Chris Forlin

• PhD
• Research Fellow at The University of Notre Dame Australia

Numerous books publish research on inclusive education but this is the first to dedicate a whole book to the critical aspect of how it can be measured effectively. This book considers both the issues associated with measuring inclusion and provides examples of evidence-based good practices and models of effective measures. The authors are all extr...

The role of the generalist teacher is now affirmed as being an important component in the success or otherwise of inclusive education practice. Issues about the effectiveness of teacher preparation for working in inclusive classes have arisen. An evaluation of pre-service teachers' perceptions regarding their preparedness for inclusion had some int...

With increasing numbers of parents choosing to home-school their child, currently there is very limited information about how this is implemented. Utilizing the recently developed Parents’ Perceptions of Home-Schooling scale (PPHS), a survey of 93 home-schooling parents in Western Australia was undertaken. Data were collected using five Likert scal...

Internationally, there continues to be a rise in the popularity of home-schooling. Although the growth in the numbers of families choosing this alternative approach was evident prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic school closures, it appears to have impacted on the decision for some to home-school permanently. Using a scoping review of the literature, th...

Addressing the participation rates in senior secondary mathematics courses in Australian schools remains a critically important issue. In this paper, the authors report on quantitative findings from a study in which all year 11 and year 12 (aged 17–18 years) Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) students in Western Australia were invited to...

High self-efficacy is a marker of successful teaching and is, therefore, a subject of great interest to research on inclusive education. One of the most frequently used instruments to assess such beliefs is the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice (TEIP) scale. Although used widely, some studies did not precisely replicate the original factor st...

This paper examines issues impacting parental choice for home-schooling in one state in Australia. Data were collected from 99 parents home-schooling at least one child during the 2022 academic year. Utilizing the newly developed Parent Perceptions of Home-Schooling scale, consideration was given to proactive and reactive reasons perceived by paren...

The literature contains cases of validation of the TEIP scale in many countries but none in Greece. Consequently, there is a clear need to ensure that teacher self-efficacy in Greece is explored with a reliable and valid measure. This article provides a detailed review of the psychometric properties of the TEIP and its use with teachers in the Gree...

The research explores the perceptions of five secondary school students with special education needs (SEN) about their participation in learning, group membership, and agency within an inclusive school in Macau SAR. This goal is achieved by using students' voices documented in open‐ended interviews and is underpinned by the conceptual framework of...

The education of students with disability has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. Universal declarations and conventions have underpinned many of these changes at both an international level and within Australia. In the early 1970s, the philosophy of John Rawls provided a theory of justice to preserve social justice and individual liberty...

Current practices regarding inclusive education vary enormously depending on a wide range of issues, specifically the context and culture of an education system. To maximise the validity of data, and to avoid contextual confusion, this review focuses on one state in Australia, that of Western Australia. By applying a review of five-decade archival...

A critical resource for inclusive education is ensuring that an effective curriculum is in place for preparing teachers. Reviewing an existing curriculum and revising it to meet this need is an important aspect of every teacher training institution. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the effect of a revised PostGraduate Diploma in Educat...

and Keywords Special education has undergone continued transformation since societies began to pro vide an increasing number of specialized, segregated facilities for children with like needs during the 20th century. Since then, there has been a worldwide movement against a segregated approach and toward greater inclusion of students with disabilit...

This study examined responses from 508 full-time teachers working in inclusive schools in Macao (SAR). The intention was to understand the teachers’ perceptions about their roles and how they responded to inclusive practices in their school. Teachers’ perceived levels of emotional exhaustion and cognitive work engagement were assessed in relation t...

This was produced as part of a larger project for the Australian Government on levels of funding support for learners with disability in schools. Forlin, C. (2019). Best practice adjustments for students with disability: Project 2, Part 1. National Schools resourcing Board, It can also be downloaded from https://docs.education.gov.au/node/53476

The literature contains cases of validation of the TEIP scale in many countries but none in Greece. Consequently, there is a clear need to ensure that teacher self-efficacy in Greece is explored with a reliable and valid measure. This paper provides a detailed review of the psychometric properties of the TEIP and its use with teachers in the Greek...

