We would like to invite you to this workshop on a planned Handbook Project by me; Prof. Bettina Amrhein/University of Bielefeld and Prof. Srikala Naraian/Columbia University/New York.The purpose of this workshop is, to discuss and plan the struture of this publication from an international perspective on professionalization for inclusive classrooms. We would like to invite you, to function as an expert for your country on inclusive research and teaching and be part of the publishing team. There is a great need for this book in teacher education programs all over the world. A lot of collegues have already shown interest in being part of the book project on Inclusive Teacher Education and are deeply interested in beeing part of this ECER workshop.

Our working groups at University of Bielefeld and Columbia University are able to organize the whole publication process during the year 2018 and 2019. The publication of the book is planned for ECER 2019 and will be launched there.

During the last decades of the twentieth century, as well as more recently, governments of many countries have introduced legislation to promote more inclusive education systems. Yet, despite these changes to national policies, the necessary corresponding developments in classroom practices have not been so easily achieved. Research shows that whilst the majority of student and recently qualified teachers are highly committed to the principles of social justice and equity which underpin inclusive education, they remain anxious about working with classes that comprise an increasingly diverse range of learners. In particular, these practitioners do not believe they have the necessary knowledge, skills and expertise to support students most at risk of educational marginalisation.

These deep-rooted professional concerns have serious consequences for learners and teachers alike, which are enduring in nature and consistent across a wide range of different national settings. They also present substantial challenges to teacher educators who undertake to support teachers to become confident and competent classroom practitioners. Traditionally, teachers’ professional development in this area has focused sharply on those learners identified as having special needs or disabilities. However, more recently, there has been a growing recognition of broader processes of marginalisation: for example, in relationship to poverty, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and mental health. This book examines these concerns, not in isolation from each other, nor by focusing on some children only. Rather, the aim of the book is to explore learner diversity in terms of the complex interplay between these processes and how they are enacted in the everyday classroom experiences of all children and young people all over the world.

This book is important because it provides research-based knowledge and insights into current debates in the field of inclusive education, with a sharp focus on the development of inclusive classroom practices. Its target audience is student and early career teachers, plus the teacher educators who contribute to their professional development. 

The main target audience for this book will be:

• student teachers
• early career teachers
• teacher educators (initial teacher education and professional development)
• administrators
• politicians

The book will also be highly relevant to practitioners at other stages of their career (e.g. school leaders) who also wish to develop more inclusive classroom practices. Finally, the book will be of considerable interest to researchers in the field of inclusive education. 

There are two key reasons this book would be used on a range of university and college courses relating to initial teacher education and continuing teacher professional development in many countries. 

Since it is not a Research Workshop I am submitting here, it is difficult to fill in this part of the submission.

The book will have considerable international appeal. This is built into its structure and overall purposes. Collectively our possible authors will cover a range of national contexts. Each chapter sets out to encourage readers to consider how learning about inclusive classrooms in a different context can enable deeper reflection on their own. Also as noted throughout, supporting teachers to develop more inclusive classroom practices is of growing interest across many national contexts. See, for example, recent work of the European Agency for the Development of Special Needs Education, the Enabling Education Network and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 4 - ‘Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning’).

Black-Hawkins, K. & Amrhein, B. (2014) Valuing student teachers' perspectives: researching inclusively in inclusive education? International Journal of Research and Method in Education, 37, 4, 357-375. DOI: 10.1080/1743727X.2014.886684 Black-Hawkins, K. (2012) Developing inclusive classroom practices: what guidance do commercially published texts offer teachers?, European Journal of Special Needs Education, 27, 4 499-516. DOI:10.1080/08856257.2012.720412 Black-Hawkins, K. (2014) Researching inclusive classroom practices: the Framework for Participation, In L. Florian (Ed.) (2014) The Sage Handbook of Special Education, (2nd Edn) London: Sage. Amrhein, B. & Reich, K. (2014) Inklusive Fachdidaktik, In Amrhein, B. & Dziak-Mahler, M. (Ed.), Fachdidaktik inklusiv: Auf der Suche nach didaktischen Leitlinien für den Umgang mit Vielfalt in der Schule Münster, Waxmann. p. 31-45. European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education (2012) Profile of Inclusive Teachers, Odense, Denmark: EADSNE, http://www.inclusive-education.org/system/files/publications/EADSNE%20Profile%20of%20Inclusive%20Teachers.pdf. Enabling Education Network (2013) http://www.eenet.org.uk/resources/eenet_ newsletter/eer2/page16.php United Nations (2015) http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/