SHIFT: Paul Morrow

Offering an introduction to anti-ableist pedagogy, Paul Morrow presents ideas and practical tools to challenge the notion of ‘normalcy’ that conditions our current educational system. 

He positions the art classroom as a powerful space for change, where both students and teachers can pursue opportunities to see and engage with the world differently; and where young disabled people are empowered to view themselves as active agents and producers of culture.

Similarly, Morrow presents contemporary art practice, and its application within the classroom, as a framework for enacting anti-ableist pedagogy through the development of an inclusive cultural canon.

• bell hooks, Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope, Routledge, 2003.
• bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, Routledge, 2014 (1994).
• National Disability Arts Collection & Archive, 'Artists and Activists', https://the-ndaca.org/the-people/.
• Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (revised), Continuum, 1996.
• Paul Morrow, 'Characteristics of Anti-ableist Pedagogy' (see 'Download PDF').
• Paul Morrow & Rachael Christophides, 'The Cultural Inclusion Manifesto', i, 2019, https://culturalinclusion.uk/.

Artist and educator Paul Morrow is the Lead Practitioner of the Creative Arts at Westminster Special Schools. He is also the Director of the West London Inclusive Arts Festival, co-author of the Cultural Inclusion Manifesto, and author of the book Cultural Inclusion for Young People with SEND: Practical Strategies for Meaningful Inclusion in Arts & Culture, published in 2023. 

This film is part of SHIFT, Freelands Foundation’s quarterly series of short films spotlighting varied practices, approaches and philosophies within art education. 

Captions and editing: Sixbetween.

All audiovisual material and research is courtesy of the artist. Artist images from Nnena Kalu, Lasmin Salmon and Linda Bell shared with the permission of the artists and ActionSpace.