The views of recent graduates of a blended learning programme for specialist teachers of children with learning and behavior difficulties in New Zealand were investigated.Six focus group interviews examined factors that participants considered enabled them to develop programme competencies as well as those that acted as barriers to competency development. Results indicated that a range of factors had acted as barriers to or enablers of competency development. These focused on five overarching themes related to: course content, relevance, clarity and structure; support networks; managing time and stress; pre-requisite knowledge, skills, and experience;and, access to technology. The implications of these factors for the further development of blended learning programmes are identified.Training teachers for working with students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is internationally regarded as an important and challenging endeavour. With many teachers reporting not feeling well prepared for working with children with SEND, the effectiveness of teacher training programmes is an important focus for teacher educators (Smith and Tyler 2011). To this end, studies seeking the views of specialist teachers about the training programmes they have completed have an important role to play in shedding light on how such programmes might be improved (Conderman et al. 2013; Lombardi and Hunka 2001). With teacher educators under pressure to effectively train more teachers of students with SEND as well as to increase quality and lower costs, more emphasis is being placed on utilizing e-learning to achieve these aims (Garrison 2011). E-learning is defined as, " …electronically mediated asynchronous and synchronous communication for the purpose of constructing and confirming knowledge" (Garrison 2011, 2). The two primary forms of e-learning are online learning and blended learning. The study reported in this article aims to contribute knowledge about how training for specialist teachers might be improved by examining factors that could act as enablers of or barriers to competency development within the context of a blended learning programme.Results of various studies suggest that online professional training for specialist teachers can result in successful outcomes. For example, a study of professional development for teachers of students with autistic spectrum disorders found that an online learning programme was effective in helping teachers to improve the knowledge, competencies and skills needed to work with students with ASD and their families (Rakap, Jones, and Emery 2014). In another study, Thompson, Klass, and Fulk (2012) compared the use of face-to-face and online learning in the delivery of an introductory special education course for students enrolled in a large teacher education programme. Instruction was delivered either via predominately face-to-face or mainly online methods. Student satisfaction, achievement and engagement were investigated in both conditions with results suggesting similar outcomes...

This article reports the views of recent graduates of a competency based, blended learning teacher education programme for specialist resource teachers of children with learning and behaviour difficulties in New Zealand. Identifying and developing the competencies needed by teachers in the field of special needs education is important in ensuring that these specialists are well prepared to meet the needs of students and schools. Participants completed an online questionnaire survey responding to two questions, the extent to which the 51 competencies addressed in the programme were important to their professional work, and the extent to which the programme had enabled them to develop these competencies. Results indicated that programme competencies were perceived by participants to be of high importance to their work in the field of learning and behaviour difficulties, and that they considered themselves to have been well enabled to develop these competencies. Based on these findings, implications for teacher educators are discussed, limitations of the research study are identified and recommendations for future research made. Hornby, G. 2014. "Inclusive special education: Evidence-based practices for children with special needs and disabilities." New York: Springer. Knowles, M. S., E. F. Holton, and R. A. Swanson. 2015. The Adult Learner: The Definitive Classic in Adult Education and Human Resource Development (8th Ed.). London: Routledge.

The focus of this article is to discuss the issue of teacher preparation for special and inclusive education in the English speaking Caribbean. The article suggests how teacher preparation for special and inclusive education in the Caribbean could be improved by the implementation of a competency-based, e-learning training program that was developed in New Zealand. The New Zealand training program is described and a brief summary of findings of a study evaluating the effectiveness of the program is presented. Finally, the article highlights how the New Zealand program can be translated into the Caribbean context.

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This article examines the implications of selective secondary school education in Barbados for the provision of an inclusive and equitable education system and highlights its impact on educational outcomes. The concepts of inclusion and equity in education are discussed and their importance in achieving the education goals of nations within the Englishspeaking Caribbean are highlighted. The historical development of the selective secondary school system in Barbados is outlined and the inequity perpetuated by high stakes selection examinations are examined. The ongoing effects of the ability grouping that result from this process are discussed. The need for a move away from a selective secondary education system is proposed and a possible means for bringing about this change in Barbados is explored. This has important implications for countries in the Caribbean and in other parts of the world that have selective secondary school education systems.