Colonisation, globalisation and a pandemic: developing understandings of inclusive education in Malaysia

The vision of inclusion and inclusive education has been a guiding principle in many countries since the Salamanca Statement was adopted in 1994. This chapter aims to investigate teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion policy, as well as their attitudes towards understanding and readiness to implement inclusive educational practices. It focuses on contextual conditions, and gives insight into the Russian school contexts on legislative frames and on guiding principles for providing special needs education. Demographic and personality factors can also influence teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and inclusive education. Nevertheless, several studies have revealed that teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion can be influenced by their educational and practical experiences. Russia is a large country, and there are multiple approaches towards inclusive education on the different levels of the educational system. However, the research-based knowledge that specifically investigates teachers’ attitudes towards the policy and practice of inclusion and inclusive education in Russia is still sparse.

This study examined the instructional practices employed by teachers to assist students with Down syndrome in inclusive educational environments, taking into account their demographic and professional backgrounds. The participants, primarily seasoned teachers with extensive training in inclusive education, offered insights into the practical implementation and challenges of inclusive teaching methodologies. Research indicated that teachers utilize several tactics, including assistive technology, differentiated instruction, and peer cooperation. Nonetheless, personalized education surfaced as a domain needs additional enhancement, underscoring the want for more focused support and training. Participants regarded existing inclusive education policies and practices as significantly advantageous for the comprehensive development of learners with Down syndrome, especially in the academic, social, behavioral, and communicative spheres. Notwithstanding the hurdles faced during implementation, these impediments did not substantially undermine teachers' belief in the efficacy of inclusive education. Statistical study revealed significant variations in instructional approaches based on instructors' age, gender, experience, and training exposure, highlighting discrepancies that necessitate addressing through professional development. In light of these findings, the study proposed the "Inclusion Excellence Initiative," a comprehensive intervention program comprising intensive workshops, mentorship, online modules, and resource allocation to improve instructional consistency and quality. The program prioritizes ongoing assessment to guarantee its adaptability to the requirements of both educators and learners. The study emphasizes the necessity of ongoing teacher training, equal access to professional development, and institutional support to enhance inclusive practices. Recommendations encompass the execution of the planned effort and the enhancement of inclusive education policies to guarantee enduring and significant results for students with Down syndrome. Keywords: Academic Performance, Assessment methods, Awareness on Inclusive Education, Classroom management, Down Syndrome Learners, Inclusive Educational Practices, Inclusive Educational Policies, Individualized Instruction, Learning Environment, Peer Collaboration, Social Inclusion, Support Services, Teachers’ Attitude and Preparedness, Teachers’ Training on Inclusive Education

Research on the internationalization of inclusive policies for students with special needs is still developing alongside the shifting implementation of practice. This analysis seeks to understand the process of adopting inclusive policies in Jordan and the subsequent implementation through a modified comparative case study framework. Current research demonstrates how global forces have led to the adoption of a national inclusive education policy that local programs redefine and negotiate in implementation. The paper uses emerging frameworks from Schuelka (2018b) and existing comparative case study methodology from Bartlett and Vavrus (2006; 2009; 2014; 2017) to structure an in-depth analysis of the macro, mesa and micro levels of inclusive policy adoption and implementation across time. Jordan is a developing nation and in a strategic geographic location, two factors which bring multiple international organizations into its borders. This has had a significant effect on the development of education policy. At the same time, local construction of disability and inclusion continue to marginalize students with disabilities, especially in rural communities. This paper will outline the current state of inclusive education at the international, national and local levels in Jordan based on a review of policy and academic literature.

The study investigated Senior High School (SHS) mathematics teachers’ preparedness to implement inclusive mathematics education principles and practices in their mathematics classrooms. A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was employed with a sample of 195 SHSs mathematics teachers selected conveniently and purposefully, from the then 10 political regions of Ghana, to participate in the study. Data was collected using a cross-sectional survey that used a structured questionnaire, administerd online, to elicit information on SHS mathematics teachers’ preparedness to implement pedagogical practices assoiated with inclusive mathematics education in the classroom. This was followed by interviews with 4 mathematics teachers from the 4 of the five Ghana Education Service school placement categories. The study revealed that mathematics teachers in senior high schools are inadequately prepared to implement an inclusive mathematics education curriculum principles and practices in their classrooms. Most of the teachers’ knowledge of inclusive education principles and practices is low. It was observed that approximately 59% of the mathematics teachers sparingly use inclusive education practices or strategies in their mathematics classrooms. It is therefore recommended that various stakeholders, particularly, the Ghana Education Service, should put measures in place to organize training on inclusive mathematics education to upgrade in-service mathematics teachers’ knowledge on inclusivity. Also, mathematics teacher education programmes in teacher education colleges and universities should be reviewed to include inclusive mathematics education principles and practices so that mathematics teachers from various institutions would be equipped to practice inclusivity in their mathematics classrooms.

