ADCET UDL Symposium Keynote: Empowering Learners through Universal Design for Learning - Voice and Agency
In-person Keynote
This keynote address explores how UDL can germinate collaborative conditions required for co-designing inclusive social and learning environments. In turn such enabling environments encourage learner agency and advocacy required for meaningful participation in educational decision-making processes.
By sharing personal testimonies of students with diverse learning requirements, it highlights the transformative impact of inclusive design on learning journeys. A critique is provided of some existing policies and practices that often overlook the voices, experiences, and agency of marginalised learners.
Mindful that assessments frequently fashion the nature of learning, the address emphasises the importance of co-designing assessments that allow learners to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in ways that resonate with their physical, linguistic, cognitive, and socio-cultural contexts. It advocates for the adoption of a dynamic and adaptive approach to UDL, positing learner’s voices as central to transformative learning experiences. In doing so, the address argues for continuous reflection and collaboration among educators, learners, and policymakers to overcome barriers to inclusion and create a more just and equitable educational system.
Presenter
Dr Seán Bracken is a Principal Lecturer at the University of Worcester (UW), UK, where he is the Doctoral Programme Lead for the College of Education, Culture and Society. Seán holds an Ed.D., a M.Phil. in Applied Linguistics, and a M.Ed. in School Leadership. He is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and, as part of the ACSES fellowship program, he is currently an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University.
A cornerstone of Seán’s work is his dedication to inclusion and UDL. He has been instrumental in promoting inclusivity through various leadership roles and research initiatives. As the founder of the Inclusion by Design Research Group at UW, he has fostered an interdisciplinary community focused on improving learning outcomes and social experiences for diverse learners.
Along with Dr Richard Jackson, he was the co-founder, and subsequent chair, of the International Collaboratory for Leadership in Universally Designed Education (INCLUDE). This transnational network connects learners, student service professionals and researchers dedicated to inclusive instructional design. INCLUDE recently launched the International Journal for Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning (IJUDUDL) This link takes you away from the ADCET page, for which Seán acts as one of the Deputy Editors. IJUDUDL is hosted by the Ministry of Higher Education in Morocco and aims to provide a robust research basis for charting future directions for UD and UDL.
Seán’s research projects, often funded by prestigious organisations such as the British Council and the British Academy, focus on strengthening inclusion in higher education. Notable projects include co-constructing UDL modules with learners and colleagues in Indonesia and the UK, as well as exploring the use of Lesson Study in Brazil as an enabling action research strategy for enhancing inclusion. Seán’s research, and advocacy have significantly advanced educational practices, making him a highly respected thought leader in the field.
(June 2025)