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Biography
Elizabeth a Professor of Education with an interest in inclusive education. Her work draws on diverse theoretical perspectives to understand mechanisms of exclusion and enable the realisation of more inclusive and equitable education systems.
In the School of Education, Elizabeth co-convenes the Centre for Researching Social Justice and Inclusion in Education (RISE) and is the current Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange.
Her international standing is reflected in her membership of the Review College for the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Flanders), her elected membership of the Academy of Science of South Africa, the work she does co-convening the Unesco chair for Teacher Education for Diversity and Development and her appointment as a visiting Professor at the Wits School of Education in Johannesburg South Africa.
Her research interests include:
She is the author of The Knowledge of Inclusive Education (Routledge 2025) The Language of Inclusive Education (Routledge, 2016) and co-editor of Teacher Education for Diversity: Conversations from the Global South (Routledge, 2018) and Pedagogical Responsiveness in Complex Contexts (Springer, 2022). Other publications can be found here.
Elizabeth is an associate editor of the International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education, an editorial board member of the International Journal of Inclusive Education and the European Journal of Inclusive Education; and an advisory board member for the Springer series Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity
Expertise Summary
Teaching Summary
Elizabeth's approach to teaching is centred on the principle of inclusivity. She describes her teaching philosophy as follows: "With inclusive education as my field of interest, I seek to embody and… read more
Research Summary
My research applies diverse theoretical perspectives to understand exclusion and enable the realisation of more inclusive and equitable education systems.
In pursuit of this, the following are areas of focus and interest:
Teacher education for inclusive education
Funded projects include:
- Teaching and learning for inclusive education (Funded by the European Union)
- Developing knowledge and practice standards for inclusive teaching in South Africa (Funded by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training)
- University engagement with a full-service school to develop Professional Learning Communities (Funded by the South African National Research Foundation)
- Teacher education for inclusive education (Funded by the South African National Research Foundation)
Identifying and addressing exclusionary practices and pressures in education institutions and systems
Funded projects include:
The field of inclusive education - its history, knowledge, and knowers
The language of inclusive education
Selected Publications
WALTON, ELIZABETH and DIXON, KERRYN, 2020. Googling inclusive education: a critical visual analysis DISCOURSE-STUDIES IN THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF EDUCATION. WALTON, ELIZABETH and RUSZNYAK, LEE, 2020. Cumulative knowledge-building for inclusive education in initial teacher education EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION. 43(1), 18-37 WALTON, ELIZABETH, 2018. Decolonising (through) inclusive education? Educational Research for Social Change. 7(0), 31 – 45
I would welcome enquiries from prospective doctoral students interested in qualitative research on the following topics:
- Educational inclusion and exclusion
- Teacher education for inclusive education
- Sociology of knowledge and inclusive education
- Language and representation in inclusive education and disability studies
- Decolonial education
I work with a range of critical theories, critical discourse and multimodal analysis, legitimation code theory, and complexity theories.
I have successfully supervised five students to completion as first or sole supervisor and have extensive PhD examination experience.
Elizabeth's approach to teaching is centred on the principle of inclusivity. She describes her teaching philosophy as follows: "With inclusive education as my field of interest, I seek to embody and enact the attitudes and practices that I teach. I take seriously my responsibility for my influence in curriculum and pedagogical choices, and for the impact of my assessment beliefs and practices. These have the potential to enable or constrain access to learning. To this end, I critically reflect on my teaching practices and value feedback from students and peers that enables me to improve. I remain abreast of research-informed and innovative teaching practices and implement these as appropriate. I immerse myself in my field and consider what it means to pedagogise its knowledge, simultaneously recognising student diversity and diverse learning needs as I teach and assess. I ensure that students engage with theoretical knowledge that can be applied and inform professional judgment in practice as well as enabling students to take part in the practices of the field and produce legitimate knowledge. Through all my teaching endeavours, I challenge myself and students to recognise and address educational inequality and exclusion."