Voice, post-structural representation and the subjectivity of 'included' students

• Published in: International journal of research & method in education Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 117 - 130
• Main Author: Whitburn, Ben
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Routledge 02.04.2016; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Australia; critical disability studies; Disabilities; Disability studies; disability studies in education; Educational Research; Foreign Countries; Grounded Theory; Inclusion; inclusive schooling; post-structuralist research; Postmodernism; Qualitative Research; Research Methodology; Secondary Schools; Social Theories; Spain; Structuralism; subjectivity; Australia; Spain
• ISSN: 1743-727X; 1743-7288
• DOI: 10.1080/1743727X.2014.946497

Aligned with the broader movement from structuralism to the post-structuralisms [Lather, P. 2013. "Methodology-21: What Do We Do in the Afterward?" International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 634-645; St. Pierre, E. A. 2009. "Afterword: Decentering Voice in Qualitative Inquiry." In Voice in Qualitative Inquiry: Challenging Conventional, Interpretive, and Critical Conceptions in Qualitative Research, edited by A. Y. Jackson and L. A. Mazzei, 221-236. London: Routledge; St. Pierre, E. A. 2013. "The Posts Continue: Becoming." International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 646-657], research in disability studies for the past two decades has found 'the potholes' [Miller, L., J. B. Whalley, and I. Stronach. 2012. "From Structuralism to Poststructuralism." In Research Methods in the Social Sciences, edited by B. Somekh and C. Lewin. London: SAGE] of disability rights scholarship. In this paper, I offer a critical research framework in the field of disability studies in education that is theoretical, political and personal. Concentrating on the positioning of disability, I draw on the methodological tools of post-structural representation, subjectivity and constructivist grounded theory to study how discursive practices within (and around) secondary schools shape 'included' disabled subjects. In the paper I develop this framework and then demonstrate its application in ongoing research that critically counters the conventions that marginalize particular students in schools.