Teaching students with disabilities: A web-based examination of preparation of preservice primary school teachers

With increasing expectations that preservice teachers will be prepared to teach students with special needs in regular classrooms, it is timely to review relevant units in teacher education courses. Units relevant to special education/inclusion in primary undergraduate teacher preparation courses in Australian tertiary institutions, delivered in 2009, were examined. Information was gathered through a series of Google searches, and available information was very limited for some units. Sixty-one units in 34 courses met criteria for inclusion. Units typically ran for one semester with 30-40 hours of instruction. Just under half the instructors for whom relevant information was available had an active interest in special education/inclusion of students with disabilities. The most commonly included content was on instructional strategies, with few units aimed at promoting positive attitudes to people with disabilities and only 10% stating that the content was evidence or research-based.