PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PREPARATION 1
What Needs to be Done to Better Prepare Pre-Service Teachers to Work with Students
with Disabilities in Inclusive Settings?
Jaime Messinger-Willman
School of Education, Liberty University
PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PREPARATION 2
Abstract
When looking at special education today, it is not what it used to be, which is a cause for
celebration. In the past, students with disabilities (SWDs) were segregated. They were denied
access to general education classrooms and public schools and the opportunity to equal and free
educational opportunities that non-disabled peers had access to (Brauner, 2018). Federal
mandates have been passed recognizing that SWDs should be provided a
Free and Appropriate Education in their Least Restrictive Environment. SWDs
should have access to the general education curriculum (Individuals With
Disabilities Education Improvement Act, 2004). Schools have shifted from
educating general and special education students separately to educating
them in an inclusive framework. With this movement towards more inclusivity, the
demands and need to increase the level of preparation for general education teachers have
increased significantly (Smith, 2021). With the inclusion of SWDs with varying disabilities,
general education teachers are expressing concerns regarding feeling underprepared to meet the
needs of SWDs. Pre-service teachers (PSTs) are leaving their preservice teacher
training programs unprepared to work with SWDs in inclusion settings (Stites et al.,
2018). Undergraduate educational training programs must prepare PSTs to work in inclusion
settings where they will teach students with varying abilities and disabilities. Teacher training
programs are responsible for increasing PSTs’ understanding and knowledge of how to work
with SWDs with various disabilities to ensure the success of PSTs and SWDs.
Keywords: pre-service teachers, inclusion, students with disabilities, self-efficacy,
Individualized Education Plan
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What Needs to be Done to Better Prepare Pre-Service Teachers to Work with Students
with Disabilities in Inclusive Settings?
Adequately preparing PSTs to work with SWDs in inclusion settings starts at the teacher
education program levels. Mitchel (2020) reported that many states’ licensure and certification
programs are misaligned with the federal mandates regarding educating SWDs in inclusion
settings. Many general education teachers acknowledged that when they went through their
teacher education programs, they were not required to take courses focused on working with
SWDs (Mitchell, 2020). The reality that general education teachers face when teaching is that
every general education teacher will have a SWD in their classroom whom they are required to
teach. How can our educational system and teacher preparation programs improve how they
prepare PSTs to work with SWDs in inclusive settings?
Importance
Schools have moved towards inclusion to address the legal mandates of providing SWDs
access to a free and appropriate education alongside their peers for the maximum amount of
time. Inclusion is a service delivery model where all students, those with and without disabilities,
are fully accepted and educated alongside one another in the general education classroom
(Inclusive Schools Network, n.d.). With the shift towards implementing inclusion, there has also
been a shift in the roles of general and special education teachers and in how the curriculum is
delivered to students with varying abilities and disabilities. Students with disabilities - National
Center for Education Statistics (n.d.) reported that during the 2020-2021 school year, about 7.3
million SWDs were enrolled in public schools across the United States. It was identified that an
estimated 80 percent of the 7.3 million SWDs received their special education services inside the
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general education classrooms (Students with disabilities - national Center for Education
Statistics, n.d.).
PSTs need to understand their curriculum and how to teach, differentiate, accommodate,
and modify curriculum and instruction for SWDs. Many teacher training programs do not require
PSTs to enroll in special education courses, which causes PSTs to leave their teacher training
programs feeling inadequately prepared to teach SWDs. Feeling inadequately prepared can lead
PSTs to have lower self-efficacy, confidence, beliefs, and interest in working with SWDs. When
PSTs go into inclusion settings without the necessary tools, skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy,
they are less motivated to teach in inclusive settings (Chakravarthi & Wiley, 2020). When PSTs
lack confidence and competence, this can hurt their ability to accommodate, differentiate, and
instruct SWDs in inclusive settings (Morley et al., 2017).
Significance
Many PSTs face a problem when they leave their teacher training programs today:
being unprepared to work with SWDs in inclusion settings (Stites et al., 2018). PSTs
require explicit instruction on differentiating to meet the needs of SWDs and those
students without disabilities in the general education classroom (Smith, 2020). Not only
do PSTs need direct and explicit instruction on different learning strategies and different
instructional delivery models, but they also need explicit instruction on how to read a
student’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). PSTs must read the IEP to fully
understand students' strengths, needs, accommodations, and modifications that they need
in order to access and make progress with the general education curriculum. Today,
teachers feel unprepared to meet the demands, pressure, and requirements of providing
quality instruction to SWDs (Smith, 2020). Suppose teacher education training programs
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do not step up, acknowledge the gaps in their current program, and develop a solution to
remediate and fix them. In that case, SWDs will face significant disadvantages in
accessing quality and equitable educational opportunities like non-disabled peers.
