Insights into teacher learning about pedagogy from an international group of teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities

Abstract

This article examines teacher professional learning about pedagogy for teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities within broader teacher education and pedagogical frameworks for this group of learners. The article presents and discusses findings from a USA-England research project, involving classroom observations and interviews with nine teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities from four specialist public school settings, intended to explore teachers' pedagogical decision-making and learning. The theoretical lens of situated learning and the conceptual lens of evidence-based practice are used to contextualise and examine the teachers' views about the what, how and when they learn about pedagogical approaches and strategies. Teachers emphasised the situated and interactional nature of their learning, particularly highlighting the personal responses of students and their relationship with these students. They use this knowledge and understanding to adapt evidence-based strategies and programmes and inform their pedagogical decisions. This affords the concepts of 'situated generalization' and 'practice based evidence' an influential role in how teachers engage in the process of pedagogical decision-making. An implication for teacher educators is the need to support teachers in making connections of new pedagogical understandings and skills with the individual learning profiles and responses of their students with severe intellectual disabilities. IntroductionThis article focuses upon teacher learning in relation to the pedagogical decisionmaking of a group of teachers of students with severe intellectual disabilities in the south-west of Florida and the south-west of England. Whilst the international research project reported here is set in the USA and England, in their similarities and differences, these contexts are similar to many in the wider developed world. Considerations around pedagogies employed by teachers for students with special educational needs (SEN) are apparent in European literature (Meijer, Soriano, and Watkins 2003) and this article contributes to these discussions. We present, analyse and discuss the findings from the project which focused on teachers' views about the what, how and when they learn about the approaches and strategies that inform

Assessments for Learning in Grades 1-9 in a Special School for Students With Intellectual Disability in Sweden

“…There is a strong emphasis that learning takes place in relation to and in collaboration with others, a learning that is situated and relational. The participants also stressed the need for joint effort including other professionals and students themselves for developing their work with AfL Similar results are recalled in studies of Meyers (2011), Meyers andLester (2013) and Jones and Lawson (2015).…”

“…Ongoing learning activities cannot be separated from the social and cultural contexts in which they take place. The teachers in Jones and Lawson's (2015) study, that was conducted on the basis of Lave and Wenger's (1991) theoretical framework, emphasized that their learning was tied to their possibility to be engaged in developing their own school context. The study shows that the teachers used the knowledge and understanding to adapt evidence-based strategies and make educational decisions, especially with regard to the attitude of students and their relationship with students with severe intellectual disability.…”

Teachers’ pedagogical decision‐making and influences on this when teaching students with severe intellectual disabilities

“…Teachers’ pedagogical decisions regarding curriculum in this study often seemed to be strongly shaped by ‘external’ influences such as consultation with others, school/district level advice and commercial curriculum packages. Knowledge of individual students and/or their specific group of students, however, frequently mediated these decisions at the classroom level (see Jones and Lawson, ), for example, deciding how to sequence lessons or when to move on to the next activity (curricular organisational aspects). Perfecto () similarly found, in the case of two secondary school teachers in the Philippines that both a prescribed curriculum and student‐related factors influenced decision‐making and that the teachers made instructional decisions as they mediated their own classroom experiences with the mandated formal curriculum.…”

Exploring Preschool Teachers' and Support Staff's Use and Experiences of Assistive Technology with Children with Disabilities

“…If preschool teachers and their support staff are going to be supportive and promote quality inclusive preschool education that responds to the needs of learners-particularly those with disabilities-then it is important that these professionals possess positive professional philosophies, relevant knowledge and motivations to deliver pedagogy that meets the learning and developmental needs of all children (Yeo, Neihart, Tang, Chong & Huan, 2011). Preschool teachers and their support staff with appropriate inclusive knowledge can provide high-quality education and respond constructively to the needs of educationally diverse children (Jones & Lawson, 2015). All children in inclusive preschool learning environments have the right to access relevant educational and technological resources and to receive an education appropriate for their particular needs (Allen & Cowdery, 2012;Florian & Black-Hawkins, 2011).…”

“…Once preschool teachers and their support staff develop positive philosophies and become proficient in selecting and adapting relevant ATDs in creating an engaging classroom for all learners, it benefits all including the teacher and support staff. It will be difficult to encourage educators and paraprofessionals to be more inclusive in contexts where their philosophies made them feel unsupported or threatened (Jones & Lawson, 2015). Thus positive philosophies would motivate them to see disabilities as opportunities for developing innovations in teaching and learning.…”