Training is one of the most important aspects of inclusive education.
education
Description
Theme 8 :
Continuous Professional Development
Training is one of the most important aspects of
inclusive education. The success of inclusive education is mainly based on the
teacher’s attitude towards the situation. The case study “Where there’s a will,
there’s a way” (Schmidt, 1998), resulted in the fact that the teacher’s
attitude and commitment was an essential factor in helping the children with
special needs. Recent studies have shown that teachers do not feel prepared and
that their negative attitude is contributing towards not being able to create
an inclusive community. Most teachers are ending up seeing these children with
disability as an added stress (Barnes & Gaines, 2015). A factor which would
help enhance the teacher’s attitude is Continuous Professional Development
(CPD). As mentioned within this document, training is essential for every
teacher as it would empower teachers with knowledge, which should help them
face challenging situations in the classroom, (The Association of Teachers and
Lecturers, 2015). It is not enough to simply mention a number of methods or
attend courses where the educators sit down and listen. Training needs to take
place through several methods such as observations, discussions, mentoring and
coaching. Unfortunately, during many sit down courses, teachers end up leaving
the conference room stating phrases such as “Easier said than done”. Studies
held by Avramidis et al (2000) have shown that professional training lead to an
increased positive attitude towards inclusion of students with special needs.
Through effective support, teachers can learn how to set-up the class in a more
‘friendly way’ which would support children of different needs and abilities.
What this document fails to recognise is the
importance that training should start within the University couses which
prepare teachers and LSEs. These courses should focus more on teaching them on
how to handle children with disabilities in the classroom. The course which
lead me to become a teacher also consisted of 15 credits related to inclusion
(out of 240 credits).
