Search results for: Inclusion

In this study, researchers examine the impact of e-coaching (including a web-based professional development (PD) portal consisting of a learning module, self-monitoring, and video feedback) on preschool teachers’ use of a simultaneous prompting (SP) procedure and the effects of SP on teaching discrete skills to their students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The researchers also examine maintenance and generalization effects on teachers’ and students’ behaviors. Moreover, researchers investigate the social validity of the study. They use nested multiple probe designs across four preschool teacher and student dyads to evaluate the effects of the e-coaching intervention and the SP procedure, respectively, on teachers’ and students’ behaviors. E-coaching was effective in the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of preschool teachers’ use of the SP procedure, and the SP procedure was effective in teaching discrete skills to students with ASD. Teachers had positive opinions about e-coaching and the SP procedure. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Effective inclusive teaching practices continue to be an area of uncertainty for preservice and practicing teachers. This qualitative study examined the lived experiences of three, general education, early childhood, preservice teachers (PST) completing a field experience in preschool classrooms for children with significant disabilities. All three PSTs in the study were completing a semester long requisite field experience while concurrently completing an introduction to special education course. Both the field experience and the introduction to special education course were required for their early childhood, general education certification program. While the PSTs initially acknowledged anxiety related to working with children with significant disabilities, the levels of anxiety decreased during the experience. Additionally, PSTs noted the importance of the pedagogical skills they acquired from their special education mentor teachers. Highly skilled, special education mentor teachers were noted being critical to a successful experience.

The role of special education teachers is currently facing an extensive renewal process closely related to the professional transition from a narrow understanding of special education, rooted in the deficit paradigm, to a broader vision of inclusion as a whole-school and community action. Within such a process, student teachers’ professional development in special education plays a crucial role. Studies on this topic underline how student teachers’ beliefs and attitudes regarding inclusive education deeply affect their future teaching activity. Research shows that, while student teachers usually agree with the principles of inclusive teaching, they are much less sure of how to implement those principles in their teaching practice. By assessing the breadth of the gulf between ideals and practice, the author’s investigation emphasises how the video analysis of simulated lessons carried out by student teachers can contribute to a positive change in student teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion in school. Such a change would help student teachers develop a reflective stance that would strengthen their ability to transform inclusive principles into everyday educational practices.

During 2004, the School of Education at the University of Ulster embarked on an innovative three-year project designed to embed community relations objectives within initial teacher education. This article reports on one very specific and time-limited element of the broader project. That is, development work designed to investigate the possibilities of using processes of self-review and evaluation as a lever for improvements in initial teacher education for community relations.