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Session Information
04 SES 13 D, Preparing Teachers to Include All Learners with Head, Heart and Hands: An International Perspective.
Symposium
Contribution
Given inclusive education is now mandated in Australia, it is concerning that teacher education programs to prepare pre-service teachers for inclusion have been slow to respond to such policy and legislation (Sharma, Loreman & Forlin, 2011) . In Australia, an overwhelming 63% of teachers reported that their training and professional development had not provided the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively teach students with disabilities (Commonwealth of Australia, 2016). In order to understand how best to design teacher education courses and units, Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is used to guide the current research. The TPB outlines four key elements that influence one’s behaviour. Namely; attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and intentions (Ajzen, 1987). In the case of inclusive education, a teacher who has a positive attitude towards responding to diversity (attitudes), feels their behaviour is typical within their specific culture and is socially supported (subjective norm), and believes they have sufficient knowledge and skills regarding how to include individuals with disabilities (perceived behavioural control), is likely to have an intention to act inclusively and facilitate inclusion. With this theory in mind, the aim of this study was to understand the impact of a university unit on constructs relating to quality inclusive classroom practices of PSTs. More specifically, a 5-part questionnaire including measures of PST’s attitudes, concerns, teaching efficacy and intentions was administered. Importantly, given the current study is concerned with PSTs, subjective norm could not be consistently measured due to lack of regular employment at a school. Also, demographic variables were recorded. The sample were 68 PST enrolled in an inclusive education unit (‘Inclusive Education: Teaching Diverse learners’), at Monash University, Australia. The questionnaire was administered on two occasions. Once prior to the unit (week 1 of semester) and again after the unit was complete (week 9 of semester). This design was used to determine if, by taking part in the unit, the PST total scores on the constructs changed significantly. Data obtained from the PSTs were analysed using descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-Tests. The results indicated that PST had more positive attitudes, less concerns and higher teaching efficacy after taking part in the inclusive education unit. These findings were all significant (p = <.05). Interestingly, the difference pre/post in intentions to teach inclusively were not significant. This suggests that more reforms and research is required to give PST clearer ideas about how to implement inclusive education. The implications of these findings will be discussed in relation to the design of teacher education units, the preparation of PST and sustaining inclusive education.
References
Ajzen, I. (1987). Attitudes, traits, and actions: Dispositional prediction of behavior in personality and social psychology. In Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 20, pp. 1-63): Elsevier. Commonwealth of Australia. (2016). Access to real learning: The impact of policy, funding and culture on students with disability. Canberra, Australia: Author Sharma, U., Loreman, T., & Forlin, C. (2011). Measuring teacher efficacy to implement inclusive practices: An international validation. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 12(1), 12-21
Programme by Networks, ECER 2021
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
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