The concept of disability has evolved from being (mis)understood as the outcome of mythical understandings and the result of pathology to being understood in the present in the context of human rights. While these changes have been fortified by international treaties and recorded by researchers across disciplines, the education system in some nations of the Global South have not kept pace. There are many explanations as to why so little progress has been made towards more inclusive and equitable education including a lack of political will, vestiges of colonialism and elitism in education, the inadequacy of professionals and resources, and a reluctance by stakeholders to use litigation. In this chapter, using an autoethnographic approach, I offer my perspective as an educator and parent-caregiver of a child with a severe Intellectual Disability. I have a pervasive sense of helplessness and hopelessness. My frustration is complicated by the sense that too many stakeholders are speaking, as it were, different languages. These disharmonies of understanding are reflected in a paucity of common vision, mission, commitment, and action. I employ my perspective as a parent, social work practitioner, and disability rights parent-advocate to discuss the value of taking an Ecological-Systems approach to support all diverse learners. I argue for a commitment to collective understanding of professional language and action by all stakeholders.

In this volume, we attempt to bridge the perceived gaps between, on the one hand, learner differences and learning difficulties, and, on the other, literacy and literacies, to promote more inclusive communities for all learners.

The issue of general education, literacy learning, and special education as disparate—even competing—paradigms came to light for us during a conversation that we had in 2016 when the School of Education at SUNY-Potsdam was considering a merger of the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction, Literacy, and Special and Inclusive Education.

A collaboration of three educators who express themselves in verse, promoting the poetic form as a tool to re-examine the value of education and to define their roles as students and teachers challenging the status quo that often characterizes education.

Within an educational landscape of historical inequity, principals face a myriad of socioeconomic challenges where they must engage in practices to facilitate student success. Using phenomenography, the co-researchers present a tapestry of the nature of the socioeconomic challenges faced by three primary and three secondary schools in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) and share the social justice leadership (SJL) practices of the six principals of these schools. In essence, these principals targeted "symptoms" of socioeconomic challenge. Findings of the study indicate implications for principal preparation, school staffing, and equitable provision of resources to schools facing challenging circumstances (SfCC). The chapter concludes with a call for further research on SJL within SfCC in T&T and in similar contexts.

The paper "Thinking of Knowing, and Doing Social Justice Leadership: Principals' perspectives" explores the understanding and practice of principals regarding social justice leadership. The study adopts phenomenography as its methodology and presents findings gleaned from the semi-structured interviews of 11 principals in Trinidad and Tobago. Findings indicate that principals were generally unaware of a social justice leadership orientation, but values of fairness and equity, for instance, were common in their understandings. Social justice leadership roles were conceptualized as multifaceted, difficult and requiring strategy and caution, but emphasized a need for self-investment and collaboration. It was found that principals' unclear conceptualizations translated into guesswork when practicing social justice leadership from which emerged unique ways of 'doing' social justice. Findings point to the need to place social justice atop Trinidad and Tobago's school improvement agenda.

This study recognizes and honors the contributions and opinions of three exemplary educational and socialinstitutions at national levels in Trinidad and Tobago. They emerged as leaders, despite the dominantpatriarchy, pervasive bureaucracy, and elitist hegemony characteristic of "developing" countries. Thetestimonies of these women in leadership reveal glimpses of how they evolved as community leaders andtheir perceptions on what is critical to educational leadership. This study uses oral history methodology todevelop thick narratives and aims to share, celebrate, and value the lessons of these participant-exemplars.Findings from the study reveal leadership as an evolutionary process, nurtured by spirituality, community,and a sense of gender-equity--along with inter-relatedness--in the lives of the participants

This retrospective qualitative research utilised ecological systems theory and content analysis to explore the pre-university experiences and barriers to participation faced by students with disabilities in Barbados and Trinidad. Findings suggested that attitudinal and environmental barriers heavily influenced the level of participation of students with disabilities at secondary school. In particular, the nature of social interactions in the micro and meso systems exerted a powerful influence on teacher-student and peers with and without disabilities' relationships. Teacher and peer interactions oscillated between being accommodating and conflictual. Implications suggest the need for more teacher training in inclusive practices and support to remediate dysfunctional relationships between students with disabilities, their teachers and peers at secondary school.

Using narrative analysis, critical pedagogy, and employing a phenomenological approach, this paper explores the experiences and perspectives of its co-researchers regarding their recollections of folktales and responses to a collection of Caribbean folk narratives. The paper also shares the voices of five educators regarding how similar folk narratives might be incorporated into the classroom. The results support the increased use of folk narratives in the classroom. The authors assert that the use of folk narratives offers a means of increasing student engagement, positive identity, and a sense of community, and enhanding learning among participating teachers and learners.