Fostering Inclusion; Challenging the Illusion Critically Reflective Educational Stories: Facilitated by students and graduates with different learning abilities on a Fully Inclusive Higher Education Initiative in Ireland.

This thesis is about how students experience and facilitate inclusive higher education. It will be represented as a story using the metaphoric path to sign post the research journey. This metaphor is of personal significance to the contributors in this study. The creative outputs of the research will be at fore of this thesis illustrating the learner voice in a manner which also supports the demonstration of inclusive research and learning methodologies. This demonstration in form, which can be readily accessed by all, reflects the diverse learning styles of students, as well as providing a clear space for readers to engage with the study, should they choose to do so.
This research facilitates narrative inquiry though creative facilitation to explore the research question. Contributors are adults with intellectual disabilities who are current students and graduates of higher education and who registered on a fully inclusive educational initiative in Ireland. A learning process was co- designed with the contributors who were also the co researchers in this study, which would support the expression of story through creative learning methodologies.
If we are to construct inclusive learning initiatives or support experiences with students, as a pedagogical principle students should be involved in the process of naming and facilitating what inclusive education is for them as well have the opportunity to critically engage with perspectives on inclusion and disability. This connection appears to be absent in some of the educational practices and policy processes associated with equality and higher education.
Furthermore, this study examines if students/graduates felt there were helpful practices or issues hindering inclusive higher education. This was explored by facilitating the conditions for adults to share their own higher education experience in a collective learning space where the authentic voices of learners could be captured in a process which facilitated inclusive teaching, learning and assessment strategies.
The intention of this Masters thesis is to support and enrich educational practice, as this study and its form, also presents as a continuous professional development tool for educators, with the emphasis being on the student voice and their experience, critical perspective on education and student and researcher recommendations for educational development.