Drawing on research carried out in partnership with schoolteachers, school leaders, and student teachers, this book presents cutting-edge research on teacher education and how it can be used to catalyse the development of inclusive practice in mainstream schools and classrooms.

Theoretically robust and guided by the author’s near 40 years of experience as an educationalist, this research-informed book offers an account of the practices and principles that underpin effective teacher education for special educational needs and disability (SEND). Chapters propose transformative approaches towards effective teacher education whilst also exploring the dangers of de-intellectualisation to the promotion of inclusive practices; in doing so, this book reasserts the indispensability of intellectual labour to the development of the inclusive teacher. Ultimately, this book argues that teacher education curricula must include critical-theoretical work and reflexive projects, offering intellectually rich and critical approaches whilst also defending the important role that higher education plays in the context of partnership with schools.

At a time when urgent questions around equity are being discussed on the global stage, this book will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of inclusion and special education, teacher education, and the theory of education more broadly. Teacher educators and policymakers working towards equitable, quality education for all will also find the volume of use.

Deborah Robinson is a Professor of Special Educational Needs, Disability and Inclusion at the University of Derby, UK.