Supporting All Educators to Take Part in Teacher Professional Learning for Inclusion
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. The Need to Involve All Education Professionals
1.2. The Continuing Need for Professional Goals for Equity and Inclusion in Education
- Valuing learner diversity;
- Supporting all learners;
- Working with others;
- Personal professional development.
1.3. The Need for a New Approach
- What kinds of professional standards exist for different professionals working together in inclusive education?
- What are the essential features of a framework for professional learning to support all education professionals in developing the knowledge, attitudes, and skills for inclusion?
- What core values and areas of competence are considered relevant to competence development for inclusion for all education professionals?
- How do existing frameworks meet the essential features of competence development for inclusion?
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. The Need for Guiding Competence Frameworks for Equity and Inclusion
3.2. Essential Features of a Competence Framework for Inclusion
3.3. Relevance of Identified Core Values and Areas of Competence
3.4. Potential Use of the Profile for the Alignment of Existing Programmes and Strategies for TPL for Inclusion
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Essential Feature | Significance |
---|---|
1. Connecting education professionals | Inclusion in schools is complex, and teachers alone cannot be held accountable for its success. Inclusive practice is performed by teams of diverse professionals whose professional needs are related. A competence framework for inclusion aims to connect education professionals. |
2. Encouraging team reflection | A competence framework for inclusion shifts the emphasis from self-efficacy to team reflection, collective professional learning, and team agency for inclusion. In professional learning communities and collegial relationships, it invites education professionals to discuss the meaning of inclusion and to share experiences and skills, lifting professional learning beyond training, empowering school staff for inclusive teaching, adopting a whole-school perspective, and developing a professional vision for inclusion. |
3. Sharing a teacher perspective, sharing a whole-school view | For mutual understanding among education professionals, competence development for inclusion invites other professionals to take part in teachers’ crucial tasks and to have conversations and reflections on teaching, co-teaching, and teacher support. Likewise, it invites teachers to look beyond the classroom and take a whole-school view in developing competence for inclusion. |
4. Focusing on equity, focusing on all learners | To represent all learners, competence development for inclusion acknowledges different perspectives while focusing on quality education for all. It refers to intercultural dialogue and universal design, as well as specific skills. It allows education professionals to question, reflect upon, and re-imagine efforts to respond to diversity, aware of multiple forms of discrimination that marginalize and exclude groups and individuals. |
5. Taking a holistic perspective on competence development | A competence framework for inclusion takes a holistic and dynamic view of competences, in which ‘areas of competence’ are the starting point for reflection and discussion among professionals. This notion cautions against an isolated and prescriptive use of competences, which are understood as complex combinations of knowledge, attitudes, and skills to be gradually achieved and revisited throughout a professional’s career. |
6. A professional learning tool for multilevel use | A competence framework for inclusion that reaches out to all education professionals has a place at all education system levels. The individual, school, community, and policy levels are complementary to raise professional capacity for inclusive education, inviting all education professionals to engage in inclusive professional learning communities. |
7. A values-based approach | To ensure sustainable inclusive practice and effective dialogue among professionals, competence development for inclusion must reflect the shared values of inclusion. The core values ‘valuing learner diversity’, ‘supporting all learners’, ‘working with others’, and ‘personal and collaborative professional development’ underpin TPL for inclusion and inclusive professional learning communities more widely. |
Core Values, Profile of Inclusive Teachers (2012) | Areas of Competence, Profile of Inclusive Teachers (2012) | Core Values, Profile for Inclusive Teacher Professional Learning (2022) | Areas of Competence, Profile for Inclusive Teacher Professional Learning (2022) |
---|---|---|---|
1. Valuing learner diversity—learner difference is considered a resource and an asset to education | 1.1 Conceptions of inclusion 1.2 Teachers’ views of learner difference | 1. Valuing learner diversity—learner difference is considered a resource and an asset to education | 1.1 Conceptions of inclusion, equity, and quality education 1.2 Education professionals’ views of learner difference |
2. Supporting all learners—teachers have high expectations for all learners’ achievements | 2.1 Promoting all learners’ academic, practical, social, and emotional learning 2.2 Effective teaching approaches in heterogeneous classes | 2. Supporting all learners—teachers and other education professionals are deeply committed to all learners’ achievements, well-being, and belonging | 2.1 Promoting all learners’ academic, practical, social, and emotional learning 2.2 Support for all learners’ well-being 2.3 Effective teaching approaches and flexible organization of support |
3. Working with others—collaboration and teamwork are essential approaches for all teachers | 3.1 Working with parents and families 3.2 Working with a range of other educational professionals | 3. Working with others—advocacy, collaboration, and teamwork are essential approaches for all teachers and other education professionals | 3.1 Giving a true voice to learners 3.2 Working with parents and families 3.3 Working with a range of education professionals |
4. Personal professional development—teaching is a learning activity, and teachers take responsibility for their lifelong learning | 4.1 Teachers as reflective practitioners 4.2 Initial teacher education as a foundation for ongoing professional learning and development | 4. Personal and collaborative professional development—teaching and supporting learners are lifelong learning activities for which teachers and other education professionals take personal and shared responsibility | 4.1 Teachers and other education professionals as members of an inclusive professional learning community 4.2 Professional learning for inclusion builds on initial teacher education and the competences of other education professionals |
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De Vroey, A.; Lecheval, A.; Symeonidou, S. Supporting All Educators to Take Part in Teacher Professional Learning for Inclusion. Trends High. Educ. 2023, 2, 320-331. https://doi.org/10.3390/higheredu2020018
De Vroey A, Lecheval A, Symeonidou S. Supporting All Educators to Take Part in Teacher Professional Learning for Inclusion. Trends in Higher Education. 2023; 2(2):320-331. https://doi.org/10.3390/higheredu2020018
Chicago/Turabian StyleDe Vroey, Annet, Amélie Lecheval, and Simoni Symeonidou. 2023. "Supporting All Educators to Take Part in Teacher Professional Learning for Inclusion" Trends in Higher Education 2, no. 2: 320-331. https://doi.org/10.3390/higheredu2020018