Preparing Teachers for Inclusion in a Homogeneous Society : A Case Study of a Czech Univesity's Approach to Inclusive Education

Abstract: Inclusive education is a broad topic which includes research in the areas of race, ethnicity, culture, gender, language, religion and ability. Since the end of the Second World War it has become an important concept discussed internationally in both policy and research. Supported in documents such as the Declaration of Human Rights and the Salamanca Statement it is concerned with rights, social justice, and equity within education for all. Over the decades inclusive education has evolved tremendously and new approaches to how to implement it have emerged. However, as one new approach is developed this does not mean that the old ones are discarded, making inclusive education more complex. Local implementation varies as political, social, and economic influences impact the way it is understood and put into practice. Therefore, this study aims at addressing the various approaches to inclusive education within the literature. Developing three approaches to organize inclusive education based on motivation for implementation, the concept will be connected to theories within multicultural education. The Czech Republic was selected as this country recently made legislative changes to its education system, moving it away from a multi-track system to an inclusive one. In order to identify how teachers are being prepared for these changes and their work within inclusive mainstream classrooms, the research data was collected at an initial teacher education programme and focused on the perspectives of faculty and students. Semi-structured interviews were used to identify how the various stakeholders understood inclusive education and how they interpreted its implementation within the Faculty of Education.