How teachers might best be prepared to work in schools with an increasingly diverse pupil population is of concern to educational academics, professionals and governments around the world. Changes that have taken place in legislation and practice often fail to taken into account how practitioners can ensure that all children and young people are able to achieve. The focus of this international text is on innovative practices for preparing teachers to work in inclusive classrooms and schools. Drawing on both pre and in-service training methods, the expert contributors to this book follow three major themes: social and political challenges regarding teacher education – providing an historical perspective on the training of teachers, tensions in preparing teachers for inclusion, cultural issues, the relationship between educational funding and practices and collaborative measures to support a whole school approach innovative approaches in pre-service teacher preparation – discussing a range of innovative models and approaches used in pre-service teacher education courses engaging professional development for inservice teachers – reviewing a range of approaches employed to engage working teachers and help them establish curricula and pedagogy that meets the needs of all students in their classes. Each chapter will include a list of proposed learning outcomes, a theoretical or conceptual framework to help readers develop the proposed innovation, an overview of recent research, discussion of the research data available and a discussion of the international implications and challenges, summarising in suggestions for a positive way forward. Teacher Education for Inclusion: Changing Paradigms and Innovative Approaches is essential reading for practising teacher educators, school leaders, university lecturers in education and post graduate students.

Drawing on research carried out in partnership with schoolteachers, school leaders, and student teachers, this book presents cutting-edge research on teacher education and how it can be used to catalyse the development of inclusive practice in mainstream schools and classrooms. Theoretically robust and guided by the author’s near 40 years of experience as an educationalist, this research-informed book offers an account of the practices and principles that underpin effective teacher education for special educational needs and disability (SEND). Chapters propose transformative approaches towards effective teacher education whilst also exploring the dangers of de-intellectualisation to the promotion of inclusive practices; in doing so, this book reasserts the indispensability of intellectual labour to the development of the inclusive teacher. Ultimately, this book argues that teacher education curricula must include critical-theoretical work and reflexive projects, offering intellectually rich and critical approaches whilst also defending the important role that higher education plays in the context of partnership with schools. At a time when urgent questions around equity are being discussed on the global stage, this book will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of inclusion and special education, teacher education, and the theory of education more broadly. Teacher educators and policymakers working towards equitable, quality education for all will also find the volume of use.

There has recently been a societal push to better achieve equity for all, with many bringing to light the bias, racism, and discrimination that many factions face on a daily basis. Naturally, integrating diversity and social inclusion thoughts into the classroom is one of the best ways to start changing the mindset of society and promoting more inclusive practices in the next generations. Therefore, diversity and social inclusion have become common approaches in the planning and management of primary, secondary, and higher education schools in many international contexts. However, there are certainly challenges that must be overcome in developing these new practices and their implementation within teacher curriculum. Instilling Diversity and Social Inclusion Practices in Teacher Education and Curriculum Development provides an analysis of educational inclusion practices and identifies university students’ voices on diversity and social inclusion. It further assesses teacher performance in an international online training context and promotes a model of curriculum development on diversity and social inclusion. Covering topics such as culturally competent teachers, student academic achievement, and attitudes towards diversity, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for teacher educators, pre-service teachers, administrators and educators of both K-12 and higher education, social workers, researchers, and academicians.

Are teachers ready for inclusion? What is appropriate teacher education? Traditional approaches to inclusive education focused on learners with disabilities. Modern approaches, however, conceptualise inclusion in terms of providing educational equity and equality of access for all students within the same regular school system. Future Directions for Inclusive Teacher Education provides a wealth of ideas about how to support teachers to become inclusive through the application of positive training approaches. Written by some of the most influential internationally acknowledged experts in teacher education for inclusion and highly experienced researchers, together the authors provide a plethora of ideas for teacher educators to ensure that their training is pertinent, accessible, and futures-orientated. This up to date and accessible book combines three key areas related to teacher education for inclusion, which provide: A review of what is happening across the globe by offering examples from different regions; Preparation for teachers to support learners with a range of diverse needs including disability, poverty, ethnicity, gender, cultural diversity, learning disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, sensory impairments and those who are considered gifted and talented; A consideration of systemic approaches, policy, and partnerships, and how these can be better employed in the future. This highly topical text will support all teaching professionals, educational systems, and schools in their transformation of inclusive teacher education.