Validation of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) for use with teachers in Macao (SAR) was undertaken to determine its usefulness as a measure of teacher self-efficacy for inclusive education. This paper discusses the results found by analyzing various versions of the TSES and TSES-C in a Chinese format with 200 pre-service teachers in Mac...

Validation of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) for use with teachers in Macao (SAR) was undertaken to determine its usefulness as a measure of teacher self-efficacy for inclusive education. This paper discusses the results found by analyzing various versions of the TSES and TSES-C in a Chinese format with 200 pre-service teachers in Mac...

While countries across the Asia-Pacific region have since the early 2000s been very forthright in acknowledging the international conventions and declarations that promote inclusive education, there still seems to be a substantial gap between policy and school expectations in most educational systems. Many of the less developed countries have adopt...

This review paper examines the theories of behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism that are considered to underpin the theory and practice of inclusive education. We argue that education practices related to the inclusion of students with special educational needs can be derived from each of the three theoretical perspectives. By adopting an...

Inclusive education is promoted internationally as the most effective way of educating all children. Concurring with this, parents increasingly seek out inclusive schooling for their child with disability, rather than placement in a special segregated facility. There is, nonetheless, enormous diversity between countries and regions in the form that...

Social inclusion incorporates attitudes, expectations and perceptions about what it means to belong to a group. Belonging is embedded in personal beliefs and social structures that set forth criteria that determine how individuals and groups are accorded value and esteem. This chapter explores the constructs of social inclusion, exclusion and belon...

This volume brings together 17 essays by sociology, education, psychology, disability and inclusion, and other specialists from North America, Australia, Europe, and New Zealand, who outline ways to promote social inclusion. They discuss the concepts of social inclusion and belonging, segregation and solidarity, fostering the social inclusion of yo...

Currently, there is no consensus as how best to fund inclusive education for students with autism spectrum disorder. In this narrative review, we examined a range of funding models internationally in an attempt to identify the range of best practices for resourcing inclusive education. Three databases were searched along with various policy documen...

Macau Special Administration Region (Macau SAR) is in the process of revising legislation concerning special and inclusive education. While the institutional discourse revolves around establishing inclusive education, it is unclear as to how the proposed changes will enable or depress this from occurring. This research, therefore, examined teachers...

This paper reports findings of a mixed methods study examining private school teachers’ perceptions of efficacy in dealing with the challenges presented by inclusive education in Macao. This is highly pertinent after the Government invited consultation to propose changes to amendments of the Decree Law of 1996 concerning the education of students w...

In recent years, countries of the Pacific have been moving strongly towards enhancing inclusive educational practices within a previously segregated education system. Through the Pacific Education Development Framework (PEDF) approved by 14 Pacific Island Education Ministers in 2009, the implementation of regional policies of inclusive education is...

In Macao, the government has initiated a debate regarding revisions in the Decree Law in order to promote a more inclusive schooling system. In this Special Administrative Region of China, inclusive education is one of three possible types of special education that are likely be legislated in the future. The way the teachers perceive the different...

This study examines the impact of a revised one-week training course on teacher self-efficacy in terms of improving teaching and learning strategies and classroom management to support students with special educational needs (SEN) in ordinary schools in Hong Kong. Various teacher-related variables (i.e., level of prior training in special education...

The inclusion of learners with a wide range of special needs has become a major change in regular classrooms over the past 40 years. In the early part of the twentieth century, there were few opportunities for children to attend formal schooling. For those with disabilities, schooling was almost non-existent. Except for a few students who were deaf...

Following the UNESCO initial statement in 1994 that inclusive schools were the most effective way to counter discriminatory approaches and attitudes toward students with a disability, international legislation and policy has evolved to challenge exclusionary practices and focus attention on equal opportunities for all learners. Inclusion in educati...

The Pacific Island countries are committed to promoting disability-inclusive education through enactment of the Pacific Education Development Framework. To support this move, key stakeholders have identified the need for developing local and contextually appropriate indicators for measuring progress of disability-inclusive education. This paper rep...

