International discussion on inclusive education has managed to identify various contextual, process and individual factors having an impact on implementation. In addition, learning and support assistants (LSAs) have been found to be a key element in enhancing participation and learning for all students in inclusive schools. The present…

This qualitative study looked at the experience of teachers, past and present, who have taught Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students at an inclusive school on an island nation. The researcher explored the perceived ability of the teachers to support these students in learning social and emotional skills. Additionally, the study included the…

Internationally, teacher assistants (TAs) have emerged as a prominent feature of inclusive educational service delivery and existing research has focused extensively on their roles, training and supervision. In the context of this special issue on TAs, this article describes reasons why relying extensively on TAs as a central feature of inclusive…

Collaboration between educators is considered to be the key issue when implementing inclusive practices within schools. An open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used to extend the current understanding of collaboration between teaching staff. The questionnaire was administrated to 167 classroom teachers, subject teachers,…

Inclusion is an expectation of all mainstream schools across England yet research into strategies concerning how teachers and teaching assistants facilitate effective inclusive practice remains limited. This study explores the enactment of Florian and Black Hawkins (2011. "Exploring Inclusive Pedagogy." "British Educational Research…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to highlight a paradox between inclusion/exclusion at the level of the organisation and classroom practices, as well as between general and disability/special educational needs (SEN)-specific approaches to diversity in the classroom. The authors recommend better alignment between school policies and teaching…

This book addresses the critical need for highly qualified personnel to work with students that have varying support needs, and provides a framework for analyzing these needs. The exploration of Positive Behavior Supports in this text will serve as a guide to help prepare teachers, teachers in training, and other service providers to adequately…

Dominant deficit-focused discourses of autism have supported the use of specialised practices within education. This is despite the fact that recent micro-level research provides evidence of overlooked interactional competence in autistic children and problematises the idea of their unavailability to ordinary teaching methods. The aim of this…

Background: Inclusive education policies have led to a worldwide increase in the number of teaching assistants (TAs) working in mainstream schools. TAs have a large amount of responsibility for supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), a role which by default has become instructional in practice, and for which…

This paper reports on a faculty-wide investigation into the experiences of students requiring academic accommodations due to disability. Underpinned by the social model of disability and acceptance that universal design benefits the entire community, this study was conducted at a leading Australian university. A mixed methods approach was used to…

Purpose: The objective of this study was to understand and learn about in-service teachers' and educational assistants' professional development (PD) experiences for inclusive physical education (IPE), individually and collaboratively. Method: Using a multiple case study design and hermeneutic inquiry, the experiences of three teachers and three…

Adjustments are considered necessary for students with disabilities to be fully included in classroom instruction, classroom assessment and external accountability tests. The 67 item Checklist of Learning and Assessment Adjustments for Students (CLAAS), translated for the Chinese community, was used by 74 teachers from Macau and Mainland China to…

This paper presents results of an analysis of primary-aged pupils' educational experiences over a 35 year period. Data drawn from a set of large-scale systematic observation studies, conducted in the UK between 1976 and 2012, are used to describe pupils' average classroom experiences at six points in time over this period. These data are then used…

This participatory action research study engaged classroom teachers, special education teachers, teacher assistants, and a principal in examining and resolving role issues within inclusive classrooms. Analysis of data from multiple sources revealed three predominant findings: (a) when teachers were confronted with role problems, they identified an…

According to Blatchford, learning support assistants (LSA) in schools within England comprise of a quarter of their workforce. In recent years, the inclusion of children with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream school settings has seen significant rises. Furthermore, the English government has raised expectations on the amount of…