Conference Program

The workshop introduces the crucial role played by Disability Studies for the development of a democratic school. It analyses the importance of Disability Studies as a critical theoretical framework against which to analyze and investigate processes and policies that can contribute to the development of inclusive education in schools and in society as a whole. Inclusive education is addressed as a key factor for the development of a just, equitable and democratic school.

Drawing upon an analysis of the theoretical premises that have supported the development of Disability Studies both at national and international levels, the workshop will provide an opportunity of presenting the results from a research study conducted in a comprehensive school located in the outskirts of the city of Rome, investigating intersectionality focusing, in particular, at disability and migration issues. The final purpose is to engage teachers and school practitioners, in general, to reflect upon their practices and to adopt a Disability Studies perspective to unmask potentially discriminatory practices that can prevent the creation of a democratic school systems despite our intentions of doing otherwise.

Achievement is not a neutral educational category but historically and politically framed and produced within “discourse-practice formations” (Ricken & Reh 2018). Since decades it is furthermore a crucial element of educational scientific research (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Agrusti, 2021; Piscozzo & Stefanel, 2022). Referring to Foucault’s concept of dispositif (2002), achievement can be understood as part of a complex ensemble of discourses which powerfully structure social practices within school as an institution (Seitz et al., 2024a).

Starting from here, this contribution addresses the question of which ideas of achievement and achievement differences are conveyed through educational policy documents in the Italian inclusive educational system. In a sub-study of a cross-national research project, discourse analyses on educational policy documents (2001-2020) on primary education from Italy and Germany were conducted (APrA: “Achievement: A social practice in Primary School. An International Comparative Analysis on Germany and Italy” DFG-JOINT, 2025–2027; Free University of Bozen-Bolzano; Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg).

In this context and based on the sociology-of-knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD; Keller 2013), we problematize the phenomenon “achievement” as a discursive construct that is historically shaped within intertwined complexes of power and knowledge (Foucault, 2002). The sampling process of the discourse analysis combined deductive and inductive procedures, that led to a data corpus of 20 analyzed documents regarding primary education in Italy (and the Autonomous Province of Bozen-Bolzano), valid or issued between 2001-2020. The analysis was conducted by adapting coding strategies of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 2017) to the requirements of SKAD and the specific knowledge interests of this study (Keller, 2013).

The reconstruction of the discourse related to Italy uncovered a strong focus on individualized acquisition of competences being embedded into tensions between logics of meritocracy and educational equity (Boarelli, 2019; Seitz, Baroni & Schwermann, 2026 in press). As assessment translates learning processes into visible and measurable forms, achievement functions as a societal contribution of each. This manifests itself in the subjectification of all students as autonomous achieving subjects and future contributors to society, while the institutional structures foster personality development by valuing, on the one hand diversity and on the other hand, deserving behavior and merit.

In our presentation, we critically reflect on the derived concepts of autonomy of the individual and relate it to implicit hegemonial concepts of ability and their close connection to normalcy (Stojanov, 2018; Migliarini, D’Alessio & Bocci, 2018; Seitz et al., 2024b) which change meaning in the light of meritocratic dynamics of achievement enhancement – even within an inclusively structured educational system. This study therefore contributes to the internationally oriented, inequality-critical reflection on achievement-related discourses and their significance for the (re-)production of normality, difference, and educational inequality at the level of (inclusive) primary education.

In contemporary educational debates, inclusive policies are increasingly framed as a potential threat to meritocratic ideals such as competition, performance, and individual achievement. This tension can be understood within the broader framework of ableism, defined as a system of beliefs and practices that constructs able-bodiedness and able-mindedness as the normative standard of what is considered “normal,” competent, and fully human (Campbell, 2009; Goodley, 2014; Wolbring, 2014). Within educational systems, these norms are often embedded in meritocratic discourses that frame achievement as the outcome of individual effort and ability, while obscuring the structural conditions that shape students’ opportunities to succeed. As a result, accommodations and support measures intended to promote equity may be perceived as unfair advantages that undermine the principle of merit (Littler, 2017; Mitchell & Snyder, 2015; Bellacicco et al., 2022). Such perceptions reflect what scholars describe as the normalization of ableist expectations within schooling, where curricula, assessment practices, and institutional routines implicitly privilege certain forms of cognitive, behavioral, and bodily performance (Broderick & Lalvani, 2017; Bolt, 2017; Parekh, 2023). Importantly, ableism does not operate only through overt hostility or explicit discrimination. It also takes more subtle and socially normalized forms, such as paternalism, pity, or overprotective attitudes, which may contribute to the marginalization of students perceived as less able to meet normative expectations of performance (Nario-Redmond, 2020). As Parekh (2023) argues, educational systems often reproduce ableism through apparently neutral mechanisms such as evaluation practices, curricular pacing, and resource allocation, which can systematically position some students as less capable or less deserving of full participation. In this sense, meritocratic logics may function as a powerful cultural framework that legitimizes exclusion while maintaining the appearance of fairness.The study relies on a factorial survey experiment administered to a representative sample of approximately 2,000 individuals in Italy. Two vignette experiments examine how respondents evaluate educational decisions involving students in difficulty. The first vignette (3×2 design) assesses whether interrupting the regular curriculum to support students with different types of difficulties is considered appropriate. The experiment varies the school track (lower secondary school, vocational hospitality institute, scientific high school) and the reason for interruption (COVID-19 learning loss vs. special educational needs). Results show that respondents are more likely to consider pandemic-related disruptions legitimate, while special educational needs are perceived as a weaker justification for modifying the curriculum. The second vignette (3×3 design) explores teachers’ decisions to reassign a role in a school play from a student with different types of difficulties to another. The student’s condition (anxiety, disability, or no specific reason) and the decision-making context (demanding parents, precarious employment contract, or neutral context) are experimentally manipulated. Risk-laden contexts significantly increase the likelihood of marginalizing the struggling student. Overall, the findings highlight how meritocratic beliefs and institutional pressures may legitimize subtle forms of ableism, revealing the tensions between inclusion and meritocracy within contemporary schooling. These results contribute to ongoing debates on the contradictions of merit-based educational systems and the challenges of building genuinely inclusive schools.

