Teacher self-efficacy, inclusion and professional development practices: cultivating a learning environment for all

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the nature of the relationship between teacher self-efficacy for inclusion in schools, and professional development practices. The research draws on qualitative data from a larger 3-year study involving 140 primary teachers in rural, regional and urban schools throughout the state of New South Wales, Australia. The article focuses upon the professional development practices of a sub-sample of teachers who identified as ‘highly efficacious’ (n = 21) in relation to inclusion and those who identified as ‘lower efficacious’ (n = 20). Drawing upon a broad thematic analytical approach, the research reveals the varied ways PD was experienced by more and less efficacious teachers. These experiences pertained to: 1) teachers’ categorisation of students on the basis of perceptions of students’ ‘needs’; 2) teachers’ approaches to classroom access and willingness to collaborate, and; 3) teachers’ roles and levels of engagement with professional development for inclusion (whether as facilitators or as passive recipients). In comparison with their less efficacious colleagues, more efficacious teachers adopted a more holistic and inclusive understanding of students’ needs in relation to the PD they experienced, engaged with other teachers in ways that were more mutually beneficial, and took more facilitative rather than passive roles in relation to their PD experiences.