Mobile technology-enhanced literacy initiatives have become a focus of efforts to support learning for students with literacy difficulties. The "Laptops Initiative for Post-Primary Students with Dyslexia or other Reading/Writing Difficulties" offers insights into and addresses questions about ICT policy making regarding m-learning technologies for…

This article describes a study that aimed to answer the following question: "Will a programme of professional development in the area of special and inclusive education be effective in achieving attitudinal shift in teachers?" Forty-eight teachers who were enrolled on a Master's programme in Special and Inclusive Education were surveyed via a…

Warnock advocated that all young people with learning difficulties should be entitled to an appropriate education beyond the compulsory age of 16. The purpose of the study was to investigate attitudes to post-16 educational provision for students with special educational needs. What are the strengths and weaknesses of current provision and is it…

In this article we describe the processes and outcomes of the development of the "New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars for Students with Special Education Needs". The project focused on teachers working with students described as working long term at Level 1 in the "New Zealand Curriculum". Earlier research had shown that teachers were often puzzled…

This study examines the perceptions of teachers and other professionals of Team-Teach behaviour support training in New Zealand. Analysis of course evaluations, questionnaires, interviews and documents provide the findings. Comparisons are made with Team-Teach training in the UK and similarities and differences between New Zealand training…

Establishing appropriate learning environments for culturally diverse underachieving students continues to challenge educators across a range of international contexts. A synthesis of findings from our studies in New Zealand indicated that teachers and students from Pasifika and Maori backgrounds considered that learning is facilitated by the…

The longer-term effectiveness of phonological awareness intervention for children with reading difficulty is likely to be influenced by the quality of general classroom instruction. This descriptive project used a case study design to follow the literacy progress of three children aged six and seven years with speech and language impairment after…

This article reports the findings of studies of the relationship between off-task behaviours and measures of educational achievement. The work focused on children from an Arabic-speaking/cultural background rarely studied in the literature. The first study involved children within a mainstream school context and found that measures of literacy and…

There is an extensive international research literature on the impact of ability grouping (e.g. streaming or banding) on children's academic and behavioural outcomes. However, it is questionable to what extent the findings of research on this topic have influenced the practice of pupil ability grouping in New Zealand intermediate schools. Nine…

Special school provision for children and young people with special educational needs is an anomaly that exists in many inclusive education systems; this type of educational provision has proved to be resilient even though, with reference to children and young people with special educational needs, there is almost universal acceptance of the…

This article utilises a multiple case study strategy to explore the narratives of Caribbean students with dyslexia on grouping for instruction. It presents a model on learner engagement which highlights students' cognitions about the social and cognitive aspects of learning and the processes that contribute to building knowledge and understanding.…

This article presents a case study of a child aged 12 years with a cochlear implant who is attending a mainstream educational setting in Skopje, FYR Macedonia. The study, which uses both qualitative and quantitative data, took place over a period of 12 months. It illustrates the importance of professional development and training of teachers and a…

This article details the emergence of a training framework to support professional development in inclusive Movement teaching. This arose from a collaborative research project in spring 2008 (supported by the Training and Development Agency, UK), between two universities in England and Israel. Movement education is surprisingly underused globally,…

Many professionals and carers who support people with the label of autism look to lecturers and "trainers" in autism to provide the answers on how to "manage" the "condition". This article describes how two lecturers in autism respond to this challenge by encouraging their students to focus on questions rather than answers. It is argued here that…

Competency in reading is a key factor in literacy attainment. If pupils can read proficiently this allows them to access the curriculum in all subjects and helps them to become confident, successful, motivated learners. Paired reading has long been recognised as an effective approach for supporting reading in schools. It helps to build…