Fourteen member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum have adopted The Pacific Education Development Framework as a means of improving quality of education across the region. Within this framework, special education and inclusive education are seen as priority areas that endorse a rights-based approach to education. Aligned with other Pacific regi...

This study investigated changes in teacher self-efficacy for inclusive practice using a mixed method research design. Participants were 417 in-service teachers in Hong Kong taking a 1-week basic teacher-training course about inclusive education. Data were collected pre and post participation in the course using the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Pr...

Report to the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations & Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, Canberra, 2013.

Parents are key stakeholders in education and their support is pivotal to policy implementation. Through a large-scale survey, the present study investigated the validity of a structural model describing the relationship between attitude, knowledge, and perceived social norm among parents of children with special needs. Results revealed that knowle...

The Pacific Island nations are in the process of transforming education to support all learners through the application of more inclusive approaches. In order to measure progress, they are working collaboratively to develop a set of local and contextually applicable indicators for inclusive education. This article reports the initial step in this p...

Within a tradition of a dual regular and special education system in Japan, the Government is promoting education reform that encourages an inclusive approach to education. This research investigates whether teachers are being trained for successful inclusion in Japan by reviewing the perceptions of all pre-service teachers in one university regard...

Volume 3 in this series on International perspectives of Inclusive Education focuses on measuring inclusive education from a range of perspectives. It is grounded upon a review of international conceptualizations of inclusive education and ways in which different systems are measuring its impact and effectiveness. In the first section, broad issu...

The inclusion of students with disabilities was initiated by the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development in the Solomon Islands in 2013. This paper investigates the knowledge, skills, and values of school leaders in public and private schools in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, in regard to providing support for inclusive e...

This is a series of books highlighting different aspects of inclusive education. This series provides an excellent opportunity to really make a strong commitment to continuing to publish high quality, research and evidence-based books about all aspects of inclusive education. With the broad change in focus I think this is strengthening this series...

Recent policy changes in the Pacific Islands have seen a strong emphasis on implementing inclusive education. Preparing teachers for this change in education will be essential if they are to have the knowledge, skills and understandings so that they can become inclusive practitioners. Pre-service teacher education will play a critical role in suppo...

This chapter reviews the international literature in order to support ongoing international development work on indicators for measuring inclusive education. Building on previous work in this area, this chapter outlines 13 themes in the international literature that should be considered in the development of a set of indicators for measuring inclus...

This chapter provides an overview of inclusive education, specifically examining conceptualisations of inclusive education and some of the models used to frame an evaluation of the practice. While international human rights agreements, covenants and legislation provide definitions that focus on equity, access, opportunity and rights, inclusive educ...

This study examined teaching efficacy for inclusive practice in a pre-post matched-sample of 737 teachers in Hong Kong taking a basic university-level course in inclusive education. The results demonstrate that regardless of demographic variables such a course is effective in improving teacher efficacy for inclusive practice, with female teachers m...

This study examines changes in attitudes, teaching efficacy, and concerns about inclusive education in a sample of 2361 teachers in Hong Kong who took a professional learning course about inclusive education. Participants completed a questionnaire seeking demographic information and their perceptions about these three aspects of inclusive education...

Inclusive education is the most advanced form of recognition of the right to education. Mexico has made important legal and administrative changes to foster inclusion since the end of the twentieth century. This research assesses the impact of the Mexican pre-service teacher curriculum on 813 pre-service teachers’ sentiments, attitudes and concerns...

A substantial amount of learning in schools takes place within social contexts and class-based group activities; however, social learning situations, communication and social cognition development for children with ASD can be a challenge for the children and their teachers. This paper explores what happens when children with ASD draw activity-plans...

This paper reports Darren’s story told from the perspective of a person who, due to a serious accident as a young adult, became a quadriplegic. Darren experienced debilitating consequences as a result, which led to many challenges for him in both social and work activities. His limited mobility directly affected his job prospects and personal life....

This report provided to DFAT contains a discussion of the research and evidence-base that responds to the following research questions: • How is Australia sitting internationally in relation to the extent students with disability or additional learning needs can access and participate in education on the same basis as students without disability? •...