The article deals with the problem of inclusion as a social process and the social practice of modernity. The urgency of the problem is defined by the policy priorities and the vector of global social changes aimed at creating an inclusive society as a society creating conditions for the realization of democratic rights and freedoms of all citizens without exception. The article includes a scientific analysis of the phenomenology of inclusion as a social phenomenon, with reference to one of the social media - education that serves the purpose of the present study. This article represents a critical analysis of the prevailing trends in the modern, inclusive practice in education based on generalization of national and foreign approaches to inclusion. There is also made an attempt to establish an interrelation of inclusive educational and social practices of people with health limitations in the context of the inclusion mission as a social development process for the realization of the principle of rights equality and freedom. Social inclusion aspects, namely, the adoption and participation are in the research criteria for assessing the potential of inclusive education as a social environment and, at the same time, as a priority in the development of inclusive educational practices. The novelty of the work is determined by the fact that its results will help overcome the narrow didactic, technological approach to inclusive education of persons with disabilities, bring analysis of significant aspects of the social environment in the social dimension. The novelty of the research presented in the article, also lies in the fact that it justifies and describes the inclusive potential indicators of education of persons with limited health abilities in the context of social inclusion practices. The findings reflect the possibility of applying the theoretical results of the research for the development of inclusive processes development strategy, overcoming the social risks associated with the inclusion, and the development of inclusive potential of social media (as exemplified by education), and for the design of concrete inclusive education practices.

Adult learning remains an important component of educational systems in countries all over the world, particularly because it seeks to explain how adults obtain education through formal, non-formal and informal modes. While many education providers and researchers focus on increasing resource support and the development of the knowledge and skills of adult learners, there is a paucity of studies on theoretical perspectives that define adult learners for the provision of effective and inclusive adult education. To bridge this gap, this article discusses the characteristics of adult learners based on five major theoretical frameworks – human capital, adult development, sociocultural, biographical and political perspectives – and shows how they can enhance effective and inclusive adult education policies and practices at different levels of governance. The author considers these perspectives along with the normative and ontological dimensions of lifelong learning. While the normative dimension explains lifelong learning as a concept that focuses on the development of educational policies, the ontological dimension explains how individuals learn throughout their lives within and outside of educational settings. The study concludes that if policymakers reflect on the five theoretical perspectives, and consider the normative and ontological dimensions, they can enhance the policies and practices that guide adult learners in lifelong learning environments and promote inclusive education, leaving no one behind.

Australia's national legislation and policy have affirmed the right of children with disability, including developmental disabilities to inclusive education. Yet, policy reviews and empirical research have raised concerns about the misalignment between inclusive policy and practice across Australian states. Drawing from these sources, this article endeavors to reflect upon the divide between the Australian policy on inclusive education and inclusive practice by considering the advances, obstacles, and challenges in achieving systemic inclusive education in the Australian education context. In the last part, we offer four propositions that could close the gap between policy and practice and enable students with developmental disabilities to have access and be successful learners in their local mainstream school.

This study explores the international progress in advancing inclusive education in Denmark and Australia, and considers how the cultural, historical, economic and political factors impact on translating inclusive education policy into practice. Drawing on theoretical frameworks of Bartlett and Vavrus (2009) and Artiles and Dyson (2005), we analysed data from international and national documents, reports and research on inclusion policies and practices in both countries. Each country case is analysed individually to understand the specific contexts that influence inclusion policies and practices, followed by a cross-case analysis to identify patterns and differences. Our findings trace the connections between international, national and local forces that influence the development of inclusive education in both countries. The comparative case study reveals that both Denmark and Australia acknowledge professional collaboration and local leadership in promoting inclusive education. However, despite these countries’ endorsement of inclusive education principles, challenges remain due to political rationales influenced by global neoliberal ideologies. Our attention to international, national and local levels of influence support a more systematic understanding of the scientific, pragmatic and global factors, and the relationship between those factors to impact inclusive education progress.

