Universal design for learning as emancipatory education?: politics, disagreement, discomfort

This article reviews Universal Design for Learning, an increasingly normatively important approach to inclusive teaching in higher education, alongside feminist, emancipatory theories of political education. Given that both UDL and emancipatory pedagogies imply that education should unsettle established (ableist, gendered, raced, and classed) hierarchies of power and value, working towards more equitable educational spaces, it seems that UDL should be central to operationalizing emancipatory education. However, there are some tensions that should be reviewed and reflected upon, most importantly UDL’s potential to inadvertently depoliticize discussions about inclusive teaching. Using the example of Ireland, which has embraced UDL, I suggest that while this approach is useful, uncritical acceptance should be resisted, and that an emancipatory or transformative model of education should require (sometimes discomforting) reflection not only on how accessible materials are to students, but also on how teaching practices reflect existing power structures in the academy.