ABSTRACT
This chapter will focus on the major changes in teacher education that have occurred regarding preparing teachers for inclusion. It will consider how programs at universities, teacher training institutions and colleges can be reframed to prepare teachers to provide appropriate education provision for students with disabilities and other diverse learning needs as education transitions towards a more inclusive approach to schooling. The degree to which teacher education has kept pace with societal changes and community expectations in the new knowledge-based paradigm will be considered and insights will be provided into what might be required to ensure a better match between teacher education and the needs of students in today’s world.
Teacher education has been in the frame for considerably longer than the last century; yet how much has this frame changed during this time? Societal and political changes have been vast and far reaching, as have advancements in technology, science, medicine and the humanities. Major changes have occurred in the movement towards more democratic and equitable educational opportunities and in the clientele group for mainstream schools; but what has changed in teacher education? While there is enormous diversity across the world in the needs of students and in the way they respond to their teachers and there is a general acceptance that these needs
