Abstract
According to prior research, teacher readiness and capability are key contributors for successful transition towards disability inclusive education, yet in-service teacher professional development for disability inclusion remains an under-researched area. The key objective of this evidence and gap map (EGM) is to locate evidence on interventions for disability inclusion focused teacher professional development (TPD) in low-to-middle-income-countries (LMICs) in the Asia-Pacific region. As such, it will illustrate different levels of evidence for TPD interventions as well as where there is no evidence (i.e., gaps). In other words, the EGM can make agencies aware where they might be operating in an area that is evidence-free or evidence-weak so they can take up interventions that are evidence-based or collect evidence for the intervention they are presently supporting. Thus, the ultimate goal for the EGM is to assist funders and implementing agencies when making decisions as to how to support LMICs in the region to reach their aim of developing quality teachers for the global inclusive education agenda (target SDG 4.c).
Highlights
As researchers and policy makers are often unaware of the extent of the evidence base, an evidence and gap map (EGM) is a way of making explicit and accessible different interventions on a certain topic in a specified geographic area, to “guide users to available relevant evidence to inform intervention and design and implementation” (White et al, 2020, p. 3)
The EGM can make agencies aware where they might be operating in an area that is evidence‐free or evidence‐weak so they can take up interventions that are evidence‐based or collect evidence for the intervention they are presently supporting (White et al, 2020)
The ultimate object for the EGM is to assist funders and implementing agencies when making decisions as to how to support low‐to‐middle‐ income‐countries (LMICs) in the region to reach their goal of developing quality teachers for the global inclusive education (IE) agenda, in addition to helping them attain the targets for SDG 4.1 and SDG 4.5 (UNESCO, 2016)
Summary
The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for “inclusive and equitable quality education that promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all” (UNESCO, 2020, p. 1). Research has shown that teachers require in‐depth training to learn how to effectively implement assistive technologies (Blossom Cygnet et al, 2019; McMillan & Renzaglia, 2014) that help students with disabilities to perform tasks and improve their functional capacity to participate in everyday activities This transition to disability inclusion has gained momentum in the region and it is widely acknowledged that funding effective teacher professional development programmes has the potential to create a profound impact on the wellbeing and school outcomes of students with disabilities. Prior research identifies teacher readiness as a major factor for a successful transition towards disability IE while relevant work summarised here either does not cover TPD or cover interventions only from countries outside the Asia‐Pacific region This EGM is timely and highly focused to provide a useful information base for targeted stakeholders
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
