Although there are clear differences in national policies regarding inclusive education, the international debate has not fully considered their impact on implementation within different countries, for example on teacher education. This paper reports on results from a comparative study of in-service teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices in South Africa and Finland and its implications for teacher education in these countries. A sample of 319 South African and 822 Finnish primary and secondary education teachers completed a questionnaire containing a scale measuring sentiments, attitudes and concerns on inclusive education as well as a scale measuring teachers’ self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices. A comparative analysis indicated that whereas the overall sentiments towards disabilities were positive in both countries, teachers had many concerns about the consequences of including children with disabilities in their classrooms. While the most positive aspect of self-efficacy among the South African teachers was their self-efficacy in managing behaviour, the Finnish teachers saw this as their weakest point. Self-efficacy, in particular efficacy in collaboration, was clearly related to overall attitudes towards inclusion. The implications of these findings for pre-service and in-service teacher education are discussed.

Inclusive education as a global movement emerged over the past 30 years to ensure quality mainstream education for all learners. Since 1994 the newly democratic South Africa also had expectations as well as the political will to change education by adjusting legislation and policies. However, the vision of a truly inclusive education system in South Africa has been difficult to achieve and results regarding the implementation of inclusive education remain questionable. There has been a growing realisation that the advent of democracy was not in itself a sufficient condition for the elimination of historical and structural inequalities in education with as recurring theme the dissonance between the government's socio-political imperative for change and economic realities. This article focuses on the development of policy and guidelines on inclusive education in dynamic interaction with the complexity of realities in South African schools with a special focus on the policy recommendations regarding the development of full-service schools. The constant comparative analysis of the two phased case study of a full-service school in a rural town revealed interesting results illustrating the complexities regarding the implementation of inclusive education and the challenges and opportunities in bridging the gap between the idealism of policies and the realities in schools.

South African Journal of Education

This paper reports on the findings of an international comparative research project where the roles of teachers in the implementation of inclusive education in mainstream-classroom settings in South Africa and Finland were investigated. Inclusive education within this project is broadly defined as welcoming all students to general-education schools and classrooms and not segregating students on the basis of ability or other individual or sociocultural characteristics. In this paper a qualitative analysis of Finnish and South African teachers’ day-to-day teaching and learning support practices in their classroom is discussed. Individual and focus-group interviews encouraged teachers to articulate their views in this regard. Initial findings indicate that despite the dissimilar cultural and historical contexts of these two countries, both complex contextual issues and classroom practices based on a medical-deficit understanding of diverse educational needs play a role in Finnish and South African classrooms.