Can we consider intermediate leadership as a potential promoter of real change in inclusive practices in Italian schools?

This paper aims to answer this question from the perspective of Disability Studies, which emphasizes that:

-in Italian schools, exclusionary practices still exist that refer to paradigms that are considered obsolete (D'Alessio, 2011; Ferri, 2015);

-everyone's actions are guided by their own value framework, and understanding it allows them to recognize existing limitations (Travaglini, 2020);

-there are ethical issues in the approach to disability that must be considered first (Piccioli, 2020).

Intermediate leadership is made up of teachers who support the Headmaster by filling specific roles in areas that each school identifies as significant to its needs. The focus is on teachers with Instrumental Function for Inclusion, who manage all organizational, educational, and teaching aspects related to students with SEN. Specifically, for students with disabilities, they also support special education teachers in designing the Individualized Educational Plan and in defining pathways and experiences related to the Life Project.

These two aspects emerged significantly in the results of an exploratory study conducted in the Specialization Course for Support Teachers at the University of Parma (IX edition). Trainee support teachers, asked in a specific structured Workshop, shared their views on the role of the Instrumental Function, describing them as "expert" and capable of sharing a "culture of inclusion" with the professional community, which they recognized as specific to each school.

This “culture of inclusion”, considered in conjunction with the lack of a unified regulatory profile and the absence of a specific training program, highlights the urgent need to further investigate this role, which remains defined only in each “Piano dell’Offerta Formativa” (in which each school discloses its organizational choices based on identified needs).

Specific training programs, based on the Disability Studies perspective, would:

-direct interest in the true potential of the Instrumental Function role;

-accompany those in the role towards an informed reflection on the implications of their choices;

-overcome the disparities that still represent an obstacle to the development of a quality school (D'Alessio, 2015);

-support the attention of teachers who hold these roles to their own framework of values.

A training program would promote a vision of the role of the Instrumental Function teacher as an "ally" (Oliver, 1990) of people with disabilities, who can therefore act according to specific beliefs (Barton, 2011), making choices and promoting practices capable of transforming cultures (Booth & Ainscow, 2014), and developing inclusive education from a Disability Studies perspective (Piccioli, 2020).

The research, though conducted in a limited context, confirmed that teachers share the idea that this role is a strategic for inclusion, for example in supporting planning for students with disabilities.

Recognizing the potential of intermediate leadership in improving inclusion means reaffirming that change is a process that must be supported. Incorporating Disability Studies into educational programs would enable this change to be supported anchoring it in pedagogical thinking grounded in solid values ​​and culture (Piccioli, 2025).

In contemporary educational discourse, meritocracy is frequently presented as a neutral principle meant to reward talent, effort, and individual commitment. Yet a growing body of critical scholarship has shown how meritocratic systems are embedded in normative assumptions about productivity, autonomy, and performance. These assumptions reflect broader socio-economic structures shaped by neoliberal capitalism, which tends to evaluate human worth according to the capacity to perform efficiently within competitive environments.

This paper approaches meritocratic ideology through a crip lens, engaging with the emerging field of Crip Studies, a transdisciplinary framework that extends Crip Theory by integrating multiple epistemological and methodological perspectives. Building on the insights of Disability Studies and Queer Theory, Crip Studies interrogate the normative systems that regulate bodies, identities, and ways of living, making visible how different structures of oppression operate together and reinforce one another (Centrone, 2025).

From this perspective, meritocratic ideology can be understood as structurally ableist. As Robert McRuer argues, modern societies operate through the implicit expectation of compulsory able-bodiedness, a normative standard that assumes bodies should be autonomous, efficient, and constantly capable of performing within capitalist temporalities (McRuer, 2006). Educational institutions play a key role in reproducing these expectations, evaluating students according to standardized criteria of performance, discipline, and developmental normality.

Seen through a crip perspective, ableism does not only affect disabled people, it organizes a broader hierarchy of bodies based on their capacity to conform to socially sanctioned norms: bodies that interrupt expectations of productivity, autonomy, or linear development—such as disabled, chronically ill, or neurodivergent bodies—are often positioned as deviant within meritocratic frameworks. At the same time, bodies that destabilize dominant gender norms and reproductive expectations, including trans and queer subjects, can similarly challenge the normative order that meritocratic ideology seeks to stabilize (Butler, 1990).

These dynamics are also connected to dominant relational norms. Recent work on mononormativity has highlighted how capitalist societies tend to naturalize the monogamous couple as the legitimate form of affective and sexual life, shaping expectations around intimacy, care, and social reproduction (Vasallo, 2022). When examined from a crip perspective, these norms appear closely tied to broader systems of normalization that privilege stable, productive, and socially recognizable forms of life. Within this framework, meritocracy functions not simply as a mechanism of evaluation but as a technology of normalization that contributes to producing hierarchies among bodies and identities. In the Italian education system, such dynamics often coexist with discourses that formally promote inclusion. The result is a configuration that can be described as pseudo-inclusion: institutional practices that appear inclusive while continuing to reproduce normative expectations about bodies, abilities, and identities.

Mobilizing the analytical tools offered by Crip Studies, this paper argues that addressing ableist meritocracy requires more than expanding access to existing educational structures. It requires a critical examination of the normative assumptions that underpin educational institutions and a rethinking of educational practices in ways that foreground interdependence, collective responsibility, and epistemic plurality.