Creating Synergies Between UDL and Core Principles of the European Higher Education Area in Planning for Pre-service Teacher Education

This chapter examines the main principle that, in order to promote accessibility and inclusion, pre-service teacher education syllabus design should follow a flexible, competency-based approach complemented by core attributes of UDL. Given the systematic considerations of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the design and application of teacher education programs need to be mindful of meso and micro teaching-learning contexts. This implies taking a phenomenological and critical positioning rather than adopting a purely technocratic stance; it considers the strengths of adopting a socio-constructivist positioning to facilitate inclusive design. Central to this approach is the necessity to focus on sustainable forms of assessment insofar as the teaching-learning interface is one where students are active agents of their learning.