Complexities of preparing teachers for inclusive education: case-study of a university in Sweden

Abstract

Sweden is internationally regarded as an inclusive educational system. This study explores how teacher education programmes in Sweden have been organised as regards inclusive education (IE). Specifically, the study examines how teacher candidates and staff perceive teacher pre-service training for IE in terms of its curriculum and pedagogical practices towards students. The question was explored through a case-study of a large, well-respected university in Sweden, using semi-structured interviews and group-discussions with teacher candidates and staff members, and document analyses. The study revealed that the university makes several purposeful efforts to prepare its teacher candidates to practise IE, e.g. all teacher education programmes have a specific course on inclusion, while this content is also infused into several other courses. Nonetheless, the study also demonstrates that teacher candidates lack a deeper understanding of relationship between special education and inclusion, which can probably be attributed to the wider socio-political context dominated by the special education narrative.

Exploration of In-Service Teachers’ Preparedness and Perceived Challenges about Inclusive Education in the United Arab Emirates

“…Similarly, a study by Gathumbi et al (2015) reported that lack of teacher training in inclusive education results in teachers being unprepared to manage students with special needs in education. Miskolci et al (2020) state that socio-political factors influence the teachers' understanding about inclusive education, even after their training in special education and inclusion. Although socio-political factors can influence the teachers' preparedness for inclusive education, special education training programs are vital to prepare teachers for inclusive education.…”

Exploring the perceptions of lecturers and final year students about the infusion of inclusion in initial teacher education programmes in South Africa

“…To achieve this, individual and focused courses on inclusive education need to be strengthened, and all subject specific as well as methodology/didactics lecturers will need to learn about the principles and practices of inclusive education, and be willing to infuse these into their content and assessment. A blend of both these approaches seems the most workable approach (Miškolci et al, 2021).…”

From Salamanca to Sweden: inclusive education as policy in transit

“…Thus, inclusive education will often be a subject in a course or lectures on special education, rather than within for instance courses or lectures on teaching or the organization of schooling. This has not been a matter of much research in the Swedish context, but a recent study (Miškolci et al, 2020) made a case study of a Swedish university. Key-actors among both teaching and administrative staff, and students from all teacher-training programs-preschool, primary school and upper-secondary school-were interviewed.…”

“…Rather than challenging this hierarchy, the studied university had developed and incorporated special education courses in their teacher-training programs. As teacher-training is a space in which the future school is hierarchized and shaped, this acceptance of political influence over course-structure and syllabi is revealing as regards the de-prioritization of inclusive education and the tension among these contradictory educational policies risks constraining the university's capacity to prepare its teacher candidates to develop inclusive practices (Miškolci et al, 2020).…”