Students with disability have the right to an inclusive education on the basis of equal opportunity to their peers without disability. Despite this, students with disability internationally and in Australia continue to experience barriers in accessing inclusive education and demonstrating their learning. Australian students with disability underachieve compared with their peers without disability despite expectations of quality, accessible assessment practice for all students. The aim of this study was to examine classroom assessment practice for students with disability. The focus of this study was on how teachers enable students with disability to engage with classroom assessment within the sociocultural context of official and intended inclusive education policy and enacted classroom practice. The study adopted a case study approach and investigated how two teachers supported three focus students with disability to engage with classroom assessment in a Year 7 classroom. Both quantitative (survey data) and qualitative data (interviews, video-recorded classroom observation data, and assessment artefacts such as marked assessment tasks) were collected and analysed. Using a sociocultural lens, systematic analysis resulted in identified elements related to teachers’ pedagogy and instruction and to enabling students’ access to summative assessment. The study developed the concept “community of inclusive assessment practice” (CoIAP) to investigate how and to what extent features of classroom assessment, inclusive education and inclusive assessment come together to enable students with disability to enhance and to demonstrate their learning. The findings revealed a tension between teachers’ navigation of sociocultural factors (i.e., disability funding, historical non-inclusive approaches and institutional practices) and intended inclusive assessment practice. The study identified a fractured CoIAP, characterised by a lack of collaboration among teachers and support staff and barriers in classroom assessment processes. Students with disability were still being required to demonstrate their learning through assessment processes that were not fully accessible to them. This is in contrast with official policy of inclusion and official expectations regarding teachers’ assessment practice. The study brought together the fields of quality assessment and inclusive education and confirmed that quality assessment practice cannot be implemented without coordinated consideration of the requirements and characteristics of students with disability. Similarly, inclusive education practice needs to consider features of quality assessment to ensure promotion of student autonomy. The study has highlighted that inclusive assessment practice cannot be established in a context that is not reflective of inclusive education values. The study further highlighted that inclusive assessment does not occur in a vacuum but is a social practice, where teachers, students with disability and support staff negotiate sociocultural factors, including historical and institutional factors, within a CoIAP. As these factors can enable or disable students to enhance and to demonstrate their learning, the sociocultural context within which teachers engage in classroom assessment practice needs to facilitate enactment of quality assessment practice and inclusive education policy.

Inclusive education is an agenda that emanated from the Global North, and had as its imperative the eradication of discriminatory policies and practices that prevent some children from accessing a quality education. In recent years, it has increasingly been argued by scholars in the Global South that the supremacy of Eurocentric knowledge, theory, values, and practices informing inclusive education needs to be disrupted. In South Africa, decolonisation is emerging as a constructive frame for critiquing inclusive education policy and practices, and for informing the agenda of transformation in educational institutions. By undertaking a systematic review of research on the implementation of inclusive education in South Africa, this article explores the question of how the debate can be shifted from traditional theoretical discussions on special education versus inclusive education to a focus on the practicality of inclusive education policy implementation within specific cultural historical contexts in South Africa. Possibilities for reimagining inclusive education policy and practice in schooling contexts are explored through a decolonising, equity-oriented, social justice lens. The key message is that transformative inclusive education is an education reform agenda that requires all educational institutions and social actors to embrace socially just, inclusive values and ideologies; new thinking and belief systems that reflect a commitment to educational access, participation, and quality education for all learners; democratic patterns of decision-making and leadership; and a school culture and ethos reflective of the African philosophy of ubuntu.

In Indonesia, the definition of inclusive education tends to be a narrow one. Even though the goal of the national policy on inclusive education underlines non-discrimination for all learners, early childhood education (ECE) practices still do not accommodate every child’s needs. This study focuses on inclusive practices in ECE by exploring the provision of inclusive ECE in Yogyakarta, one of the big cities in Indonesia, where ECE inclusive pedagogy has been implemented for more than five years. By exploring ECE practitioners’ experiences, this study aims to discuss the (mis)alignments between inclusive education policy and practices. The data sources are two-fold. First, we conducted online interviews with ECE manager and teachers (N = 5). The second form of data comprised ECE teachers’ online discussions on the topic of inclusion. The data collected were analysed using a thematic analysis method. The results indicate that distributed leadership, an organisational culture that respects diversity, and inclusive ECE pedagogy are the main aspects that need to be developed to enable inclusive ECE.

