‘You can train us until we are blue in our faces, we are still going to struggle’: Teacher professional learning in a full-service school

Abstract

Teacher educators internationally are concerned with how best to prepare and equip teachers to be pedagogically responsive to an increasingly diverse learner population. This concern is echoed in South Africa as inclusive education is entrenched in the school system, with many teachers claiming that they do not have the knowledge and skills needed to teach in classrooms that represent diverse learners and learning needs. This article reports on research conducted with teachers in a full-service (inclusive) school in South Africa regarding their perceptions of a workshop on multilevel teaching. Participants completed questionnaires immediately after the workshop, and selected teachers engaged in focus group discussions eight months after the workshop. The collected data support Opfer and Pedder's (2011) complexity theory of teacher professional learning and we argue from our findings that teacher education for inclusion must consider individual teachers, the learning activities presented to teachers, and the institutional context. We conclude by recommending that professional learning communities are pursued as an alternative to the workshop model, and call for ongoing research into teacher learning for inclusive education.