This paper reports findings of a mixed methods study examining private school teachers' perceptions of efficacy in dealing with the challenges presented by inclusive education in Macao. This is highly pertinent after the Government invited consultation to propose changes to amendments of the Decree Law of 1996 concerning the education of students…

In Macao, the government has initiated a debate regarding revisions in the Decree Law in order to promote a more inclusive schooling system. In this Special Administrative Region of China, inclusive education is one of three possible types of special education that are likely be legislated in the future. The way the teachers perceive the different…

This study examines changes in attitudes, teaching efficacy, and concerns about inclusive education in a sample of 2361 teachers in Hong Kong who took a professional learning course about inclusive education. Participants completed a questionnaire seeking demographic information and their perceptions about these three aspects of inclusive…

This study investigated changes in teacher self-efficacy for inclusive practice using a mixed method research design. Participants were 417 in-service teachers in Hong Kong taking a 1-week basic teacher-training course about inclusive education. Data were collected pre and post participation in the course using the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive…

This paper reports the final development of a scale to measure pre-service teachers' perceptions in three constructs of inclusive education, namely, sentiments or comfort levels when engaging with people with disabilities; acceptance of learners with different needs; and concerns about implementing inclusion. The Sentiments, Attitudes, and…

The inclusion of students with special education needs in regular schools in Mexico is slowly gaining momentum. Likewise, teacher training for inclusion is increasingly becoming an important aspect of preservice training. This research investigates the perceptions of 286 preservice teachers who are about to complete their general teacher training…

Internationally, a move towards inclusive education has been adopted as the preferred model in most education systems. Yet there are still many jurisdictions that find that they simply do not have the resources necessary to embark on such a major development as inclusion. A critical issue in many such regions has been the difficulty in reforming…

While many states and territories in Australia were initially a little slow to develop a strong momentum towards inclusive educational practices, this has been addressed quite dramatically in the past ten years. Acknowledging that each jurisdiction in Australia has its own department of education and determines its own educational directions this…

Since the mid-1990s in Hong Kong there has been a slow but obvious shift from expecting students with disabilities to be educated in segregated special schools to providing more opportunities for them to be educated alongside their mainstream peers. Pre-service teacher training institutions have begun to offer modules of study in order to assist…

Professional learning for teachers is important if they are to be prepared for teaching in inclusive classrooms. This is particularly pertinent in Hong Kong where teachers have little personal experience of inclusion and where teaching continues to be didactic and examination oriented. Since Hong Kong implemented a whole school approach to…

In 2003 the authors visited four schools in the Western Australian Department of Education and Training's Kimberley Education District to investigate the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) in the curriculum for students who have diverse needs. The visits also provided an opportunity to investigate how teachers in remote school…

This paper reports the findings of a research study that investigated the ways in which Australian regular class teachers cope during inclusive education and the specific issues which are stressful for them. The study was undertaken in primary schools in Queensland, Australia, during 1997. Initial focus group interviews with 17 regular class…

This paper outlines a collaborative research project between six teacher training universities in Australia and South Africa which investigated preservice teachers' acceptance of and social interactions with people with a disability. Preservice teachers (n=2,850) were asked to complete a 20-item Interactions with Disabled Person Scale and twelve…

When establishing inclusive or whole schooling practices, the attitudes of students towards their peers with differing abilities to themselves is potentially a critical determinant in the success of schools to manage diverse student populations. This research investigates any potential changes in peer attitudes following the inclusion of…

Australian elementary teachers (n=571) in whose classrooms children with moderate or severe intellectual disabilities were included were surveyed. Sources of stress included their perceived competence, their concern that the education of the majority of students not be affected, and the behavior of the child with disabilities. (SK)