Lai and Jones (2020) reported that SWDs are more likely to spend most of their
instructional day in the general education setting, and this shift in where SWDs receive
their instruction has caused widespread panic, doubt, and fear among general education
teachers. SWDs are a heterogeneous group of students with varying needs and disabilities
requiring specialized support and instruction to ensure they access and make progress
with the general education curriculum (Lai & Jones, 2020). To ensure that SWDs are
receiving equal access and opportunity to make progress with the general education
curriculum, general education teachers must have, in their teaching toolkit, the
knowledge, skills, and understanding of how to work with and meet the needs of SWDs.
Impact
As a nation, teacher education training programs need to build the capacity, self-
efficacy, and competence of PSTs. Teacher education programs must become more
systematic and intentional in bridging coursework with field experiences to create
clinically rich opportunities for PSTs (Hoppey & Mickelson, 2017). Many teacher
training programs have identified gaps in their programs in adequately training PSTs to
work in inclusive settings. Those programs that have identified the gaps have begun to
adjust and improve their training programs, including mandated enrollment in special
education coursework. These programs have also started incorporating inclusion-setting
field experiences, providing PSTs opportunities to participate in fieldwork in an inclusion
setting working with SWDs (Chakravarthi & Wiley, 2020; Stites et al., 2018). Inclusion
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field experiences and practica experiences provide opportunities for PSTs to develop
competence and self-efficacy in their abilities to teach in inclusive settings (Chakravarthi
& Wiley, 2020). In their study, Ashton and Arlington (2019) studied the changes in PSTs'
understandings of disability and inclusion and how these understandings directly impact
their self-perceptions of inclusion after participating in a service-learning project. The
findings from this study identified the positive impact that participation in service-
learning experiences had on how PSTs viewed inclusion. These experiences also allowed
PSTs to see the benefit of inclusion for all students (Ashton &Arlington, 2019).
Biblical Worldview
Joni Eareckson Tada (2017) announced that God is filled with compassion for those
individuals with special needs. He does not abandon those with disabilities. Instead, he works
through and with them. “Arise, LORD! Life up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless”
(King James Version, 2017, Psalm 10:12). God has never forgotten those who are helpless and
those who are disabled. God cries out in pain for those who have been afflicted with disabilities.
God made each of us unique individuals; God had a plan when he made all of us. We are who we
are because of the beautiful work that God did. “You who created my inward parts; You knit me
together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and
wonderfully made” (King James Version, 2w017, Psalm 139:13-14).
God is fighting for everyone, even those with disabilities (Joni & Friend, 2017). Jesus is
doing what he can to protect and rescue those with disabilities. God has a plan; he loves
everyone and has a purpose for everyone. God accepts everyone for who they are. He teaches us,
“But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (King James
Version, 2017, Luke 14:13). God is teaching us to be inclusive and to love everyone. Each child
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has a right to be in the same room, learning alongside one another. “See, I will bring them from
the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind
and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return” (King James
Bible, 1769/n.d., Jeremiah 31:8). “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to
serve others…. “(King James Bible, 2017, Proverbs 27:17). Teachers commit their lives and
themselves to God. Teachers devote their time and effort to showing their love for God by
teaching others. Teachers must believe in themselves and have the tools and skills to teach, mold,
and develop students into strong, educated human beings. God created all the unique children
who fill our classroom desks.
Conclusion
When PSTs lack self-efficacy and competence, this can directly impact how they work
with SWDs and all students. Teacher education programs are vital in helping PSTs understand
that all students can be taught in general education classrooms (Morley et al., 2017). Inclusion
field experiences help PSTs begin to believe that they can teach SWDs in inclusive settings and
that SWDs belong and can be educated in the general education setting. Teacher preparation
programs are critical in building competence and confidence in PSTs' ability to adjust how they
deliver instruction, create assignments, and assess SWDs. (Morley et al., 2017). In the face of
IDEA inclusion requirements, teacher preparation programs are responsible for training PSTs to
ensure that PSTs can meet the challenges of this federal mandate,
PSTs must enter the first year of teaching with high self-efficacy, competence,
knowledge, and skills to teach SWDS in an inclusive setting. Teacher training programs have a
huge responsibility in equipping PSTs with the required tools, knowledge, and confidence to be
successful when teaching SWDs and collaborating with colleagues in inclusion settings. Teacher
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training programs can be very powerful in helping SWDs succeed in the general education
classroom by supporting, developing, and equipping PSTs with the training and skills they need
when working with SWDs in inclusion settings.
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