Education reform towards a whole school approach to catering for diversity within Hong Kong government schools has seen the initiation of several strategies to support mainstream schools in this transition. One of these approaches is the use of a resource school model. Special and mainstream schools in Hong Kong are being invited to establish…

This paper gives an account of one aspect of a recent research project that explored dimensions of inclusion in mainstream schools in Ireland. In particular, the working lives of teachers who have specific responsibility for students with disabilities and/or special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools were explored. In Ireland, such…

Teachers in the Netherlands hesitate to accept responsibility for students with special needs in regular education. They generally do not have positive attitudes towards inclusive education, citing a lack of personal knowledge and skill for teaching students with special needs, an area that was not sufficiently covered in their basic teacher…

This paper describes the primary school teacher education curriculum reform currently under way in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. A general overview of the Finnish context and relevant inclusive education policy issues are presented. The process of developing inclusive education in the curriculum and…

The government in Hong Kong has mandated that all schools should start to accept children with special educational needs by employing a whole school approach. This is not a simple move for teachers as inclusive education is complex, involving a range of issues including developing appropriate government and school policy; providing relevant…

This paper discusses major challenges for the development of teacher education for inclusion through an analysis of relevant recent experience in Malta. Inclusion in society and in education has been explicitly on the Maltese national agenda for the past two decades. The Faculty of Education of the University of Malta has been one of the main…

This paper presents an initiative at the University of Iceland-School of Education aimed at developing school and university partnerships. The discussion addresses whether and how this reform could support inclusive teacher education. Teacher education in Iceland is currently under reconstruction because of new legislation, requiring a master's…

This paper discusses the play interaction of a young child with autism and the strategies adopted by her teachers to facilitate her inclusion in and through play. The data are from an ethnographic case study in an inclusive nursery in the South of England spanning 6 months. The aim was to understand and describe the play of a child with autism in…

In the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of pupils with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) attending mainstream schools. However, particular concerns have been expressed about their inclusion, focused on an increased risk of peer rejection and lack of staff knowledge about appropriate teaching approaches. Parental views of…

By definition, children with autism have poor peer relationships despite age and ability. When children enter adolescence, social problems typically worsen and feelings of loneliness and isolation may emerge. Thus, the overarching goal of the current study is to examine the social-emotional relationships of adolescents with autism and their…

Increasing numbers of pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are attending mainstream schools. However, the available evidence suggests that they face a number of barriers that may prevent them from making the most of their education. In particular, recent research has suggested that they are more likely to be bullied, and typically report…

This enquiry has shown that pre-service teachers in Ontario, Canada (n = 141), believe they have the prerequisite training and knowledge to be inclusive educators. They believe inclusion is effective and produces required results for both identified and non-identified students. Inclusion was viewed as a difficult proposition dependent upon several…

This paper investigates the varying attitudes of regular (mainstream) education teachers towards the implementation of inclusion in elementary and secondary school classrooms. This paper tries to take into account the need for a better understanding of teacher attitude towards inclusion and how the inclusive environment can be improved. The…

This paper focuses on taking a first step in the process of influencing teachers' attitudes by building a description of beliefs about inappropriate behaviour that can be used in staff development work to provoke dissonance-led change. It describes a study, undertaken in two parts, exploring teachers' attitudes to inclusion, and ascertaining their…

This paper presents an analysis of the policy themes of service integration, social justice and social inclusion which underpin the integrated community schools policy initiative in Scotland. That initiative is identified as an important vehicle for the Scottish Executive Government's aim of integrating children's services with the overarching…