The initial training of teachers to teach children with special educational needs: A national survey of English Post Graduate Certificate of Education programmes

With moves towards inclusive education, there are demands for developments in initial teacher education as regards special needs and inclusive education. This paper outlines initial training in England within an international context. It then reports findings of a recent national survey of Programme directors and subject tutors of Post Graduate Certificate in Education programmes (PGCE) for primary and secondary teachers about the initial training provision in this aspect teaching. The main findings are about varied practices across placement schools, the commitment to the training partnership, coordination problems across the partnership and organising teaching experience of pupils with SEN. The implications of the study are also discussed in national and international terms.     

Discourses of inclusion in initial teacher education: Unravelling a New Zealand ‘number eight wire’ knot

Institutional politics and diversity of ideological positions create challenges for teaching staff with polarised beliefs about inclusive education. This paper provides a methodological justification for a longitudinal study of the experience of developing an integrated ‘inclusive education’ curriculum in one initial teacher education programme. The research focus is on the day-to-day practicalities of how teacher education programme reform is attempted, rather than abstract theories about how it should take place. First, the paper considers why an ‘inclusive education’ approach is problematic. Second, the case narrative approach is explained. Finally, examples from two years of programme development are discussed.     

澳大利亚高质量职前教师教育体系改革与启示

以澳大利亚《下一步：优质职前教师教育审查报告》为基础,探讨高质量职前教师教育体系改革的重点,包括选拔优质人才、提升教学质量、支持新教师,并基于此提出对我国师范教育体系建设的启示：改革师范教育招生制度,注重考察学生品德;优化师范教育教学内容,改善师范教育城市化倾向;严格教师行业准入要求,实行“先育后考”的教师资格制度;构建教师培养一体化模式,促进教师专业发展。     

Alternative Routes into the Teaching Profession

This article examines the ways in which the development of alternative initial teacher education programs in England and Canada over the last two decades serve to challenge some of the taken-for-granted assumptions underlying established models of initial teacher education in both jurisdictions, and also to broaden the pool of people who have access to the profession. The article offers a brief, initial account of the development of a standard model of initial teacher education in both countries that is characterized as being: university governed and university based; primarily full-time; incorporating a standard curriculum, with admission requirements that generally reflect the traditional academic expectations of the university; and which is funded jointly by the student and the state. Against this standard model the article examines the development of alternative or flexible models in both Canada and England. Three programs are described in some detail – The Brandon University Northern Teacher Education Program, The University of Manitoba’s Weekend College Teacher Education Program, and The University of Nottingham’s Flexible, Modularized Post-Graduate Certificate in Education Program – and each is examined in terms of the ways in which it challenges the assumptions embedded in traditional teacher education programs. At a time when attracting talented and committed teachers constitutes an important issue facing public education systems in both countries, the ability to construct high quality initial teacher education programs that can provide access to the profession to as wide a cross-section of the population as possible will be an important contribution to meeting this challenge.     

Perceived efficacy of teachers in Macao and their alacrity to engage with inclusive education

ABSTRACT

This paper reports findings of a mixed methods study examining private school teachers’ perceptions of efficacy in dealing with the challenges presented by inclusive education in Macao. This is highly pertinent after the Government invited consultation to propose changes to amendments of the Decree Law of 1996 concerning the education of students with Special Education Needs (SEN) which will likely see private schools being required to accept these students in the future. Within the context of teacher preparedness for inclusive education, the study found that a number of teachers felt that they were not at all prepared to teach students with SEN. Whilst some teachers suggested that they lacked skills and knowledge in teaching in inclusive classrooms, some felt overwhelmed with the challenges. The teachers proposed that they would need to know how to provide instructional adaptations and modifications to support students with SEN. Implications for continuous development of teacher training and education are discussed within the context of improving teacher efficacy and how private school teachers could better respond to the challenges of inclusive education in Macao.     

Time to stop polishing the brass on the Titanic: moving beyond ‘quick-and-dirty’ teacher education for inclusion,towards sustainable theories of change

ABSTRACT

Interest in inclusive education in the global south has grown significantly since the adoption of the Salamanca Statement in 1994. Increasingly, those who fund and provide education want to be seen taking action on inclusion generally and disability inclusion specifically. However, the much-welcomed enthusiasm to respond to global commitments is not always matched with the necessary expertise and commitment to longer-term action and change. The growth in inclusive education policies and pilot projects in the last decade is hard to miss, but changes resulting from these interventions are often less apparent. Why is that? Drawing on the Enabling Education Network’s 22 years of experience as a global inclusive education network and consultancy provider, we present alternative pathways for change in teacher education for inclusion. We stress that change in teaching practice remains limited not because inclusive education is a fundamentally flawed concept, but because too much focus is given to ‘quick-and-dirty’ trainings that quickly yield donor-pleasing statistics and publicity-attracting case studies, but fail to elicit sufficiently extensive and sustainable change to education systems and cultures.     

Do troublesome pupils impact teacher perception of the behaviour of their classmates?

The widely supported wish for more inclusive education places ever greater expectations on teachers’ abilities to teach all children, including those with special needs and challenging behaviours. The present study aimed at the question whether teachers judge pupil behaviour more negatively if there are more children with difficult behaviour in class. The teachers of 184 classes in 31 regular primary schools were asked to complete the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-L) for 3649 pupils. Six linear mixed models were carried out with as independent variable the number of pupils that teachers perceived to have ‘abnormal behaviour’, and the class mean without these pupils as the dependent variable. For all SDQ-L subscales – emotional problems, behavioural problems, problems with hyperactivity, problems with peers, poor prosocial behaviour and total problems – the number of pupils perceived as problematic was associated with less favourable teacher perceptions of the rest of the class. The results of this study are a plea for a contextual perspective on pupil behaviour in class, both where teachers are asked to report on individual pupils, as well as where interventions are done on emotional and behavioural problems in class.     

Practicalising theoretical knowledge in student teachers' professional learning in initial teacher education

This paper reports the findings collected from a four year longitudinal study aiming to investigate the professional learning of student-teachers in Bachelor of Education programmes. Four case studies which suggest a typology of ways of practicalising theoretical knowledge with one extreme as the testing out of teaching approaches mainly to find out their practicality in the school context to the other extreme whereby the student-teacher sought to work out a schema or personal theory were identified. Influences from the campus-based and the field-based components of the teacher education programme are drawn. The paper ends with implications for initial teacher education.     

How young children view mathematical representations: a study using eye-tracking technology

This paper reports on a study which investigated the support needs of pupils in mainstream school with a chronic illness or physical disability. The research was carried out in three local education authorities covering both rural and urban areas. In-depth, qualitative data were collected from 33 pupils in secondary school; 58 parents of primary and secondary school pupils; and 34 primary and secondary school teachers. Overall, the data from young people suggest variability in the support offered to pupils by teachers, even by teachers within the same school, and highlights the importance of teachers' awareness and understanding of special health needs. A number of areas where young people need support from teachers were identified, including: dealing with school absence; taking part in school activities; peer relationships; explaining the condition to other pupils; and having someone to talk to about health-related worries. Data from teachers and parents indicate that school staff need assistance with obtaining health-related information; ensuring health-related information is passed between and within schools; providing emotional support; the provision of medical care; and coordinating support for this group of pupils. The implications of the findings for teachers, schools and educational policy are discussed.