Inclusive education workforce capability is the ability of the education workforce to meet individual student learning needs, regardless of educational context. In this study, we investigated the perceptions of 12 principals in Australian education settings on their views about roles and responsibilities related to the workforce’s preparedness for inclusive education. We used thematic analysis to identify 9 major themes and 3 subthemes across the 3 roles about which participants were asked: the principal’s role, the system’s role, and the teacher registration boards’ role. The findings indicated a number of areas of concern for these principals about ensuring the capability of the education workforce in the context of extensive student diversity. In summary, results indicated that principals, systems, and teacher registration boards each have a role in building inclusive education workforce capability, with a coordinated effort more likely to bring Australia closer to its pledge of inclusive education for all students.

It is recognised that the attitudes of parents and teachers are important in supporting inclusive education in developing countries. This study involved the application of quantitative research through the administration of a survey to determine the attitudes of parents and teachers in the Republic of Nauru. The results have provided preliminary data regarding attitudes related to the emergence of inclusive education in Nauru. Parents were more positive concerning issues that relate directly to the educational benefits of their children over more general benefits of inclusion in education. At this stage, teachers report higher levels of positive attitude than parents. A more fine-grained level of analysis revealed that there is a wide range of attitudes to aspects of education for students with disabilities, and areas of expertise needed to support inclusive education. This research has provided an understanding of current parental and teacher attitudes and levels of existing teacher expertise towards inclusion that is able to inform future policy development in Nauru.

While New Zealand has a long history of providing special classes for the educationally handicapped, (Havill & Mitchell 1972) substantial specialized training programmes at a post-graduate level for teachers of these classes are a comparatively recent development. Apart from well-established courses for speech therapists and teachers of the deaf, the first systematic attempt to develop specialized training programmes for teachers in Special Education in New Zealand was the establishment in 1974 of a one-year post-graduate course for teachers of the Educationally Handicapped at Christchurch Teachers College.

An examination was made of the employment patterns of school leavers who had graduated from the four Christchurch work-experience programmes for mildly retarded children during a 4-year period in the current economic recession. Contrary to expectations, no differences were found in the employment patterns for graduates of each of the four years. In each year-group, levels of employment were high as were meantimes in employment since graduation, and frequencies of job changes were low. Several methodological problems which cloud interpretation of the results are discussed and the need for comprehensive and consistent monitoring of the employment patterns of mildly retarded school-leavers over the next few years is emphasised.

The Des English Memorial Lecture provides an unique opportunity each year to reflect on the history that has brought us together and has carried us to this point in the evolution of the discipline of special education. It provides us with a time to dream, a time to foreshadow, a time to hint or guess at the better world that we strive to create in our classrooms each day, in our schools each week and in our administrative or academic systems each year. There are many lessons from the educational past for us to heed as we move forward towards the 21st Century and help forge the changes that our schools and services must necessarily undergo in order to serve well future generations of students with special academic and social needs.

Recently Maggs described a model for the delivery of technical assistance in special education settings in which he emphasized the importance to service delivery of the role played by consultant personnel. This paper identifies three fundamentally important influences on the work performance of consultants, whether they are working “traditionally” or within a model such as that proposed by Maggs.

This paper examines, from a philosophical perspective, some of the main ethical problems pertaining to the special education field. It is argued that while special education practice has been strongly grounded in psychological theory, it has not always been adequately justified by reference to general moral principles. Rationales for intervention are mostly couched in descriptive or explanatory terms while the over-riding prescriptive or evaluative dimensions are often presupposed without explicit justification. Particular issues such as diagnostic assessment, educational placement and behavioural management can be seen to entail complex ethical problems concerning the consideration of individual rights and interests, equality of educational opportunity, and respect for personal autonomy. Examples of the moral dilemmas inherent in particular special educational practices are examined. Finally, it is claimed that special educators must be able to defend not only the empirical bases of their educational theories, but also the value judgments implicit in them.

Apart from Iceland, Finland is the northernmost country in the world. Geographically it is one of the largest countries in Europe, but with only five million people it is one of the most sparsely populated. Like most other western countries, Finland has undergone a rapid process of urbanisation and change in occupational structure, although this did not begin until the 1940s. Nowadays about 65 per cent of the population live in urban areas (Statistics Finland 1991).

