The process of teacher education for inclusion: the Maltese experience

Abstract

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 actors of the inclusion initiative and has also taken a European initiative through the recent co‐ordination of a seven‐country, 3‐year European Union Comenius project on preparing teachers for responding to student diversity. This paper is based mostly on the reflective experience of the author at the Faculty of Education over the past several years. A brief picture of the Maltese education system is followed by a description of the challenges that have been encountered in the promotion of inclusion. These include the development of a rights‐based approach to the education of persons with disability and the widening of its application to all minority or disadvantaged groups, and the impact of political and social contexts on the development of inclusive schools. These developments are then related to intertwined initiatives for teacher education for diversity that were further influenced by the leadership of deans and heads of the department in the faculty of education. Finally, four current issues are highlighted, namely: the strategic balance between the education of specialist educators and that of all teachers for diversity, and between specific and infusion models for such education, and, finally, the pedagogic balance between the academic and experiential learning about inclusion, and between the theory and practice of inclusive teaching.

Teachers’ Preparedness for Activity in the Context of Inclusive Practice

“…The main psychological "barrier" is the fear of the unknown, fear of inclusion harm for the other participants in the process, negative attitude and prejudice, professional uncertainty of a teacher, unwillingness to change, psychological unwillingness to work with the "special" children (Sukhoterina (2013), Bartolo (2010)). This poses serious problems not only to the psychological education community, but also to the methodological departments, and most importantly, to the heads of educational institutions implementing the inclusive principles.…”

Inclusive Education: Preparation of Teachers, Challenges in Classroom and Future Prospects

“…According to Bartolo (2010), head teachers think that the success of the inclusive education depends not only on the training of teachers but also required holistic changes in the overall environment of the school. It may include trained teachers, trained support staff, accessible infrastructures and accessible teaching /learning aids, curriculum adjustment, and modified assessment practices.…”

“…The exclusion of the students with special needs from the main stream institutions may aggravate their disability and negatively effects their development. Bartolo, (2010) reported that only 2% children with special needs attend schools while one third of the total are out of schools. According to Tahir & Khan (2010), about 20 percent of the world's poorest people are those who suffer from some sort of disability.…”

Why school psychology for diversity?

“…Relevant thinking and text extracts were thematically analysed, also with reference to the authors' professional experience in this area (see e.g. Bartolo, 2008Bartolo, , 2010. These were developed into the themes that are discussed below, namely (a) the balancing of the individualist versus the ethics-of-care perspectives of human development and well-being; (b) the implications of the biopsychosocial and social constructivist models in psychology and the social model of disability; (c) the reflection of these newer perspectives in new developments on ethical standards for psychologists; (d) how these developments are reflected in newer perspectives on inclusive education in school psychology; and finally (e) how these developments are reflected in the training of psychologists.…”