The Role of Teacher Agency in Promoting Inclusion in a Chinese Primary School

ABSTRACT

The physical and educational exclusion of children with special educational needs and disabilities from effective and relevant education is a persisting issue in Chinese schools. To move beyond ‘lazy inclusivism’ and support authentic change towards inclusive education, this paper explores the wisdom of Chinese educators and investigates how inclusion can be interpreted and practised through a qualitative study in an inclusive urban school in East Coast China. The headteacher and eight teachers were interviewed. The findings give voice to teachers and highlight the importance of understanding inclusion in its broad sense as respecting and valuing all members of the school community. Specific strategies were also shared by participants such as parental involvement, teacher training, themed campus décor, emphasis on rich extra-curriculum activities, and the innovation of ‘micro-semester’. Through analysing teachers’ reported ‘successful’ experiences in inclusion, the discussions explore how these teachers exercise agency to actively promote inclusion despite structural constraints. The paper analyses teachers’ interpretations and practical strategies in an inclusive school from the perspective of teacher agency and contributes to building up a strong base of empirical evidence that enriches the concept and facilitates the implementation of inclusive education in China.

KEYWORDS:

• Community building
• disabilities
• inclusion for all
• inclusive education
• lazy inclusivism
• special educational needs
• structural constraints
• teacher agency

Acknowledgments

My sincere thanks go to the anonymous reviewers and the Special Issue Editor, Guanglun Michael Mu, for the generosity in taking time out of their busy schedule to review my early drafts and providing several rounds of constructive and insightful feedback.

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The concept of SEND does not exist in the Chinese official discourses. The term used in special education official documents is ‘disability’. However, in the academic field of special and inclusive education in China, the concept of ‘SEND’ is often used in line with the UNESCO’s (2017, p. 7) description to ‘refer to children with impairments that are seen as requiring additional support’.

2. In a Chinese school, the ‘head class teacher’ plays a leading role in the life and welfare of all class members for the duration of their time in school, and the role usually occupies the bulk of their weekly time as a teacher. These form the basis of the pastoral system within the school.