KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

LINDA GRAHAM

Linda J. Graham is a Professor in the School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education in the Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology. She leads QUT’s Student Engagement, Learning and Behaviour Research Group (#SELB) and is lead Chief Investigator on two current projects investigating disruptive school behaviour, including a 6-year longitudinal study funded by the Financial Markets Foundation for Children (2013–2015) and the ARC Discovery Projects scheme (2016–2019). She is Chair of the Academic Advisory Panel for All Means All – Australian Alliance for Inclusive Education and co-convenor of the AARE Inclusive Education Special Interest Group. Linda tweets @drlindagraham and blogs at www.drlindagraham.wordpress.com.au. Her most recent publication on designing out barriers to access and participation in secondary school assessment is available free at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-018-0266-y

Keynote: What is inclusive education and how can we achieve it?
Talk of 'inclusion' has been around since the early 1990s, yet many of our schools are still a long way from being fully inclusive. Some say this is because inclusion is "too hard" but another explanation is that we still don't understand what inclusive education really is and therefore how to achieve it. In this presentation, I will define inclusive education and explain the fundamental concepts and legislative frameworks that underpin it. I will then show HOW these concepts and frameworks inform inclusive practice with a focus on practical universal approaches that not only address barriers to access and participation for students with disability but reduce teacher workload. I will conclude by providing a range of sources and networks from which teachers and principals can draw inspiration and support.