Preparing beginning teachers for inclusion: designing and assessing supplementary fieldwork experiences

Inclusive education requires restructuring educational provision so that mainstream schools are able to provide for the needs of all students in their communities. To help realise this goal, initial teacher education programmes need to better prepare new graduates for teaching students with complex special education needs, including students with intellectual disability. Concerns about the capacity of current school-based placements to prepare new teachers for inclusive classrooms have led some teacher education institutions to develop supplementary fieldwork experiences. The current study involved an investigation into such an experience and looked at the benefits to pre-service teachers (PSTs) of tutoring a young adult with intellectual disability. The findings indicate that PSTs learned effective strategies for differentiating a programme of work and, in their first year of study, were developing a teacher identity. The importance of aligning experiences with coursework units is highlighted and the need for valid assessments of how well initial teacher education programmes are preparing beginning teachers for inclusion, and what these assessments may look like, is discussed.     

‘I don't have time to be this busy.’ Exploring the concerns of secondary school teachers towards inclusive education

The trend towards inclusion in mainstream Australian schools has seen the numbers of students with disabilities educated in regular schools grow significantly. This trend has been supported by legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act and the Education Standards. For inclusion to be successful, a number of factors are vital and teacher support for the programme is crucial. While there is research in the area of teachers’ concerns at the primary school level, little research has been conducted at the secondary school level. Research in this area is needed as the secondary school has differing factors from the primary sector that need to be explored.     

In-service teachers’ attitudes,concerns, efficacy and intentions to teach in inclusive classrooms: an international comparison of Australian and Italian teachers

The paper examined whether in-service teachers from Australia to Italy differ in terms of their attitudes, concerns, efficacy beliefs and intentions to include learners with disabilities in their classrooms. An attempt was also made to determine predictors of the participants’ intentions to include learners with disabilities in their classrooms. Participants for the study consisted of 153 Australian and 156 Italian in-service teachers. Results revealed that Italian teachers had significantly more positive attitudes, lower degree of concerns and higher level of intentions to implement inclusion in their classrooms. In both countries, attitudes and efficacy emerged as significant predictors of participants’ intentions to include learners with disabilities in regular classrooms. Reasons that could explain differences in the teachers’ beliefs from the two countries are explained using historical-cultural and legal frameworks prevalent in Australia and Italy. Implications of the findings for policy-makers, university teachers and researchers are presented that may have relevance in guiding the implementation of inclusive education in Australia, Italy and beyond.     

Figure Facts: Encouraging Undergraduates to Take a Data-Centered Approach to Reading Primary Literature

The ability to interpret experimental data is essential to understanding and participating in the process of scientific discovery. Reading primary research articles can be a frustrating experience for undergraduate biology students because they have very little experience interpreting data. To enhance their data interpretation skills, students used a template called “Figure Facts” to assist them with primary literature–based reading assignments in an advanced cellular neuroscience course. The Figure Facts template encourages students to adopt a data-centric approach, rather than a text-based approach, to understand research articles. Specifically, Figure Facts requires students to focus on the experimental data presented in each figure and identify specific conclusions that may be drawn from those results. Students who used Figure Facts for one semester increased the amount of time they spent examining figures in a primary research article, and regular exposure to primary literature was associated with improved student performance on a data interpretation skills test. Students reported decreased frustration associated with interpreting data figures, and their opinions of the Figure Facts template were overwhelmingly positive. In this paper, we present Figure Facts for others to adopt and adapt, with reflection on its implementation and effectiveness in improving undergraduate science education.     

Book reviews

De Epalza, Míkel. Jésus Otage: Juifs, chrétiens et musulmans en Espagne (VI ^e‐XVII ^e s.(. Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1987. 238pp.

Rubiera Mata, María Jesús. Bibliografia de la Literatura Hispano‐Arabe. Alicante: Universidad de Alicante, 1988. 75pp.

Bernabé Pons, Luis F. El cántlco Islámico del morisco hispano‐tunecino Taybili. Zaragoza: Institución Fernando el Católico, 1988. 275pp.

Smith, Colin. Christians and Moors in Spain, 1: 711–1150. War‐minster: Arls and Phillips, 1988. xii+179pp., 2 maps; £19.95 hardback; £8.25 paperback.

López García, Bernabé. Política y movimientos sociales en el Mágreb. Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas et Siglo XXI de España, 1988. xlv+207pp.

Esposlto, John L. Islam, The Straight Path. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. x+230pp., index; paperback.

Sharq Al‐Andalus: Estudios Arabes Ed. Mikel de Epalza. Alicante: Universidad de Alicante. 2 (1985) 310pp.; 3 (1986) 296pp.

Powers, David S. Studies In Qur'ān and Hadith: The Formation of the Islamic Law of Inheritance. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California, 1986. xiii + 263pp.

Abun‐Nasr, Jamil M. A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic period, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.XVI + 455pp., 6 maps; £42.50 hardback; £17.50 paperback.

Thomas, C. G. (editor). Paths from Ancient Greece. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1988. 206pp, HF1.58.