Frederic FovetAssociate Professor,
Co-Coordinator Graduate Programs in Education | Faculty of Education and Social Work

Interests

Initially, Frederic's research and practice focused on the inclusion of students with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD), and have later broadened to encompass all aspects of learner diversity and inclusion. His work as head of accessibility at McGill University has enabled him to integrate Disability Studies into his perspective on inclusion and this scholarship now richly informs his work. He is also deeply committed to the implementation of critical pedagogy which represents an important lens on his practice. Frederic has a background in Law and has qualified as a solicitor in the UK; legal perspectives on inclusion and legal frameworks around social justice therefore also represent a sizeable part of his scholarship. While head of accessibility at McGill University, Frederic led a wide cross-campus drive for the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This continues to be a central part of his scholarship and advocacy work. He was the instigator and program chair of the first three Pan-Canadian Conferences on UDL, which took place in Montreal, Charlottetown and Victoria in 2015, 2017 and 2019 respectively. Frederic also acts as an inclusion and UDL consultant with K-12 schools and post-secondary institutions, both domestically and internationally. As a new faculty member at Thompson Rivers University, Frederic is excited to support student learning and mentor graduate students keen on understanding and exploring all aspects of inclusion.

Research Interests

Inclusion in the K-12 and post-secondary sectors
Equity and Diversity across both sectors
Human Rights within educational settings
Leadership for inclusion
Universal Design for Learning
Disability Studies in educational settings
Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) in the K-12 classroom
Strategic and organizational mapping for the
Implementation of critical pedagogy

Education

2016- PhD in Education, La Trobe University
2008- MEd in Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, University of Birmingham

Publications

Articles

Fovet, F. (2022) Keynote address: Including learner diversity in large class teaching - Using Universal Design for learning to sustain a systematic proactive reflection on social justice and accessibility. Proceedings of the Pedagogy for Higher Education large Classes 2022 Conference (PHELC22). Dublin, City University, St. Patrick???s Campus and online. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7044684
Fovet, F. (2021) Developing an Ecological Approach to Strategic UDL Implementation in Higher Education. Journal of Education and Learning, 10(4).

Edited books

Fovet, F. (Ed.) (2021) Handbook of Research on Applying Universal Design for Learning Across Disciplines: Concepts, Case Studies, and Practical Implementation. IGI Global

Book chapters

Fovet, F. (2023) When Being Online Hinders the Act of Challenging Banking Model Pedagogy: Neo-Liberalism in Digital Higher Education. In S. Koseoglu, G. Veletsianos, and C. Rowell (Eds.) Critical Digital Pedagogy in Higher Education. Athabasca University Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781778290015.01
Fovet, F. (2022) Shifting the Inclusion Agenda Away from a Politico-Historical Adherence to Deficit Model Practices. In J. Banks (Ed.) The Inclusion Dialogue: Debating Issues, Challenges and Tensions with Global Experts (1st ed., Chapter 6). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003263425
Fovet, F. (2022) Embedding Authentic and Effective Awareness About Mental Health in Pre-Service Teacher Training. In O. Al-Mahdi and T. Purinton (Eds.) Global Perspectives on Teacher Performance Improvement. IGI Global.

Conference Presentations

Panelist (2022) National Dialogues and Action for Inclusive Higher Education and Communities: Addressing Ableism, Disability, and Accessibility in Canadian Higher Education. Session 2: Inclusive (Co/Extra) Curriculum and Learning Design, Work Facilitation, and Research Supports. University of Toronto, December 2022.
Fovet, F. (2022) Key social justice lessons from the COVID pivot: Ensuring accessibility and inclusion remain at the heart of the digital transformation of educational spaces in a post-pandemic landscape. Plenary session presented at CIMQUSEF19, 19th Edition of the International Conference on the Quality of Education, Morocco, December 2022.
Fovet, F. (2022) UDL Implementation in Higher Education: Drawing lessons from the COVID online pivot and reconnecting with inclusive design in the face-to-face classroom. Paper presented at Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) 2022 Conference, December 2022, Sydney.
Fovet, F. (2022) Examining ongoing tension in the discourse on inclusion in the K-12 sector: learning from the past to frame sustainable futures. Paper presented at the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia, (PESA) 2022 Conference Sydney, December 2022.
Fovet, F. (2022) Examining inclusive design in education as a transformative process - historical perspective on hurdles and opportunities. Paper presented at the Australia New Zealand History of Education Society (ANZHES) 2022 Conference.
Fovet, F. (2022) Exploring the organizational complexity of Universal Design for Learning implementation in schools: Acknowledging the ecological nature of management of change to avoid burn out. Paper presented at the Inclusive Collaborative Practices in inclusive settings: Practitioners' Perception Conference, GIEN (Global Inclusive Education Network), Mumbai, December 2022

Employment History

Frederic joined the School of Education in July 2022. He has held faculty positions, in turn, in the School of Education at the University of Prince Edward Island and in the School of Education and Technology at Royal Roads University. He has also held the position of Director of the Office for Students with Disabilities at McGill University for a period of four years, over the duration of his PhD. In the early part of his career, Frederic has been a teacher for a period of fourteen years. He was also one of the founders, and Principal, of an international school in Quebec. Frederic has also completed an LLB and an LLM in the UK and has qualified as a solicitor in England in the earlier part of his professional path. It is a combination of his pedagogical interest in learner diversity and of his legal perspective on student rights that feeds his career long passion for inclusion.

Courses Taught

EDUC5010 - Research Methods (Winter 2023)
EDUC5130 - Managing Multiple Systems: Policy and Practice (Winter 2023)
EDUC5460 - Educational Management (Fall 2022)
EDUC 5520 - Assessment and Evaluation (Fall 2022)
EDUC5990 - Research Colloquium (Fall 2022)

Frederic has taught a wide array of graduate courses across multiple faculties in Canada. These courses have ranged from research courses (introduction to research, theory in research, theory in interdisciplinary scholarship, action research, etc.) to content focused on inclusion and diversity (critical pedagogy, inclusion, leading for social justice, adolescent mental health, LGBTQ2S+ global community building, etc.). Frederic was also Program Head on the MA for Educational Leadership and Management at Royal Roads University and created and launched a course entitled Leading for Social Justice. He has offered Education, Law and Ethics as an EdD course at Simon Fraser University.

Professional Affiliations

Member of the Editorial Board of Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (since October 2012)
Member of the Editorial Board, The International Journal of Disability and Social Justice (IJDSJ) (January 2021 to January 2023).
Member of the Editorial Executive, The International Journal of Disability and Social Justice (IJDSJ) (since January 2023).
Member of the Advisory Board of the European Journal of Inclusive Education (EJIE) (since January 2022)
Reviewer for the International Journal of Multicultural Education (since 2007)
International Advisory Council, Global Inclusive Education Network (GIEN), India (Member)
Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties Association (SEBDA), UK (Member)

Frederic FovetAssociate Professor,Co-Coordinator Graduate Programs in Education | Faculty of Education and Social Work