Transforming for inclusive practice: professional development to support the inclusion of students labelled as emotionally disturbed

Abstract

Few models of professional development (PD) are designed to bring about the fundamental shifts in thinking about student behaviour that can support the inclusion of students labelled as having emotional/behavioural disabilities within general education classrooms. In this paper, we seek to accomplish two goals: (1) we briefly delineate the features of a model of PD to build the capacity of teachers to create hospitable classrooms for students with labels of emotional disabilities, and (2) we use the context of this PD model to describe the transformative process that occurred within the specialists who implemented it within an urban school district. In narrating their process of change, we illuminate the conditions for learning supported by this model and its potential for promoting inclusive practices within urban schools.

Keywords:

• inclusive education
• behaviour
• disability

Notes

Names of districts, schools and school personnel are pseudonyms.

In the USA, an intermediate school restrict is an entity with a separate tax base that assumes responsibility for a variety of administrative and instructional services including but not limited to the delivery of special education services.