Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Education

Introduction

Over the past 20 years, a growing body of literature has begun to document how teachers might be prepared to support the development of inclusive education. As will be discussed, it is a fragmented and partial literature that reflects ongoing debates about the concept of inclusive education. The aim of this entry is to provide an overview of the responses to these debates in teacher education and professional development activities.

When it first came into use, the term inclusive education was associated with a response to what was widely viewed as a key problem associated with special needs education: the separation and segregation of learners identified as having special educational needs from others not so identified. Inclusive education reflected the idea that all children should be educated together in mainstream schools. However, the use of the term has broadened over the past 30 years to address, as described in the Incheon Declaration, the United Nations...