Inclusive Education in Aotearoa: What are we doing in initial
teacher education, professional learning and development?
Report Summary No. 9 (2010)
Matt Frost
Policy and Information Researcher
15 June 2010
Context

This project was the result of ongoing conversations with “parents, educators and
members of the NZCCS National Services Leadership Team.”

Research funded by the J.R. McKenzie Trust, Pub Charities and the Christchurch
College of Education.

Researchers were Drs Missy Morton and Liz Gordon (Dr Gordon is a former Member of
Parliament and spokesperson for the Alliance on education).
What did the project seek to achieve?

The project asked a series of research questions:
o What are we doing in New Zealand to prepare new and beginning teachers to
educate disabled students in primary and secondary classrooms?
o What are we doing to provide our current primary and secondary teachers with
staff development to enhance the education and school experiences of disabled
students in primary and secondary education?
o What are the indicators of effective practice for initial teacher education and
professional development to enhance the education and school experiences of
disabled students in primary and secondary education?
o How does current provision of initial teacher education and professional
development compare with indicators of effective practice?

It incorporated three elements:
o A literature review
o An examination of initial teacher education training programmes in New Zealand
o A survey of schools on their teacher professional development around including
disabled students
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
It is recognised that an effective initial teacher education programme is required for
inclusive education to work well. Other research confirms this and notes, “the world class
schools that our society needs and expects require a well-prepared and qualified diverse,
professional teaching cohort…There is a growing consensus that the single most
important influence in the education of a child is a well-prepared, caring and qualified
teacher. (p. 3)

Inclusion has been given a place of prominence in terms of educational policy in spite of
the fact that teachers may not be well prepared to teach in inclusive ways.
Power, politics and ethics in education

Social justice plays an important part when thinking about inclusive education.

It is important for all educators (including those working with disabled children and
young people) to engage in reflective teaching practice. They need to examine
critically how their own work as a teacher (including their training) is influenced by
often quite subtle assumptions about power and labelling of groups of children.

Teachers “must have a critical understanding of the structures of society, must value
a range of students and be caring of students and able to motivate them.” (p. 4)
Teachers need to realise that they can be the agents of change in their schools
however, many teacher education programmes do not encourage this critical thinking.

Comparisons are made between disability and other forms of diversity such as race
and colour. It is noted that “schools tend to be rich in cultural diversity but that special
educators need to take a lead in providing diverse cultural environments…Many
students from other cultures end up as ‘special education’ students because of the
biased expectations of schools.” (pp. 5-6)

Professor of Inclusive Education, University of London, Roger Slee, asks the question
“should not the preparation of ‘inclusive’ teachers be woven right across the fabric of
the teacher training curriculum?” (p. 6) He argues against a league table approach
and making units of ‘special education’ compulsory in the general teacher education
curriculum.

There are differences of opinion amongst teachers as to exactly what inclusion
means – from all students learning together in general classrooms to ‘educating
students with learning disabilities or students who are functioning at close to grade
level in general education classrooms.” (p. 7)
The New Zealand context
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
The report acknowledges that the New Zealand education system has many elements
that should support inclusive practice, including:
o An inclusionary legislative framework
o A general system of teacher education (every teacher is exposed to some core
training in their degree)
o A school framework and curriculum that specifically mentions the importance of
diversity

There are several elements of the New Zealand education system that make inclusion
more difficult to achieve. These include the policy issue of ‘school choice’ that tends to
favour students and their families if these children are academically inclined.

The researchers undertook an examination and content analysis of both policy
documents related to education and the content of teacher training programmes. They
also examined post training professional development in schools.
Just what does ‘inclusion’ mean?

One of the biggest barriers to effective teaching of inclusive education is the wide
divergence in just what ‘inclusion’ of disabled learners in an education sense means.

The researchers found a “sector rife with differing definitions and meanings, disparate
policies and practices, highly uneven descriptions of what inclusion means in teacher
education, courses that uphold the theory of inclusion but not its practice and resistance
at the school level” (p. 10)

The New Zealand Disability Strategy is mentioned as a document that should be having
an impact on the teaching of inclusive education but is not. “Not a single interviewee
mentioned the Disability Strategy as a key tool for promoting the rights of people with
disabilities to education.” The authors conclude that the Strategy has had “little or no
impact on Initial Teacher Education for Inclusion.”

It is also suggested that the term ‘diversity’ is challenging for inclusion because too often
disability is either not thought about (with a major focus being on race or gender) or is
subsumed into a wide range of ‘diversities’ and so is therefore diluted.

Small things (like changes in staff) could greatly affect the ability for providers of teacher
education to offer a course in inclusion.
Who is teaching ‘inclusive education?

For inclusive education providers, professional studies are at the heart of their
courses however many factors can influence the willingness to teach inclusive
education to teachers.
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
A good example is the lack of courses focusing on inclusion for trainee secondary
teachers. The secondary teacher education course is often a single year graduate
diploma where there is much emphasis on curriculum content. This can reinforce the
view that ‘teaching the subject’ is the most important thing for the secondary teacher
to do.

One key factor influencing whether a teacher-training provider will offer a course in
inclusive education is whether students and staff have strong relationships and
associations with disabled people themselves.

Sometimes schools and trainee teachers practice a form of ‘partial inclusion’ where
they are comfortable with some students and disabilities but not others.

Teacher trainees were being exposed to judgemental aspects of professional
development. One response noted that “obviously disabled children who have a will
to learn will be managed differently to children who disrupt the learning of the general
class”

Other elements that could hinder effective inclusion included a perceived ability for
children to cope according to age, the effects on the other children in the class and
the amount of time appropriate for children to be included.
Implications for CCS Disability Action – June 2010

Many of the issues raised in this report are still valid four years after its publication –
especially those around the relative lack of teacher professional development and
training.

The links to other social movements such as education for students of different race or
gender may well be helpful when discussing these issues with government ministers and
officials who are likely to ‘get’ those connections.

The question around the ‘slippage’ in just what the term ‘inclusion’ means should be
useful to the organisation when it considers its own thinking around what inclusive
education means.
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