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“ . . . it wasn’t until I kind of started teaching at [school] where I am now, yeah that I really started to be like, oh my gosh I don’t know how to do this”

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(1)

“I don't want them to feel

like they're failing because

it's not them, it's me

failing them”

“I actually don’t know what to do.

Like, I’m like I don’t know how to

scaffold the learning down that

low. He can’t read and he can’t

write, you know? So, it’s like what

do I do?”

“I would say no I

didn’t have any

experience with

those types of

learner’s

disabilities,

cognitive or physical

during my

practicum at all”

“Inclusive education

to me, means that if

we have a topic that

we’re learning in a

class setting that a

teacher is able to

understand that there

are different learners

in the classroom and

that they all learn

different ways”

“All students should

be able to

participate in some

form or some way,

in every lesson that

I teach”

“ . . . it wasn’t until I

kind of started

teaching at [school]

where I am now, yeah

that I really started to

be like, oh my gosh I

don’t know how to do

this”

“At the start I was like holy

crap

this is pretty full on

because at [school] and

[school] where I did my

practicums they didn’t really

have a Special Needs Unit or

so many kids with different

abilities”

“I feel sometimes

there’s a disconnect

between some of the

information that gets,

you know passed on

and how that’s done”

“I had an RTLB come in

and she was just

assessing one of the boys

that was in my class and

it was really interesting

talking to her cos she’d

sort of worked alongside

him all through primary

school”

“I think lots of students

that do struggle with

literacy, yeah like I don’t

know how to cater to them.

So, you have to go out of

your way quite a lot to

figure out what to do”

“No, we didn’t really learn

anything about how to deal

with parents or how to speak

to them or what to say or what

not to say. It was more of a …

refer to the person that is next

(2)

“I don't want them to feel

like they're failing because

it's not them, it's me

failing them”

“I actually don’t know what to do.

Like, I’m like I don’t know how to

scaffold the learning down that

low. He can’t read and he can’t

write, you know? So, it’s like what

do I do?”

“I would say no I

didn’t have any

experience with

those types of

learner’s

disabilities,

cognitive or physical

during my

practicum at all”

“Inclusive education

to me, means that if

we have a topic that

we’re learning in a

class setting that a

teacher is able to

understand that there

are different learners

in the classroom and

that they all learn

different ways”

“All students should

be able to

participate in some

form or some way,

in every lesson that

I teach”

“ . . . it wasn’t until I

kind of started

teaching at [school]

where I am now, yeah

that I really started to

be like, oh my gosh I

don’t know how to do

this”

“At the start I was like holy

crap

this is pretty full on

because at [school] and

[school] where I did my

practicums they didn’t really

have a Special Needs Unit or

so many kids with different

abilities”

“I feel sometimes

there’s a disconnect

between some of the

information that gets,

you know passed on

and how that’s done”

“I had an RTLB come in

and she was just

assessing one of the boys

that was in my class and

it was really interesting

talking to her cos she’d

sort of worked alongside

him all through primary

school”

“I think lots of students

that do struggle with

literacy, yeah like I don’t

know how to cater to them.

So, you have to go out of

your way quite a lot to

figure out what to do”

“No, we didn’t really learn

anything about how to deal

with parents or how to speak

to them or what to say or what

not to say. It was more of a …

refer to the person that is next

(3)

Beginner Teacher

Preparedness for

Inclusion

Sophia Attwood

Educational Psychology Master’s Student

(4)

Research Context: Policy and Guidance

Education Act 1989

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the

Child

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons

with Disabilities

The New Zealand Disability Strategy

New Zealand Curriculum

Success for All policy

Our Code, Our Standards

Education Act

“people who have special education

needs have the same rights to enrol

and receive education at state

schools as people who do not”

(

Ministry of Education, 2015, p. 49)

United Nations Convention on the

Rights of the Child

“Children who have any kind of disability

have the right to special care and support”

“Young people should be encouraged to

reach the highest level of education of which

they are capable”

(United Nations, 2006)

The New Zealand Disability

Strategy

“inclusive education is a

core

competency for all teachers and

educators”

(Ministry of Social Development, 2016)

Our Code, Our Standards

“develop a culture that is focused on

learning, and is characterised by

respect, inclusion, empathy,

collaboration and safety”

(5)

The Study: Research Questions

1. To what extent do beginner secondary school teachers feel

they have the knowledge, attitudes and practical skills

needed to teach students with disabilities inclusively?

2. How well do graduate teachers feel their ITE programmes

have supported them to develop the knowledge, attitudes and practical skills needed to teach students with

disabilities inclusively?

