The integration of inclusive education for disabled children in Azerbaijani schools has become a key priority. This paper explores how lecturers in Azerbaijan perceive inclusive education, focusing on their understanding of inclusion, its significance in teaching, and its implications for their professional roles. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with lecturers at one of the Azerbaijan universities. This paper seeks to answer the main research question: How do lecturers perceive inclusive education? It examines participants' responses to questions such as: What is their view of inclusion? What does inclusive education mean to them as teachers? Why is inclusion crucial in teaching?

Given Azerbaijan's status as a post-Soviet nation, it is important to address the enduring colonial influence on its educational system. To provide a thorough and well-rounded analysis, the research employs critical disability studies and decolonial disability frameworks.  The research uses critical disability and decolonial studies to contextualise postcolonial Azerbaijan's education system. The concept of "helicopter inclusion" (Thomas & Loxley, 2022) suggests that high-income ideas often flow to low-income nations without respecting local cultures, leading to problematic issues in implementing inclusive education policies. Given that Azerbaijan is a postcolonial country, the current study investigates the characteristics of the Soviet education model inside the modern inclusive education system via the lens of postcolonial critical disability studies. Postcolonialism aims to describe and comprehend the ongoing consequences of colonial power (Mallett & Runswick-Cole, 2014). Postcolonial theory looks at literature and culture from two angles: how the author, artist, or cultural producer reflects a colonial past and how they adapt and establish new ways of seeing and understanding the world (Chataika, 2012). This research explores inclusive education in postcolonial countries like Azerbaijan, using decolonial disability studies to challenge dominant narratives and power dynamics. It aims to understand local perspectives, experiences, and challenges, and develop a culturally responsive approach. The research acknowledges the unique history, culture, and social dynamics of each region, fostering dialogue and mutual learning.

This research used a qualitative method to understand and promote inclusive education policies and practices globally. The study used techniques like interviews to gather data on lecturers' perceptions of inclusive pedagogical abilities. The qualitative method provided an in-depth understanding of their perceptions and helped interpret social reality. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with lecturers at a university where most teachers obtain their BA qualification. Conducting interviews requires careful planning, attention, and careful preparation. Researchers must have extensive experience in relevant topic areas and consider factors like interview design, number of interviewees, and data handling. Before beginning my fieldwork, I obtained ethics approval from my university that my study was ethically acceptable or, more simply, that it met the ethical requirements established by various institutional bodies, in my case the University of Sheffield and its Ethical Research Code of Conduct. Participants were given verbal and written agreement in Azerbaijan, to ensure anonymity and confidentiality of their data. As a researcher, I used password-protected computers and USBs to securely store data. The use of pseudonyms ensured participant confidentiality and anonymity. The data collected from interviews were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. The process involved six steps: familiarization, coding, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining themes, and writing up the analysis. The first stage involved organizing data into tables, coding units, and establishing categories. The second stage involved combining categories to identify common codes and develop new categories.

To summarise, inclusive education is a varied and dynamic process influenced by multiple fields, local contexts, and evolving practices. It is not a static concept but rather a journey that each country undertakes at its own pace, requiring personalised measures that align with unique cultural, social, and institutional characteristics. Inclusive education is a vision, an ideology, a policy framework, and a pedagogical discourse aimed at reducing learning barriers and promoting equitable access to education for all, based on principles of human rights, dignity, and core values such as tolerance and compassion. However, establishing meaningful inclusion requires overcoming conceptual uncertainties, systemic barriers, and local complexities. The experiences of lecturers highlight both the obstacles and opportunities of inclusive practices. Criticisms of policies such as the segregation of disabled students, the assessment process by the Medical-Psychological-Pedagogical Commission (MPPC), ability-based grouping, and reliance on defectological pedagogies underline the need for strategies that promote active participation, social inclusion, and educational transformation. These findings emphasise the need for systemic improvements, including adaptive curricula, teacher training, and institutional reforms, to move beyond mere "integration" and towards actual inclusion. Ultimately, inclusive education must be a continuous process of reflection and adaptation, guided by principles that inform all educational policies and practices. Countries can ensure that inclusion becomes a locally meaningful and sustainable reality by consistently reviewing and adjusting their efforts. This study contributes to the goals of teacher education programmes by focusing on the preparation and training of pedagogical personnel for inclusive education in Azerbaijan. Universities should aim to develop future general educators who are knowledgeable, experienced, and accommodating towards students with disabilities.

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