Special Education Teacher Preparation in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

Abstract

The provision of special education for students with disabilities depends upon the availability of well-qualified special educators, which, in turn, depends upon the availability and characteristics of preparation programs. In countries of the world where special education systems are still developing the capacity to provide the education that laws and policies promise, choices made in the design and offering of preparation programs may interact with contextual factors, creating intended and unintended consequences, opportunities, and constraints that affect the countries’ abilities to provide special education. In this study, we investigate this idea by examining special education teacher preparation in the Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Applying Bray and Thomas’s framework for comparative analyses to data collected from 2014 to 2015 for the 32 universities in the region that provide preparation programs, we describe the comprehensiveness of preparation opportunities, analyze program delivery components, and consider the implications of the program choices made on the preparation opportunities and special education services that can be provided in the countries as a result.