Investigating Greek secondary school teacher understandings of inclusion and issues about teacher training development.

Abstract Background: Inclusion is concerned with the elimination of all forms of exclusionary practices and barriers to learning as well as the quest for increased participation and equal opportunities education of all children and young people in their community. Recent literature focuses on the imperative need to reform initial teacher education programmes in order to graduate educators with an inclusive mindset and to establish inclusive schools. Purpose: This study is interested in examining the need for ITT reforms in the Greek setting. IT commences with an exploration of the teachers’ understandings of inclusion and their experiences regarding their initial training in relation to inclusion and SEN education. The insights offered from the analysis of the data contribute to indications about the limitations of Greek ITT across different subject matters and to provide specific recommendations. Research: The investigation takes the form of a small- scale qualitative research. Data are gathered using semi-structured interviews with six Greek secondary school teachers employed in schools in southern Greece. Later, they are analysed using the content analysis method. Results: Overall, it is found that teachers significantly lack inclusion awareness and have restrictive beliefs about SEN. They reported low levels of ITT satisfaction in relation to inclusion and SEN while they pointed out several suggestions for necessary improvement of teacher education programmes