The construction of an institute-school-community partnership of teacher education for inclusion

This chapter proposes an Institute-School-Community partnership of teacher education for addressing the needs of teacher education for inclusion. It is argued that although the Education Bureau (EDB) has organized different kinds of programs involving teacher education institutions and special schools to enhance the professional development of teachers, the lack of coordination among differ-ent parties reduces the effectiveness of that training. More importantly, teachers who have taken structured courses in catering for diversity at teacher educa-tion institutions still have great difficulty in implementing inclusive education at the school level because of the lack of acceptance of diversity in the schools. In addition to the community effort, it is suggested that collaboration among teacher education institutions, schools and the community is needed to work in the same direction to empower teachers to achieve the crucial mission of inclusive education. Copyright © 2012 the authors.