Exploring student teachers’ professional vision of inclusive classrooms in primary education

Abstract

ABSTRACT The growing diversity in pupil populations poses challenges to the professional development of student teachers. Therefore, teacher preparation has placed sufficient emphasis on the development of student teachers’ professional vision in the context of inclusive education. In this study, professional vision refers to student teachers ability to notice and reason about classroom events that are crucial for effective inclusive teaching. This study explores student teachers’ professional vision of two dimensions of effective inclusive classrooms (i.e. teacher-student interactions (TSI) and differentiated instruction (DI)) by examining different profiles of professional vision and its relation with student teachers’ professional beliefs about diversity and self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices. Data was collected in a sample of 1397 student teachers in Flemish primary teacher education institutions (N = 8). Student teachers’ professional vision was assessed by a standardised video-based comparative judgement instrument, while student teachers’ beliefs and self-efficacy were measured by survey scales. Survey and video data were combined through cluster analysis and regression analysis. Findings indicate three different profiles of professional vision among student teachers. Differences between student teachers’ professional vision profiles is explained by their self-efficacy. However, the results of the cluster analyses did not produce a group of student teachers with high abilities in both noticing and reasoning about TSI and DI. This implies that teacher education programmes need to more adequately train student teachers for inclusive education. Recommendations for teacher education programmes on inclusive primary education are given.