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study of the integration of an exceptional child with Down syndrome into a regular primary school. In investigating the demands made on the teachers in this situation, the researcher attempted to discover personal, professional development and support needs. The data revealed that there were greatly increased demands placed on the teachers of the exceptional child and their personal and professional needs were significant. The study concluded that it is only with adequate professional, financial and moral support of the entire school community that justice for teachers of exceptional children in integrated classrooms is both done and seen to be done.

Two Hong Kong studies are described which investigate the perceptions of junior secondary school pupils (high- and low-achieving) concerning the effectiveness of rewards and punishments. Both studies employ versions of Caffyn’s questionnaire. Initial analysis reveals that (a) there is a relationship between disaffection and achievement, and (b) pupils of both achievement levels have more favourable perceptions regarding the effectiveness of rewards than they do of punishments. A focus on the relationships between achievement and perceptions reveals that (c) high-achievers perceive a large number of rewards as more effective than do low-achievers, (d) low-achievers perceive very few other rewards as being more effective than do high-achievers, and (e) the situation is a little more balanced for punishments. The paper includes a discussion regarding particular reward and punishment items perceptions about which differentiate low-and high-achievers. Finally, it is noted that there is a high level of consistency between findings in the two studies reported in this paper. Where it is possible to make comparisons with other research findings from Hong Kong and elsewhere, a high degree of agreement between such findings is found.

The extent to which young people with emotional and behavioural disturbances can remain integrated within the normal school is contentious. The article proposes that every effort should be made to maintain integration and that an Alternative Unit is one means of helping to bring this about. The Alternative Unit would not only work with students in the mainstream but could also function as an intermediary between mainstream and special education.

Children and young persons with severe behavioural disorders are attracting an increasing amount of political attention and publicity due to the disruption which many of them cause in community and educational settings. In this paper the authors examine definitions of behavioural disorders and summarize recent literature in the area. Other issues raised relate to prevalence data, and the apparent growth of the problem of disruption, the stability of behavioural disorders across time into adolescence and adulthood, and the increase in stress in teachers attributable to the presence of children with behavioural disorders in schools. Management approaches are described which hold promise of alleviating the problem for pupils, teachers and the wider community.

I am honoured to have been asked to deliver the Des English Memorial Lecture. While I never met Des English, I have long been aware of his signal contributions to the field of Special Education and have learned much in conversations with those who knew him well. It is thus a considerable challenge to respond to the invitation by the Conference Committee.

In Volume 35, Issue 1 of the Australasian Journal of Special Education, Carter, Stephenson and Strnadová (2011) replicated a study by Burns and Ysseldyke (2009). In Carter et al.'s study, 194 Australian special educators were asked to rate the extent to which they used eight instructional practices. These practices were applied behaviour analysis, direct instruction, formative evaluation, mnemonic strategies, modality training, perceptual-motor training, psycholinguistic training, and social skills training. The first four of these practices had moderate to high effect sizes (and were regarded by the authors as more desirable techniques), and the final four practices had low effect sizes, on the basis of past meta-analytic research. Carter et al.'s findings were that while the Australian teachers used some desirable strategies relatively frequently, they also used some less desirable practices frequently and so desirable instructional practices should be encouraged at the expense of less effective practices. While these results are of interest, they also have the potential to mislead readers and later sections of the current article examine these potential misconceptions.

Although international research has accumulated significant evidence on inclusive practices and their benefits for children, how this translates into early childhood settings is often unsatisfactory within and across countries. Against the background of general acceptance of the principles incorporated in the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, we examine how 3 countries who are signatories to this convention, Australia, Greece, and Malaysia, are making progress towards inclusion in early childhood. Using an implementation science framework, the key components of enabling contexts, research-based practices, and effective implementation supports are explored. In this framework, each of these components is essential for achieving the desired outcomes of inclusion. The country profiles of Australia, Greece, and Malaysia are examined (including similarities and differences in legislation, policies, early childhood services, and practices) in an effort to support understanding of factors facilitating and challenging early childhood inclusion.

This article describes the evolution of inclusive education in Hong Kong, moving from segregation via integration to inclusion. The outside influence of education policies and trends from Britain, Australia, and the United States are identified, and the current situation is described. In particular, obstacles that are encountered on the route to inclusion are compared with those found in other countries. These obstacles include large class size, teachers’ often negative attitudes, parents’ expectations, teachers’ lack of expertise for adapting the curriculum and for providing differentiated teaching, and ongoing conflicts between the notion of ‘inclusive schooling for all’ and the ‘academic standards agenda’.