This ground-breaking book considers current perspective on educational reform in the Asia-Pacific regions with a focus on a new era of special education, particularly as this relates to the educational reform towards inclusive education.

How teachers might best be prepared to work in schools with an increasingly diverse pupil population is of concern to educational academics, professionals and governments around the world. Changes that have taken place in legislation and practice often fail to taken into account how practitioners can ensure that all children and young people are able to achieve. The focus of this international text is on innovative practices for preparing teachers to work in inclusive classrooms and schools. Drawing on both pre and in-service training methods, the expert contributors to this book follow three major themes: social and political challenges regarding teacher education – providing an historical perspective on the training of teachers, tensions in preparing teachers for inclusion, cultural issues, the relationship between educational funding and practices and collaborative measures to support a whole school approach innovative approaches in pre-service teacher preparation – discussing a range of innovative models and approaches used in pre-service teacher education courses engaging professional development for inservice teachers – reviewing a range of approaches employed to engage working teachers and help them establish curricula and pedagogy that meets the needs of all students in their classes. Each chapter will include a list of proposed learning outcomes, a theoretical or conceptual framework to help readers develop the proposed innovation, an overview of recent research, discussion of the research data available and a discussion of the international implications and challenges, summarising in suggestions for a positive way forward. Teacher Education for Inclusion: Changing Paradigms and Innovative Approaches is essential reading for practising teacher educators, school leaders, university lecturers in education and post graduate students.

Grounded in the reform effort of a large state university with a history of excellence in teacher education, this book provides teacher educators and institutions with a valuable resource for navigating the choppy waters of reform. Contributors, all involved in the reform process, tell the story of the University of Florida's efforts in the mid-1990s to unify general and special education in its teacher education program. The book examines various aspects of the reform process, explains challenges faced by teacher educators within today's context and particularly within the context of large research institutions, presents strategies leaders use to keep reform on track in spite of challenges, and includes detailed descriptions of the nature and structure of the reformed program. Also included are valuable insights of teacher education experts from other institutions to contextualize the particulars of this reform within the national education and teacher education scenes.

Teachers make a difference. The success of any plan for improving educational outcomes depends on the teachers who carry it out and thus on the abilities of those attracted to the field and their preparation. Yet there are many questions about how teachers are being prepared and how they ought to be prepared. Yet, teacher preparation is often treated as an afterthought in discussions of improving the public education system. Preparing Teachers addresses the issue of teacher preparation with specific attention to reading, mathematics, and science. The book evaluates the characteristics of the candidates who enter teacher preparation programs, the sorts of instruction and experiences teacher candidates receive in preparation programs, and the extent that the required instruction and experiences are consistent with converging scientific evidence. Preparing Teachers also identifies a need for a data collection model to provide valid and reliable information about the content knowledge, pedagogical competence, and effectiveness of graduates from the various kinds of teacher preparation programs. Federal and state policy makers need reliable, outcomes-based information to make sound decisions, and teacher educators need to know how best to contribute to the development of effective teachers. Clearer understanding of the content and character of effective teacher preparation is critical to improving it and to ensuring that the same critiques and questions are not being repeated 10 years from now.

In the late 20th century, a tidal wave of calls for reform and inclusion of special needs students swept over public special education. The current debates over implementing these themes today are authoritatively addressed by 19 distinguished scholars in this thorough volume. Organized into three cohesive sections, it begins with the issues of educational reform and the emerging discourses of disability and integration in the inclusion movement. Respective chapters appraise specific arguments for inclusion and the federal legislation and litigation surrounding and supporting special education. The second part features the thorny issue of assessment, the technological revolution in special education, and the disposition of teacher training. The third section scrutinizes the inclusion of various populations of students with exceptional needs, particularly how teachers can make an easy transition from ideology to educational practice. Special Education in the 21st Century sets the standard for extrapolating future directions by wisely weighing classroom practices for different groups and the technical problems of resources, management, social groupings, instructional design, and the supposition that teachers will automatically change to accommodate an even greater diversity of learners.

Volume 3 of International Perspectives on Inclusive Education focuses on measuring inclusive education from a range of perspectives. It is grounded upon a review of international conceptualizations of inclusive education and ways in which different systems are measuring its impact and effectiveness.

This book is a panoramic view of inclusive education, past, present, and future. Grounded in historical perspective and fueled by contemporary accomplishments, the insightful discussions in this volume cover a wide range of issues, from program implementation and classroom supports to court decisions and financing. The authors compare successes and setbacks from schools and studies nationwide, drawing the big picture of practice and research. Complementing their highly informed, balanced analysis of special education and inclusion programs are highlights of the results from a revealing national study of inclusive education. Emphasizing the need for the concurrent development of inclusion and school restructuring, this book gives policy makers, administrators, school board members, teachers and parents a solid understanding of the process of school reform, as well as a vision for the 21st century. - Back cover.