Tetsuya Kagata

<p> Special needs education has come to draw much attention from not only the students who have the right of education，but also from educators who are eager to support them. Only recently，Japan has put more emphasis on conducting research from the perspective of Universal Design for Learning（UDL）in foreign language education. This report will introduce the overview of a three-year research using the concept of UDL at the Hirano School Division（elementary school，junior high school，and high school）attached to Osaka Kyoiku University. The Hirano School Division tackles the research to create an educational environment based on UDL and foster their students' abilities to "comprehend，" "think，" and "utilize，" incorporating "collaborative learning" and "the use of ICT materials" in every class. From these two aspects，this paper will introduce and discuss the current situation of English classes at the Hirano Schools，as well as the forthcoming challenges.</p>