Facing social reality together: investigating a pre-service teacher preparation programme on inclusive education

ABSTRACT

Inclusive education has been put on the global agenda to appreciate diversity on a broader level and reduce educational inequality. In order to optimally prepare secondary pre-service teachers for inclusive education, a highly innovative cooperation of five different teacher training institutes in and around Antwerp (Belgium) developed a collective Inclusion Pathway embedded in the various teacher education curricula. Through an explorative qualitative research study based on content data and semi-structured interviews, we studied (1) the programme’s perceived impact on participating pre-service teachers’ competences (attitudes, knowledge and skills) with respect to inclusion, and (2) how the pre-service teachers experience the inclusion programme. The results indicate a positive impact of the programme on the participants’ attitudes with respect to inclusion. Participants also mention that the theoretical frameworks provided, the classroom observations and the teacher conversations helped them to enlarge their knowledge base and feel more confident to change their teaching practice. However, the participants also made some critical remarks. The teacher training institutes converted these insights into several organisational improvements and content-related action points.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• teacher competences
• secondary education
• teacher training
• professional development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Pupil Guidance Centres are government-financed multidisciplinary centres joining school psychological and youth health services; they can assess students’ needs and serve as a gateway to access student guidance measures outside of the mainstream school, especially referrals to extramural support services and separate schools providing special education (Struyf, Bodvin, and Jacobs 2016).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Flemish Government of Education.

Notes on contributors

Ellen Vandervieren

Ellen Vandervieren, PhD, is assistant professor in Education Sciences. Within the research group, Didactica, Faculty of Social Sciences, at the University of Antwerp, she conducts research on teachers’ expertise development, and the impact of student-centred competence-based learning environments on the learning process and well-being of students.

Elke Struyf

Elke Struyf, PhD, is full professor in Education Sciences. Within the research group, EduBROn, Faculty of Social Sciences, at the University of Antwerp, she conducts research on teachers’ expertise development, its relationship with characteristics in the contextual (classroom or school) environment and students’ outcomes.