Teaching and Learning about Inclusive Practice in Initial Teacher Education: Making the Implicit Explicit?

This paper discusses the views of initial teacher education (ite) lecturers in two Scottish universities regarding teaching and learning about inclusive practice. This work is part of a national study to map instances where inclusion and inclusive practice were taught in Scottish initial teacher education courses. It reports lecturers’ views regarding the visibility of inclusive practice, particularly when modelled, and the hybrid importance of both university teaching and practical experience in schools during the formative period for students. Data are discussed through the lens of Inclusive Pedagogical Approaches in Action (ipaa) key principles (Rouse & Florian, 2012), and Menter’s (2017) conceptualisation of the role of universities in initial teacher education. Recommendations include professional learning to discuss and debate ite lecturers’ and school-based mentors’ shared understanding of inclusion and inclusive practice, and how implicit inclusive practice should be made more explicit.