A learning experience: case study of an integrated resource teacher

Abstract

This article looks at a year in the life of a special education teacher. The author reflects on her debut as an inclusion specialist in 1996 and gives an in-depth study of how her training, previous experience and approach to teaching was put to the test in a new educational environment. This piece explores the challenges that resource teachers and other special educators may face in the light of recent policies regarding inclusion. The inclusion specialist is required to be a teacher, manager, liaison, trainer and more, as she/he learns to get the maximum from students and co-workers in what is often an already strained workplace. Personal narrative is tied to the literature and, through hindsight, the author relates the change that took place as experience was melded with study and reflection. The result is a portrayal of how a change of policy can affect an individual teacher and researcher, as well as a whole school, and provides an uncommon research approach to the field of research into inclusivity.