Education tends to colonize. Established authorities (teachers, curricula, and examinations) instruct newcomers, extending conditional membership. This presents a dilemma for teachers seeking to instill in their students habits of critical, creative, and lateral thinking. In Australia as elsewhere, blueprint educational documents embody lofty…

Students with disabilities are the fastest-growing equity cohort in Australia, and yet they continue to face barriers to their success and completion at university. In this paper, we present a scalable model for one-to-one staff and student dialogue that positions students with disabilities as mentors to university staff. By doing so, we emphasise…

Preparing teachers to support diverse learners to succeed in school is pivotal in addressing inequalities in society. This qualitative study investigated the ways in which future teachers developed their understanding of diversity and inclusion in one course in an Australian teacher education programme. This study analysed students' learning using…

Australia was an early signatory to the Salamanca Statement, and it espouses inclusive education (IE) as the overarching philosophy of education for all. A 2015 critique of IE in Australia [Anderson and Boyle 2015. "Inclusive Education in Australia: Rhetoric, Reality and the Road Ahead." "Support for Learning" 30 (1): 4-22.…

Inclusive education remains a challenge for Australian tertiary education, particularly specialized pedagogical approaches like work-integrated learning (WIL) and service learning. Critiques of mainstream pedagogical approaches raise questions about the predominant models of educating students (Butin, 2010; Howard, 1998). There is a definitive…

Experiential learning pathways within education programmes such as Service-learning are a means to enrich the learning of pre-service teachers. As a pathway, Service-learning provides value-oriented learning focused on inclusion, diversity, and difference. This paper adopts critical social theory to examine how, along with these values, critical…

There is growing international concern about the extent to which teachers are prepared to work with an increasingly diverse student (and community) population. To date, research into the relationship between teacher preparation and preparedness to teach diverse learners has not focused on teacher educators' understandings about teaching to/about…

As the number of students engaging in higher education increases, so too does their diversity. Additionally, there is growing pressure on universities to better prepare graduates for the varied paths they will pursue beyond study. In responding to these conditions it is important to develop pedagogical approaches that are both inclusive and…

Inclusion Support Facilitators support Early Childhood Education and Care centres in Australia to provide an inclusive environment for the children they serve. To date no research has examined the causes of job stress faced by these professionals. Similarly, no research has explored how interventions aimed at supporting Inclusion Support…

Today people from a wide range of socio-cultural backgrounds are entering the teaching profession. The changing profile of pre-service teachers prompted inquiry into personal and professional influences in understanding diversity and inclusive practices. Two teacher educators collaborated across Australian universities to explore reflexive…

Positive changes to pre-service teacher education programmes (PSTEPs), driven in part by changing worldwide policy frameworks around inclusion, are occurring, albeit slowly. After briefly reviewing international trends and key policy and legislation platforms in New Zealand and Australia, this paper explores some of the challenges in enhancing…

The author first recognised the transformational power of education when he arrived at university. His career has included over 10 years as a mainstream principal, 7 as executive director of an agency that included being principal of a Special Assistance School, and a 5 year period in between in a leadership role in a community welfare…

This study explores reflections of a group of postgraduate early childhood students in relation to their self-reported attitudes towards inclusive education. Participant self-reported attitudes towards inclusive education were measured using an adapted version of the Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale (ATIES) and an adapted version of the…

"Learning to Teach" encourages the students to engage in critical reflection of teaching practices by immersing themselves in the Lathner Primary virtual school. The reader is positioned as a first year teacher who embarks on a new career at Lathner Primary. They work with Anna Jones, her class, and the other teachers around Lathner to…

This paper discusses Service-learning within an Australian higher education context as pedagogy to teach about inclusive education. Using Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) model of the rhizome, this study conceptualises pre-service teachers' learning experiences as multiple, hydra and continuous. Data from reflection logs of pre-service teachers…