Burmese Refugee Students in U.S. Schools

The recent rapid influx of refugee students into U.S. schools has been a learning experience for schools. Not only do U.S. refugees come with memories of trauma, they also have specialized educational needs that differ from international students' or voluntary migrants' needs. They have very different stories of resettlement than either immigrants or international students. This study adds to the available scholarship by advancing understanding of Burmese refugee students' specialized educational needs through personal narratives.

Assessment and Culturally Relevant Inclusive Education

In this chapter, the authors will describe a case study that illuminates assessment, identification, and inclusive educational practices in Tanzania. The key purposes of this chapter are to briefly describe the history of special needs education and policies and assessment practices in Tanzania, to examine how one non-governmental organization project uses culturally relevant assessment and inclusive education to support assessment and education of children in Tanzania, and to offer lessons learned from this study on how assessment and teacher preparation can support inclusive practices and teacher education in Tanzania and other similar locations. This chapter incorporates assessment theory, research in the field, and an understanding of culturally relevant practices drawn from the authors' practical work in the field and Tanzania. This chapter will add to the limited scholarly literature on assessment in inclusive education in Tanzania, while also offering research to practice solutions for teachers and teacher educators in the field.

Inclusion and Exclusion

In this chapter, the authors explore the practice of inclusion as it relates to the education of deaf and hard of hearing (d/hh) students. Using the current situation in Jamaica as a microcosm, it is argued that for this specific population of students it may be necessary to reframe and redefine the notion of inclusion more broadly. For example, the authors argue that as a result of the specific cultural, linguistic, and academic needs of d/hh students, a more traditional approach to inclusion may in fact result in isolation and less access to content and skills. Inclusion that considers how deaf education classrooms may include accessible language, the Deaf community, families of d/hh children, and Deaf role models may be more appropriate for this population.

Thinking Outside the Box

At its core, inclusive education takes a great deal more than educators who follow a checklist of best teaching practices and procedures. It requires professionals philosophically committed to inclusion who effectively and efficiently co-plan and co-teach instruction to a diverse group of learners. Co-planning is one of the most important elements of co-teaching and inclusion, yet one of the hardest things to make time for amongst a busy school week. Within this chapter, the authors will discuss and analyze their co-planning and co-teaching models across two semesters of teaching a differentiation methods course to pre-service undergraduate teachers, specifically sharing about their successful utilization of a virtual platform for co-planning. The chapter will conclude with the positives and challenges of using a virtual planning platform, as well as specific recommendations for how to use one.

Building a Conceptual Framework for Culturally Inclusive Collaboration for Urban Practitioners

Special education teacher preparation is one of the most critical areas of teacher preparation in higher education. The field is even more complicated depending on the environment in which it takes shape given urban, high-needs, suburban, and rural school communities. Equally important in today's teacher preparation paradigm is supplying pre-service teachers with the pedagogical skills necessary to meet the needs of their 21st century learners, especially those students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds and who attend urban schools. This chapter attempts to construct a practitioner friendly framework to examine inextricable linkages between teacher preparation and the role higher education institutions play in providing pre-service special education teachers the requisite skills necessary to become successful urban educators/practitioners. Teacher preparation programs can better support new teacher retention through CRT and family diversity training.

Finding Their Voice

Disability studies seeks to promote equitable education for all students through inclusive education. According to Goodley, disability is multifaceted—being political, cultural, and social in nature. Inclusive education is often underrepresented in teacher preparation. Teacher candidates need experience in providing instruction to all students, not just those considered “normal.” In their research on the use of autoethnography with teacher candidates, Rice and Threlkeld identified that while candidates saw a need for social justice, they lacked the necessary skills to take action. Combining autoethnography with action research would fill a void in the field of inclusive teacher preparation. The critical reflection used in autoethnography would potentially identify areas of social justice needed to improve inclusive practices in the classroom. Candidates would then have an opportunity to engage in action research to explore their identified topic. This chapter proposes a method to combine autoethnography and action research to impact social change among teacher candidates.

Evidence-Based Transition Practices

Preparing youth to become active and independent citizens is a critical goal for all societies. However, youth with disabilities are less likely to achieve the same adult outcomes as their non-disabled peers. Although there is a growing body of research that has identified best practices regarding the facilitation of youth with disabilities from school to an inclusive adult life, many teachers do not have the requisite skills or knowledge to facilitate this process. This chapter explores best practices in transition education for teachers beyond the academic content, identifying eight key strategies that should inform teacher preparation programs. Using a case study from Iran, this chapter critically reflects on the relevance of these strategies in an international context, where inclusion and education of students with disabilities is an emerging field.

Examining Teachers' Professional Development for Promoting Inclusive Education in Displacement

Inclusive education, in most countries affected by an emergency or crisis, is focused on providing access to quality education for all children. Provision of quality education for all children, as discussed in much literature about education, is very much dependent on teacher quality. Improving and sustaining the quality of teaching is equally determined by the type of training and professional development offered to teachers. Teachers, however, in emergency contexts such as in the Northeast of Nigeria, may be recruited to improve student learning, having received little or no relevant training. Therefore, professional learning for teachers that is intended to offer them opportunities for immediate and sustained improvement in practice is, this chapter argues, needed in such emergency contexts. This chapter therefore analyses teacher professional development that can improve the standard of education for all children and then assesses the effect of this development in practice in the Northeast of Nigeria.

Divergent Agendas Within the Danish School Policy and the Dilemmas This Creates for Teachers Working With Inclusive Education

This chapter reports on the dilemmas for teachers working with inclusive education in the Danish school system. Globally, schools, teachers, and students are confronted with tensions between the agendas of optimizing the academic skills of the students on the one hand, and the inclusive agenda of handling the diversity of a variety of different students in the classroom on the other hand. In Denmark, these agendas are reflected in the educational policies and they have formed a context for teachers' practice and for teacher education. In the chapter empirical research about inclusive education will be related to discussions about teacher education and inclusive practices in schools. Critical analysis of the influence of policy and the way policy influence practice seems to be a recommended research approach in future research on inclusion. This should be reflected in teacher education.

Disability Awareness in Teacher Education in Singapore

As the sole teacher education body in Singapore, the National Institute of Education (NIE), plays a pivotal role in equipping Singaporean teachers with the knowledge and skills to work with and support students with disabilities for both mainstream and special schools through its teacher education programs. In addition to the learning of strategies and skills to work with students with disabilities, it is also imperative for teacher education to promote positive attitudinal change among teachers towards persons with disabilities. This chapter describes the disability-awareness approach adopted by the NIE for its preservice teachers and the rationale behind adopting such an approach to foster inclusive attitudes that is grounded within relevant literature and situates disability within Singapore's socio-historical context.