Purpose: Inclusive education entails children’s rights to education in spite of all; it implies that teachers align instruction alongside inclusivity. This study sought to analyze senior secondary school siSwati teachers’ inclusive education practice, a case study of schools in the Shiselweni region, Nhlangano cluster. Its objectives were; to ascertain senior secondary school siSwati teacher’s views about inclusive education practice; to determine senior secondary school siSwati teachers’ implementation of inclusive education practice and to ascertain the challenges of inclusive education practice faced by senior secondary school siSwati teachers. 
 Methodology: The study employed the qualitative approach, blended semi- structured interviews, and document analysis as data collection instruments. A five (5) item semi-structured online interview guide and a document analyses guide with six (6) items designed by the researchers were used for data collection. Purposive sampling was used to select three (3) schools, six (6) teachers were used as participants. Data was analyzed using content analysis.
 Findings: Findings revealed that teachers lack knowledge on inclusive education; inclusive education strategies were used with separate lessons; shortage of inclusive education resources and the broad siSwati curriculum are major challenges.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: It was concluded that teachers hold negative views towards inclusive education; use inclusive education strategies partially; unavailability of resources and the diversity of the siSwati syllabus are major challenges. It is recommended that teachers get capacitated; siSwati language and literature be taught as separate subjects and government provides inclusive education infrastructure.

This article presents views and experiences of staff, and learners from two Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)—the University of Nairobi in Kenya and UCL in the UK—on their intuitional structures, support, and education mechanisms related to disability, international and refugee status. Inclusive education is a complex subject and often the focus is particularly placed on learners with disabilities, but this study explored several layers of diversity. The objective of this study was to investigate the views and experiences of students and staff on policies and practices of inclusion and inclusive education using two case studies, one in each university. Data were collected through surveys and interviews. Results are presented in the following areas: (1) capacity building for staff; (2) support and reporting services for all; (3) class sizes; and (4) modes of course delivery. Findings reveal that implementation of inclusion and inclusive education is still a challenge for both HEIs. The gaps identified can be used as a reference point for action. Inclusion and inclusive education are necessary to ensure the needs of every learner and staff are met. The article is structured into five sections: a brief description of inclusive education in the two HEIs, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion.

This theoretical paper discussed the potential of social cognitive learning theory as an effective tool to re-enact inclusive education in South African schools. The paper is based on envisioning envisioning inclusive and open educational practices through teacher education in South Africa. The paper responded to the fundamental objectives of the theory of social constructivism. It analysed and interpreted the assumptions (tenets) of the theory in line with how they could be used to respond to inclusive teacher training and open education practices. The accuracy of social constructivism using observations and literature to justify inclusive and open education in South African schools. The paper examined the background of the theory of social constructivism and its ability to provide a means of unveiling inclusive education practices. The paper used conceptual and theoretical review as methodology. Among other strategies employed for the study, teacher training curricula should be redesigned to incorporate collaborative learning techniques, such as peer teaching, problem-based learning, and cooperative group work, reflecting the principles of social constructivism. The study indicated that teacher training can be improved to better improve inclusive and open education practices in South Africa, which is useful for educators, policymakers and researchers interested in promoting inclusive education in South Africa and beyond Africa.

<em>Inclusive education is a process that involves the transformation of regular schools to become accessible to all learners regardless of their diverse needs. Teachers’ involvement in this transformation is significant in sensitizing members of the school community to fully participate in inclusive education practices in their respective schools. Lack of awareness about inclusive education practices has been captured in the Kenya national special needs policy framework of 2009 as a common problem. Preliminary information indicates that there is low level of advocacy and lobbying among the regular teachers, parents, communities and ministry of education officials on inclusive education practices. Baseline information shows that 48(7.52%) regular schools in Siaya County still practice integration and learners enrolled in the special units hardly transit to mainstream classes. The rate at which learners with special needs access regular education in the county is equally very low. This is despite the presence of teachers with background training in inclusive education in the county. The purpose of the study was to determine teachers’ involvement in awareness creation on inclusive education practices. Objectives of the study were to: -establish the methods teachers use to create awareness on inclusive education to members of the school communities; determine the frequency with which teachers created awareness among the members of the school communities and determine teachers’ involvement in awareness creation on inclusive education. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population comprised of 216 teachers and 72 head teachers. Out of which 10% were used for piloting. Saturated sampling technique was employed to select 194 teachers and 65 head teachers for the study. Instruments for data collection included Questionnaires, Interview Schedule, Observation Guide and Document Analysis. Content and face validity of the instruments were determined by experts in the school of education and their comments and recommendations were used to determine the validity of the instruments. Reliability of the instruments was established through test re-test method and correlation coefficients of 0.76 and 0.78 were obtained for teachers and head teachers respectively at a level of significance of 0.05. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics while qualitative data was transcribed and categorized into emergent themes. The study established that teachers mostly used school forums, seminars and workshops as the main methods of creating awareness to members and that they rarely create awareness to members. The result also indicated that teachers were involved in creation of awareness to members of the school communities to a fairly small extent. The study concluded that teachers were involved in creation of awareness but not to a level that was encouraging. The study recommended that:-teachers still need to intensify the creation of awareness to members of the school community especially to parents and local members of the community for them to fully participate in inclusive education practices.</em>