Does Professional Development Effectively Support the Implementation of Inclusive Education? A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Inclusive education is a reform aimed at educating all students in general classrooms, independent of diversity features such as special educational needs, giftedness, or migration. Its successful implementation requires teachers with professional knowledge about inclusive education, skills to address the diverse needs in the classroom, and positive beliefs toward inclusive education. Teachers are provided with professional development opportunities, but are these effective in improving their learning process and positively impacting students’ behavior? We conducted a meta-analysis to address this question. The screening of 12,050 search results revealed 342 eligible studies with more than 155,000 participants and 1123 effects from four outcome categories: teachers’ knowledge, skills, and beliefs and students’ behavior. We observed positive, though varying, effects on all four outcome categories: large effects on teachers' knowledge regarding inclusive education (g = 0.93), moderate effects on teachers’ skills (g = 0.49), small effects on teachers’ beliefs (g = 0.23), and small-to-moderate effects on student behavior (g = 0.37). We also examined factors that might explain the differences in the strength of training effects. The data suggest that long-term training with high practical relevance and active learning opportunities facilitates transfer to schools.

Exploring the Role of Artificial Intelligence-Powered Facilitator in Enhancing Digital Competencies of Primary School Teachers

“…Professional development programs are frequently provided by educational institutions to enhance the lecturing skills of their educators. Nonetheless, few studies have investigated the effectiveness of various approaches to improving these skills (Donath et al, 2023;Mowbray & Perry, 2015). A study by Mowbray and Perry (2015) suggested that teacher professional development programs improved teachers' ability to design effective lectures.…”

Technology-Enhanced Inclusive Mathematics Learning: Promoting Equity and Lifelong Learning Opportunities for Vision-Impaired Students

“…Policymakers must prioritize providing adequate funding and resources to schools, especially those in underserved communities, enhancing digital coverage. Implementing professional development programs for teachers to integrate technology effectively into their classrooms can ensure optimal use [59]. Collaborating with private-sector partners and using public-private partnerships can also facilitate the procurement of advanced technologies for mathematics instruction.…”

Improving the Ability of Teachers to Address the Special Educational Needs of Students through Capacity-Building Program

“…The study by Donath et al provides insight into how well professional development works to assist inservice teachers in implementing inclusive education [13] . To find out how professional development affected several inclusive education-related outcome variables, the study carried out a thorough meta-analysis.…”