This ground-breaking book considers current perspective on educational reform in the Asia-Pacific regions with a focus on a new era of special education, particularly as this relates to the educational reform towards inclusive education.

The book takes as its premise the argument that diverse learner groups are a fact of demographic change that should be considered foundational in the preparation of teachers rather than be problematized as a challenge. It promotes the idea of teacher education for inclusive education based on a consideration of what it means to educate all children together. Divided into four parts, the book considers key issues for teacher education, teacher agency, teacher education for diversity, and a research agenda for the future. In today’s world, the demographic profile of students in schools is more complex than ever before, and the increasing cultural, linguistic and developmental diversity of today’s classrooms, along with the pressure to achieve high academic standards for everybody has significant implications for how classroom teachers should be prepared to meet these demands. This book advances a new understanding of inclusive education that addresses the limitations inherent in current approaches that problematize differences between learner groups by promoting a view of difference as an aspect of human individuality. It considers the implications of the research evidence underpinning teacher education for diversity and makes suggestions for future research in the field.

Towards Inclusion of All Learners through Science Teacher Education serves as an indispensable resource for teachers and teacher educators wishing to understand how to educate students with exceptionalities in science. This book begins with the voices and stories of the experts: current and former K-12 students with disabilities sharing their experiences in science education classrooms. The voices of students with disabilities are then connected to the work of leading experts in the area of science education for individuals with disabilities in an effort to address the goals of national reform documents by ensuring rigorous science experiences for all students. It is written in a highly accessible and practical manner, making it ideal for all educators including pre-service and in-service teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and curriculum developers.

Inclusion has been adopted as an overall aim for compulsory education in most countries.This book explores the way teachers are prepared for inclusion in their initial and in-service teacher education.

Teacher Education Policy and Practice in Europe provides a critical overview of the current challenges facing teacher education policy and practice in Europe. Drawing on a wide range of contributions, the book demonstrates that in order for teachers to reassume their role as agents of change, it is crucial to create a vision of a future European teacher and promote active engagement in preparing children to live and act in a multicultural and increasingly changing world. The book suggests ways in which teachers could be prepared to meet and overcome the struggles they will encounter in the classroom, including recommendations for teacher education, which open up new possibilities for policy, practice and research. Considering their own experiences as teachers, contributors also cover topics such as teacher education for the 21st century, the profile of the European teacher, citizenship and identity, social inclusion, linguistic and cultural diversity, and comparative education. Teacher Education Policy and Practice in Europe is essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students engaged in the study of teacher education, educational policy and educational theory. It should also be of great interest to research-active teacher educators and practising teachers.

This fascinating text offers a compelling argument for the need to include insider perspectives of disability in teacher education programs, in order to enrich professional understandings and shed light on the reality of living with a disability. With contributions from a highly experienced team of authors from a wide range of educational settings, Bringing Insider Perspectives into Inclusive Teacher Learning includes case studies and research projects on how teacher educators gather, interpret and integrate insider perspectives into teacher education programs, along with practical strategies as to how educators can develop programs more sensitive to the experiences of ‘insiders’. Questions addressed include: How do teacher educator researchers gather insider perspectives? What are some of the barriers and challenges involved? What critical experiences and lessons can be learned from teacher educators who have integrated insider perspectives? How can insider perspectives bring about a more meaningful inclusion of students with disabilities? Offering a range of different methodologies to engage students, parents, teachers, school leaders and teacher educators, this thought-provoking book provides practical ideas about how insider perspectives can enhance teacher learning and support greater inclusive practices in schools. This text will be useful to university lecturers, teachers and education specialists, as well as students of educational studies and ITE courses from foundation degree level through to undergraduate and postgraduate study.