Accessible and inclusive higher education for Palestinian students with disability: policies and practices review

Al-Masri, N., Aladini, A. and Alhoula, N. (2023) Accessible and inclusive higher education for Palestinian students with disability: policies and practices review. Cambridge Educational Research e-Journal, 10, pp. 102-116. (doi: 10.17863/CAM.104608)

Abstract

As a commitment to promoting social justice and building inclusive society, this study aimed to review Palestinian policies and practices that support the right of students different disabilities to access inclusive higher education (IHE). To achieve this aim, four data collection tools were used: email correspondence, two focus group discussions involving 38 participant students with visual, physical and hearing disability, six individual interviews with senior directors of disability care offices in PHEIs, and content analysis of 11policy documents. The results showed absence of factual information about Palestinian students with disabilities, lack of support to adopting in IHE in almost all existing policies and strategic goals, a mixture of practices facilitating and hindering implementation of core elements of IHE, and experience-based policies and practices proposed by the participants to make higher education more accessible and inclusive. Before presenting the conclusions, the study offered recommendations for the inclusiveness of higher education.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Al-Masri, Dr Nazmi
• Authors: Al-Masri, N., Aladini, A., and Alhoula, N.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Journal Name: Cambridge Educational Research e-Journal
• Journal Abbr.: CERJ
• Publisher: Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge
• ISSN: 2634-9876
• ISSN (Online): 2634-9876
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Cambridge Educational Research e-Journal 10:102-116
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a creative commons licence