Search results for: Inclusive education

Policies on inclusion are being increasingly embedded within education systems and teacher education across the world, with schools and teachers called upon to add ‘inclusion’ to their already large set of skills and tasks. There is, however, no consistent definition of what inclusion means or how it can be best promoted. The purpose of this paper is to explore the dilemmas that student teachers face when they encounter policy requirements to practice inclusion, and how they mediate the tensions. Drawing on two exploratory studies with science student teachers in two Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes in England, the authors focus on the conceptions of inclusion held by the student teachers and the links between inclusion and teacher education. Their findings suggest that conventional understandings in relation to ability still dominate, with ability-based differentiation viewed as the key teaching strategy to promote inclusion. In addition, student teachers find themselves having to negotiate contradictory and often conflicting approaches to inclusion, diversity, and academic attainment. The discrepancies highlighted by this study have implications for how teacher education courses need to be organised to promote the practice of inclusion.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) holds considerable promise to create inclusive educational environments. Nevertheless, the most recent theoretical UDL model, which includes both teachers’ philosophy and praxis of teaching, has never been tested empirically. Therefore, this study aims to validate the UDL model as a “whole” among preservice teachers. Results show that the three philosophical constructs of UDL predict the performance of preservice teachers’ practices associated with UDL. These constructs are growth mindset about learning, self-efficacy to implement inclusion, and self-regulation and motivation for teaching. Results also show that preservice teachers think and reason about UDL not as three separate principles (i.e., engagement, representation, action, and expression) but in an interrelated way as the analysis shows them to be a unidimensional factor. Finally, this article discusses the implications of a validated model on UDL for teacher-educators, practitioners, and researchers.

This study examined how primary school teachers were trained to teach early reading and mathematics in six Sub-Saharan African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda). The authors found that Tanzanian primary teachers were most inclusive. They found that newly-qualified teachers saw various explanations for their learners' difficulties. It was found that the participants had positive overall attitudes towards their learners. These positive feelings seemed to include all, with little evidence of teachers potentially marginalizing learners through low expectations of their ability to learn.

In this study, concept map exercises were used to trigger student teachers’ thinking about the inclusion of students with disabilities in the regular learning settings. The results show that the construction of concept maps by small groups of student teachers has the potential to engage students in lively discussions, and to contribute to creative and reflective thinking. An analysis of the content of the 134 maps that were constructed identified ten main themes about inclusive education. Three of the themes dealt with pupils’ well-being, particpation in school activities and learning. Two dealt with a teacher’s situation. Five dealt with school resources and policy issues.