| Abstract: | Policies of inclusive education are emerging from many ministries and departments of education in countries around the world. McLesky and Waldron (2002) have argued that when teachers and administrators in schools begin to have discussions about inclusion the discussions often lead to two conclusions about how schools must change: (a) the change must address the needs of all students, not just those with disabilities, and (b) “school improvement” replaces references to inclusion. That is, teachers and administrators begin to rethink and restructure their programs in special and general education to improve the education of all students. In having to reform their practices general education teachers, in particular, must develop new understandings related to inclusion and reconceptualise how students with disabilities and learning difficulties might best be taught. As a consequence these teachers are recognising that they must change their practices in curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. However, in order to make the changes and to develop new classroom practices general education teachers often reveal a need for inservice training. Thus there is a call from general education teachers for professional development in various areas. Several authors have described a range of initiatives in professional development in the context of school improvement. For example, there are alliances between teachers and researchers through teacher-researcher professional development groups (e.g., Vaughn, Hughes, Schumm, & Klinger, 1998) and collaborative communities (e.g., Englert & Zhao, 2001); professional development schools (PDS) where special educators are viewed as “catalysts” who further the knowledge of both inservice and preservice teachers (Voltz, 2001); “critical friend(s) groups” which are teacher support groups (Bambino, 2002); “Friday Forums” where teachers within a school use internal school expertise to inservice each other (Hudson, 2002); and professional learning communities or networks of various types, sometimes developed by professional organisations and itinerant specialists who are assigned to school districts to work on school reform with schools and teachers. |