This paper reviews how the international trend to adopting an inclusive approach to education is impacting upon developing countries. Like all regions, developing countries are unique in their requirements. They thus require policy and practices that not only adopt the international Conventions but that also reflect their uniqueness and provide a m...

Since the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994), there has been a global rise in the numbers of children and young people with special educational needs, including those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), attending regular schools. The inclusion of children with ASD into regular classrooms has been mooted the most challenging for teachers. A wealth...

In this paper the authors employ a case study approach to investigate the transition process for a student with special educational needs from a Hong Kong subsidised primary school into a secondary school. An analysis of transcripts from individual and focus group interviews with the student, his parents, his 4 primary teachers and his 10 secondary...

For learners with special educational needs (SEN) an area of particular challenge occurs frequently during transition times. There are a range of inter- and intra-school periods when major changeovers are required. Preparing to enter school, moving from primary to secondary schooling, and leaving school into postschool options are all very demandin...

Social, emotional, and behavioural disorders of children, within the context of a whole-school approach to inclusion as adopted by Hong Kong, can be challenging for teachers and parents. Based on a comprehensive review of the literature and feedback from a range of experts and parent groups in Hong Kong, specific scales were developed to measure fo...

In this paper the authors employ a case study approach to investigate the transition process for a student with special educational needs from a Hong Kong subsidised primary school into a secondary school. An analysis of transcripts from individual and focus group interviews with the student, his parents, his 4 primary teachers and his 10 secondary...

A number of Asian Pacific countries have ratified the UN Conventions on the Rights of People with Disabilities and have identified an urgent need to include children with special educational needs in regular school programs. Successful implementation of such a policy reform requires significant changes in the way education is provided to all studen...

This paper reports research that evaluated the efficacy of training for education assistants and its impact upon changing practices in a group of private international schools in Hong Kong, China. Two cohorts of education assistants received training through an educational institute. The focus was on supporting and fostering inclusive practices in...

This paper reports the results of an international study examining pre-service teacher reports of teaching self-efficacy for inclusive education; principally focusing on the explanatory relationship between a scale designed to measure teaching self-efficacy in this area and key demographic variables within Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Indonesi...

Future Directions for Inclusive Teacher Education provides a wealth of ideas about how to support teachers to become inclusive through the application of positive training approaches. Written by some of the most influential internationally acknowledged experts in teacher education for inclusion and highly experienced researchers, together the autho...

It is possible that many benefits may be found for all concerned in education and child development in understanding how knowledge of the brain and its development can inform early years practice. This article, written by Brenda Peters and Chris Forlin, both from the Hong Kong Institute of Education, reviews literature based on neuroscience to esta...

This paper reports the final development of a scale to measure pre-service teachers' perceptions in three constructs of inclusive education, namely, sentiments or comfort levels when engaging with people with disabilities; acceptance of learners with different needs; and concerns about implementing inclusion. The Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns...

The advancement of inclusive educational provision in the Asia-Pacific region has been guided by international research. As one example, Hong Kong has developed a unique and cultural response to inclusive practice within the region. This paper reviews Hong Kong's development of inclusive education practice for children with autism spectrum disorder...

The education for learners with special education needs (SEN) in Macau (SAR), China, has gradually transitioned over the past 30 years from a completely segregated approach to a more inclusive one. Following a review of the development of special education and the transition towards inclusion in Macau, consideration is given to the enactment of inc...

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure perceived teacher efficacy to teach in inclusive classrooms. An 18-item scale was developed on a sample of 607 pre-service teachers selected from four countries (Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and India). Factor analysis of responses from the sample revealed three factors: efficacy in...

This research explores the use of visual imagery as a strategy for gaining a greater understanding of diversity and inclusion within regular schools as perceived from the perspective of 118 newly qualifying teachers in Hong Kong. Dyads or small groups of teachers participating in a teacher education course were asked to represent their understandin...

In comparison to international perspectives, the specific role of the school psychologist in Hong Kong will provide a case study of the tensions experienced by a system in transition between a very traditional, highly segregated education system, to one that is actively promoting a whole school approach to inclusion. Consideration will initially be...

