A Lifeworld Perspective on the Role of the Body in Developing Inclusive Pedagogy

This chapter adopts a lifeworld perspective to explore the theme of embodiment in theorising ‘inclusive pedagogy’ (Florian and Black-Hawkins 2011). The role of the body is, at present, an underdeveloped aspect of inclusive pedagogy yet it is the body that connects the teacher to their classroom practice. Insights from phenomenology are used to highlight the role of the body in everyday lived experience and making sense of the world. In particular, the idea that the body can be extended through the embodiment of abstract tools to shape social practices is applied to a small scale exploratory study of student teachers learning to interpret complex classroom environments and enact inclusive pedagogy. The modest findings from this exploratory study suggest that attention to the role of the body has a positive contribution to make in supporting student teachers’ embodiment of inclusive pedagogy. The chapter concludes by calling for a robust theory of the body in and for inclusive pedagogy and further empirical studies that focus on the role of the body in helping student teachers to act in inclusive ways.