Inclusive Learning and Educational Equity 5

7.6 Discussion and Conclusions: Links of Inclusive 
Education Factors to Resourceful 
and Knowledgeable Learners
The results of the action research allowed us to conclude that while educating a 
resourceful and knowledgeable student, the teacher also thinks about the students’ 
learning and, on this basis, plans, and organises the process of inclusive education. 
The teacher’s belief that every student can become an expert learner in information 
perception, use of language and symbols, information comprehension, as well as 
7 Development of Knowledgeable and Resourceful Learners

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the learning process organised in a targeted way creates conditions for expression 
and development of qualities and abilities assigned to expert learners. Significant 
changes in the student’s becoming an expert learner have influence on the teacher’s 
disposition—she or he increasingly believes that every student, even with SEN, can 
become an expert in information perception, reorganisation and comprehension. 
The research results show that application of the UDL approach facilitates develop-
ment of practices that help teachers to increase opportunities for all students (includ-
ing those with SEN) to become learning experts, that is, actively perceiving learners 
who construct their own deep comprehension, are self-directed, and are ready to 
create and co-create their knowledge. Improving their learning expert abilities, stu-
dents more actively engage in the process of co-learning and experience greater 
learning success. Thus, application of the UDL approach increases the quality of 
inclusion for all.
The analysis of lesson observation and reflections of students, teachers and 
researchers disclosed the qualities and abilities of students as expert learners mani-
fested and improved and what inclusive educational practices became a favourable 
context for their development. The generalised results of action research on the 
student’s becoming an expert learner applying the UDL approach are presented in 
Fig. 
7.4
.
Organising inclusive education within the UDL approach and under conditions 
of students’ constant reflection on their own learning process, their ability to choose 
and employ the information of the most favourable modality for their perception 
became more and more visible. The significance of emotional background for an 
in-depth understanding of new information, formation of cognitive relations and 
attainment of learning success became particularly apparent. The data obtained in 
the research conducted in another area by García-Campos et al. (
2020
) also con-
firmed the importance of emotional background and emphasised the influence of 
emotion-based choices on the efficiency of executive functions. Our research results 
added new data to the knowledge that a favourable emotional inclusive learning 
background stimulates students’ ability to understand how an emotional inclusive 
background helps them think and manage processes of their own perception and 
change behaviour while learning. The obtained data confirm the theoretical assump-
tions of Mayer et al. (
2011
) that emotions can be assimilated to thinking, prioritising 
efficient ways of thinking and relying on reasoning.
According to the data of our research, the construction of students’ deep under-
standing was encouraged by applying various thinking tools, knowledge organisers, 
additional support methods, procedural steps and deep scaffolding strategies. This 
encouraged every student, including the one with SEN, to approach newly received 
information from different perspectives, to use different ways to reorganise, system-
ise new and already possessed information and to envisage meanings and essential 
ideas. Some research also shows that authentic instruction, including personally and 
socially meaningful contexts (Preus, 
2012
; Gronseth et al., 
2020
) and sharing 
thoughts with peers while discussing (Moore et al., 
2020
), encourages SEN students 
to construct their deeper knowledge. Applying the UDL approach, it is possible to 
A. Galkien
ė and O. Monkevičienė

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