3. What personal factors contribute to a graduate teacher’s

(6)

Phase One:

Beginner Teacher Preparedness for

Inclusion Questionnaire

Part A:

Demographics

Part B:

 Experience of ITE

 Knowledge of inclusive education legislation and policy in

New Zealand

 Feelings of preparedness and level of confidence to teach

and include students with a disability

Part C:

Participants’ perspectives about teaching a diverse group of learners and how these may change over time

Student ability is not fixed

Students don’t mind being known as having ‘special

needs’

Grouping students by ability is an effective way of

teaching

It is the

teacher’s

responsibility to teach all learners

Classroom teachers don’t really need to know about laws

and policies relating to the inclusion of students with

disabilities

Participants

:

40 respondents

13 men; 27 women

Aged between 23 -46+

(7)

Phase Two: Follow-up interview

Semi-structured (flexible)

Organised according to topic areas:

• Knowledge and understanding of inclusion

• Experience of ITE with reference to how inclusion was

taught

• Current teaching practice

• Retrospectively identified gaps in learning

Participant Subject Experience

Amy PE 9 terms

Sam PE 5 terms

Ben Social Studies 2 terms

(8)

Retrospectively

identified learning gaps

Valuable practicum experiences

were

fortuitous events

Knowledge of curriculum, assessment, teaching, and

learning

(9)

Retrospectively

identified

learning gaps

Interprofessional collaborative practice

Knowledge of

legislation, human rights, and policy

How inclusion content was disseminated

Assessment and high quality learning

(10)

Interprofessional Collaborative Practice

Working collaboratively with teacher aides, RTLBs, and EPs and SENCOs posed a significant challenge for beginner

teachers.

When you’re doing a [sic] teacher training not much emphasis is put on the fact that you will have to collaborate and working [sic]

alongside teacher aides

“You have got someone extra in the class that you could use and I think it would have been good if we had had at least a day, or a

workshop on just how to work with different teacher aides”

“They’re [the teacher aide and student] there and they’re listening to what you’re saying and everyone knows they’re there but they

tend to do the work and operate separately to the rest of the class”

64.9% of participants felt that ITE did little or nothing

at all to help them develop their knowledge of supports

available for students with disabilities (including

personnel support, and funding and resources) (M=3.70,

(11)

“I just don’t have that relationship with the student

because they have either a dependency on that

teacher aide because they know that teacher aide

and they’re with that teacher aide all the

time . . . I

don’t feel like I’ve been given the responsibility to

have success with them

(12)

Knowledge of legislation, human

rights, and policy

62.2 59.5 78.4 70.3 73 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

1989 Education Act ‘Success for All’

policy

UN Conventions on the Rights of Persons

with Disabilities

UN Conventions on the Rights of the

Child

NZ Disabilities strategy % with little to no knowledge

A staggering 83.8 % of participants felt that their initial teacher education did little or nothing at all to help them develop their knowledge of local legislation and policy

(13)

Knowledge of legislation, human

rights, and policy

“No, I saw that. I don’t know if I am allowed to

say that. I saw that in the survey, that success

for all, and I had no idea what that meant"

“No, I don’t remember ever talking about, I

guess like a policy or anything like that that

(14)

“I’ve

kind of always been of the mind-

set that that’s

just what you do as a teacher. Yeah, and I like

naturally like to think that I, you know do what I can

to try and make sure all the students in my classroom

are

included and catered for”

“Well, it would be like an obligation, right? You’re

obligated to do your job and so I kind of think that it’s

a given personally. And, I think that’s probably what

(15)

Retrospectively

identified learning gaps

Valuable practicum experiences

were

fortuitous events

Knowledge of curriculum, assessment, teaching, and

learning

(16)

My level of confidence in including students with disabilities in my classroom is

My level of confidence in teaching students with disabilities in my classroom is

I can use teaching approaches that support the presence,

participation and learning of ALL students, including students with disabilities

I can identify strategies for collaborating effectively with teacher aides and professionals

I can identify strategies for collaborating effectively with parents /whanau/ caregivers

I can use language that demonstrates the value of students

(17)

The value of personal experience

with disability

Preparedness varied significantly according

to the nature of a teacher’s personal

connection with a person with a disability.

(18)

Preparedness of those who had an acquaintance

(

M

=5.53,

SD

=1.83,

N

=6),

v

Preparedness of those who had an intimate

relationship (

M

=8.17,

SD

=2.18,

N

=5),

nearly

reached significance (p=.061)

(19)

“I was talked down to a lot, and it had nothing to do

with me understanding the information, it's just when

it came to writing it down I had a tough time putting

it down correctly . . . they thought that I was . . . just

low ability and I didn't understand, whereas that

wasn't the case”

(20)

Retrospectively

identified learning gaps

Valuable practicum experiences

were

fortuitous events

Knowledge of curriculum, assessment, teaching, and

learning

(21)

Valuable practicum experiences

were fortuitous events

73% of participants had little to no experience

teaching students with disabilities on

(22)

“I

think I was pretty lucky to be able to

do that in my

placement”

“I was

just lucky enough on practicum

to get that

Valuable practicum experiences

were fortuitous events

“. . . it was kind of an environment where there was

like no high stakes. There was no assessment . . . they were just doing it, you know just for enjoyment or even experience. So, it meant that you could just try

different things”

“[they] had other teachers there as well who also, you

know normally teach them that you can talk to about

(23)

“I

guess it taught me what

(24)

Implications For Educational

Psychologists

1. What does this mean for EPs working with

beginner teachers?

2. Are EPs satisfied with their training and its role

(25)

Inclusion is not so much a destination

as a way of thinking and acting

(26)

…if you care about promoting

opportunity and reducing inequality,

the classroom is the place to start.

Great teaching is about so much

more than education; it is a daily

fight for social justice.”

References

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