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 text provides a wealth of ideas about how to support teachers through positive training approaches, by sharing the writings of some of the most influential educators in the field of teacher education for inclusion.
This important book highlights the need to include learners with low-incidence disabilities and provides information related to supports and services to achieve that goal across a variety of contexts.
This comprehensive book presents emerging research findings and promising reform practices in the field of teacher education, curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning approaches, pedagogical innovations, and professional development in educating the next generation of globally competent students. It reflects the current trends and highlights contemporary teacher education programs in twenty greater Asian countries and regions. It offers insight into improving teacher education in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, Brunei, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and Macau. The handbook contains chapters written by experienced international teacher educators who draw on their experience and expertise to perennial issues and formidable challenges in teacher preparation and meaningful school reforms. This volume is a valuable resource and essential companion for teacher educators, faculty members, staff developers, trainee teachers, undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, school leaders, policy-makers, and professional learning communities to refresh their knowledge and improve their understanding. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in evolving issues in teacher education.
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.
Purpose, Process and Future Direction of Disability Research brings together the collective experience of an international network of early career researchers who set out to discuss the complexity of researching disability. As newcomers to the research process, the researchers detail their apprehensions about embarking on doctoral research, together with the struggles they experienced along the way, and importantly the motivation that drove them to complete their projects. Contributors present an open and honest reflection on their research experience. Interests, motives and values which underpinned the direction of their research projects are explored, questioning whether their beliefs were subsequently challenged, changed or validated. Research decisions were driven by a range and combination of personal experience of disability and professional experience of working with disabled people. The influence of personal and professional approaches within research is addressed, along with subsequent dilemmas. Ideological battles are detailed, which include: the place of the social model of disability in research; and the oppressive nature of doing disability research. The researchers identify and examine their experience throughout the process of analysis, writing-up and presenting data and question how far their data resulted in confusions or conclusions. Contributors explore their moral and political position as researchers, and the potential influence on the validity of their findings. Issues about dissemination and the impact of their findings are also considered. Future research aims and challenges are identified with each contributor critically questioning the unfinished business that their research has involved. Essential reading recommended for students and supervisors engaged in disability studies and inclusive education.
Compilations of research on teacher preparation often include no more than a cursory mention of the specific roles and needs of special education teachers. Although the work that special education teachers perform does indeed differ from the work of classroom teachers, teacher preparation in the two fields has much in common. The purpose of this seven-part handbook is to expand our knowledge of teacher education broadly by providing an in-depth look at the most up-to-date research on special education teacher preparation. Opening chapters ground the collection in political and economic context, while subsequent sections delve deeply into issues related to the current state of our special education workforce and offer insights into how to best prepare and sustain that workforce. Ultimately, by illuminating the particularities of special education teacher preparation, this landmark handbook addresses the state of current research in the field and sets an agenda for future scholarship.
Inclusive teacher preparation varies greatly in format and practice, yet programs grapple with the same underlying challenges: which practices work and where do they work. As children with disabilities are increasingly being included in schools, it is essential that guidance is put into place on how best to adapt inclusive practices into the classroom and create new practices based on the cultural context. Global Perspectives on Inclusive Teacher Education summarizes existing research on inclusive practices globally while presenting emerging research and opportunities for cementing change in inclusive teacher education locally, including examples of how inclusive practices are integrated in and adapted to diverse cultural contexts. Covering topics that include critical pedagogy, religious schooling, and teacher education, this publication is designed for curriculum developers, instructional designers, administrators, higher education faculty, educators, policymakers, and students.
This handbook synthesizes both contemporary research and best practices in early childhood teacher education, a unique segment of teacher education defined by its focus on child development, the role of the family, and support for all learners. The first volume of its kind, the Handbook of Early Childhood Teacher Education provides comprehensive coverage on key topics in the field, including the history of early childhood teacher education programs, models for preparing early childhood educators, pedagogical approaches to supporting diverse learners, and contemporary influences on this quickly expanding area of study. Appropriate for early childhood teacher educators as well as both pre- and in-service teachers working with children from birth through 8, this handbook articulates the unique features of early childhood teacher education, highlighting the strengths and limitations of current practice as based in empirical research. It concludes by charting future directions for research with an aim to improve the preparation of early childhood educators.
This is the foundational book for the new series, Teacher Education, Learning Innovation and Accountability. The book canvasses research, practice and policy perspectives in teacher education across diverse geographic, social and political contexts. It explores the lifespan of teacher development from initial preparation through to graduate classroom practice as it occurs in an intensifying culture of standards and regulation. The characterization of initial teacher education (ITE) in a crucible of change permeates throughout the book. The chapters open up new ways of thinking about innovation and accountability in ITE and the professionalization of teaching, exploring fundamental questions, such as “Who are the actors in teacher preparation and how do they interact? How can we learn about the quality of teacher education? Where can we hear the voices of teacher educators and preservice teachers, as well as school-based teacher educators? What are the new and emerging roles of others in teacher education who have not been involved previously, including employing authorities?” (p. 22). While the book provides responses to these and other provocative questions, it also offers new insights into innovative teacher education from a wide range of policy and practice contexts.
This book considers fresh international perspectives on schooling culture, systems, teacher preparation, school leadership and policy. The expert contributors push the conceptual boundaries of 'inclusive education' and explore new ways to research and conceptualize inclusion and diversity in education for all children.
