclusion.
Research Interests:
This article analyses the underpinnings and implementation of Special Educational Needs (SEN) policies in Italy, within the internationally celebrated policy arena of Integrazione Scolastica (i.e. school integration), through an equity... more
This article analyses the underpinnings and implementation of
Special Educational Needs (SEN) policies in Italy, within the
internationally celebrated policy arena of Integrazione Scolastica
(i.e. school integration), through an equity prism. The aim is to
explore the extent to which SEN policies in Italy foster inclusion
and equity in education, particularly when targeting migrant
children. In doing so, the paper intends to advance critical
thinking about the recent phenomenon of over-representation, or
‘SENitization’, of students from migrant backgrounds within the
SEN macro-category in Italy, by examining policy narratives both
nationally and locally. Analysing the policies through the
intersectional lens of Disability Critical Race Theory in education
framework, this article suggest that Italian SEN policies legitimates
forms of micro-exclusions of migrant students in mainstream
classrooms, despite discursive promises of equality for all students.
Special Educational Needs (SEN) policies in Italy, within the
internationally celebrated policy arena of Integrazione Scolastica
(i.e. school integration), through an equity prism. The aim is to
explore the extent to which SEN policies in Italy foster inclusion
and equity in education, particularly when targeting migrant
children. In doing so, the paper intends to advance critical
thinking about the recent phenomenon of over-representation, or
‘SENitization’, of students from migrant backgrounds within the
SEN macro-category in Italy, by examining policy narratives both
nationally and locally. Analysing the policies through the
intersectional lens of Disability Critical Race Theory in education
framework, this article suggest that Italian SEN policies legitimates
forms of micro-exclusions of migrant students in mainstream
classrooms, despite discursive promises of equality for all students.
Research Interests:
This paper intends to address the challenges that the Italian education system is facing in terms of policies and practices relating to dis/abled asylum-seeking and refugee children, in order to make sense of the politics of daily life... more
This paper intends to address the challenges that the Italian
education system is facing in terms of policies and practices
relating to dis/abled asylum-seeking and refugee children,
in order to make sense of the politics of daily life inside
schools and the network of social services for forced migrants,
and to pay renewed attention to the notion of ‘social and
educational integration’. The starting point of this paper is
the idea that the current model of schooling for asylumseeking
and refugee children is implicated in the making
of particular sorts of ‘subjects’, as well as the creation of
educational and social exclusions and inequalities. Schools,
refugee organisations as well as the work of educators and
social workers can be important sites of ‘counter-politics’.
Borrowing from the theoretical tools offered by Dis/Ability
Critical Race Studies (Dis/Crit) framework and engaging with
Judith Butler’s understanding of processes of subjectivation,
the paper explores how asylum-seeking and refugee
students can be rendered subjects outside the educational
endeavour, or indeed outside studenthood. Data from an
ongoing constructivist grounded theory doctoral research
project, interviews with asylum-seeking children and with
professionals working in different refugee services in Rome,
are offered to substantiate the argument presented in this
paper.
education system is facing in terms of policies and practices
relating to dis/abled asylum-seeking and refugee children,
in order to make sense of the politics of daily life inside
schools and the network of social services for forced migrants,
and to pay renewed attention to the notion of ‘social and
educational integration’. The starting point of this paper is
the idea that the current model of schooling for asylumseeking
and refugee children is implicated in the making
of particular sorts of ‘subjects’, as well as the creation of
educational and social exclusions and inequalities. Schools,
refugee organisations as well as the work of educators and
social workers can be important sites of ‘counter-politics’.
Borrowing from the theoretical tools offered by Dis/Ability
Critical Race Studies (Dis/Crit) framework and engaging with
Judith Butler’s understanding of processes of subjectivation,
the paper explores how asylum-seeking and refugee
students can be rendered subjects outside the educational
endeavour, or indeed outside studenthood. Data from an
ongoing constructivist grounded theory doctoral research
project, interviews with asylum-seeking children and with
professionals working in different refugee services in Rome,
are offered to substantiate the argument presented in this
paper.