The inclusion of students with special education needs in regular schools in Mexico is slowly gaining momentum. Likewise, teacher training for inclusion is increasingly becoming an important aspect of preservice training. This research investigates the perceptions of 286 preservice teachers who are about to complete their general teacher training r...

The government in Hong Kong has mandated that all schools should start to accept children with special educational needs by employing a whole school approach. This is not a simple move for teachers as inclusive education is complex, involving a range of issues including developing appropriate government and school policy; providing relevant support...

This article describes an Australian research identity in special education. Consideration initially is given to what is meant by special education in the Australian context. A brief historical perspective follows with a focus on research conducted in Australia. Various research domains employed by Australian researchers are described, and signific...

How teachers might best be prepared to work in schools with an increasingly diverse pupil population is of concern to educational academics, professionals and governments around the world. Changes that have taken place in legislation and practice often fail to taken into account how practitioners can ensure that all children and young people are ab...

Education reform towards a whole school approach to catering for diversity within Hong Kong government schools has seen the initiation of several strategies to support mainstream schools in this transition. One of these approaches is the use of a resource school model. Special and mainstream schools in Hong Kong are being invited to establish thems...

Abstract Professional learning for teachers is important if they are to be prepared for teaching in inclusive classrooms. This is particularly pertinent in Hong Kong where teachers have little personal experience of inclusion and where teaching continues to be didactic and examination oriented. Since Hong Kong implemented,a whole school approach to...

One hundred and fifty regular class grade six and seven children responded to a magnitude scale instrument after viewing a video depicting a teacher interviewing a student playing the role of a target child with a mild intellectual disability. The study was conducted in two schools, one traditional, the other progressive. Subjects (male and female)...

This paper presents the results of research undertaken in Western Australia regarding educators' beliefs about the stress of inclusive practices. The responses of educators from Education Support Centres and regular primary schools (n = 273) are compared regarding the degree of stress attributed to a regular class teacher when asked to cope with a...

The preparation of teachers for regular schools has clearly needed to undergo quite significant change in recent years. One major adjustment has been the necessity to prepare teachers for progressively more diverse student populations as they will increasingly be required to teach in inclusive classrooms. Many teacher education institutions are, th...

Inclusion of students with disabilities into regular schools is now one of the most significant issues facing the education community both nationally and internationally. In order to address this issue there is widespread acceptance that teacher training institutions must ensure that new teachers are trained to teach effectively in classrooms where...

Throughout the past two decades there has been a move away from educating children with disabilities in segregated schools to adopting a more inclusive approach within mainstream schools in all jurisdictions in Australia. This research identifies the concerns of 228 regular class teachers in Western Australia who have all been involved with the inc...

The focus of this chapter revolves around the developments toward a whole-school approach to inclusive education in the Chinese (Confucian) society. A broad range of issues are discussed, including the acceptance of people with disabilities, major educational reforms in the Asian-Pacific region and the changing ideologies with regard to special edu...

A unique feature of Learning Diversity in the Chinese Classroom is its Chinese context for meeting the educational requirements of children with special needs. At a time when many of the currently available texts in the area have a general perspective, Asian teachers and students have long felt the need for a text that specifically recognizes the l...

education of pre-service teachers in teacher training institutions in four different countries: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Using the Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education Scale (Wilczenski, 1995) and a series of demographic variables, this study concludes that pre-service teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education differ betw...

Together with the many advantages incurred by educational reform there are concomitantly a number of challenges that have to be addressed. In the field of special education there have probably been more changes in the past decade than in any other area of education. In 2006, Hong Kong is undoubtedly at the cusp of major changes which continue to re...

Education in Hong Kong increasingly needs to change to reflect a growing movement toward providing more equitable educational opportunities by initiating inclusive educational practices. In recent years a number of very important educational reforms have moved the whole-school approach to integrated education forward and have attracted major attent...

Since the mid‐1990s in Hong Kong there has been a slow but obvious shift from expecting students with disabilities to be educated in segregated special schools to providing more opportunities for them to be educated alongside their mainstream peers. Pre‐service teacher training institutions have begun to offer modules of study in order to assist ma...