´Dealing with diversity´: debating the focus of teacher education for inclusion

ABSTRACT

Increasingly across the world, teachers are working with diverse groups of learners in inclusive school settings, as inclusion is seen as a strategy to promote social cohesion, citizenship and a more equitable society. Countries working towards this vision need to emphasise more effective teacher education programmes and systems that focus on enabling teachers to engage in inclusive practice in order to provide high-quality education for all learners.

KEYWORDS:

• inclusive education
• teacher education for inclusion
• teacher educators
• teacher education in Iceland
• document analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The profession of social pedagogues (SPs) in Iceland provides services for a diverse group of people, particularly disabled people of all ages within a variety of community settings with inclusive and rights-based practices as their primary professional responsibility (Jóhannsdóttir and Ingólfsdóttir 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hafdís Guðjónsdóttir

Hafdís Guðjónsdóttir is a Professor at University of Iceland, School of Education. She was a general classroom teacher in grade schools for 26 years an experience that has affected her academic focus. Her research interests are in the area of inclusion and multicultural education, pedagogy and educational practices, teacher development and professionalism and teacher education. Her research methodology is mainly qualitative, practitioner research, and self-study of teacher education practices.

Edda Óskarsdóttir

Edda Óskarsdóttir EdD, is an adjunct at University of Iceland, School of Education. She defended her doctoral research in 2017 and her research was a self-study action research on constructing support as inclusive practice. Edda has a background as a classroom teacher, special needs teacher and coordinator for support services in compulsory school. She has been involved in international and national projects on subjects connected to inclusive education from various aspects.