Written by: Lisa-Katharina Moehlen, University of Vienna

Abstract: The Global Initiative for Sustainable Development (Sustainable Development Goal 4) proclaims education for all, which means that people’s individual potentials should be promoted, their heterogeneous abilities and interests should be appreciated, and existing resources should be used for educational processes. In recent decades, the game-based learning approach has gained prominence in the educational landscape. The approach proclaims a paradigmatic shift in education away from efficiency-oriented, standardized testing to co-constructive, game-based learning processes. This framework opens up the research question: How can digital and analogue games contribute to enable inclusion in educational settings? The empirical data consists of audio and video recordings of an Erasmus+ workshop with 19 participants playing eleven (digital) games for approximately two hours. The data provided was secondarily analysed using the Documentary Method and a participatory research design. The results show that the players were confronted with social hierarchies and power structures while playing the games. Interestingly, players directly reflected on their actions, behaviours, and assumptions. In doing so, participants reconsidered their deeply held assumptions and habits of social categorization as games provided the space for repetitive actions. Thus, players tried different behaviours and varied multiple solution paths. Moreover, the results show that players’ self-efficacy increases during the game. The study highlights different types of (re)acting to avoid social categorization and promote inclusion.

Keywords: inclusive education; (digital) game-based learning; participatory research; social categorization; dis/ability; culture; gender