The Outsider's Story

This thesis presents perspectives upon how inclusion is experienced from the
point of view of the individual. It seeks to compliment contemporary discourse
by interpreting the concept as a fundamental human activity. In this way
acting as a counterpoint to narrower interpretations which are often
characterised by a deficit discourse or exclusionary sentiment. The research
is therefore underpinned by an emancipatory drive aligned to elements of
critical pedagogy. The implication of this for practice is the acknowledgement
that inclusion does not just apply to those children who stand out, who are
labelled in some way, not an obvious minority or indeed marginalised, but to
all children in the institutional space. In this study the concept of the Outsider
is used as a motif for what is both universal and subjective. Such a literary
device recognises the important subjective factors that underpin the
existential nature of inclusion. The study views narrative and the stories
people tell of their lives as a rich source of data. Ten individuals who are new
to the teaching profession participated in the study and it is their stories that
form the basis of the subsequent interpretation and analysis. The research
was aligned to an interpretative paradigm seeking ideographic insight. The
data generated was analysed both textually and aurally through a careful
iterative and inductive process of analysis. The themes of the findings
suggested the nature of inclusion to be underpinned by subjective and
dynamic processes. Such processes linked to the notions of familiarity,
application and adaptation that are used by the individual to facilitate aspects
of their inclusion in dynamic and creative ways.