Author Description

Teachers are encountering more students with special needs or disabilities within mainstream schools in Singapore. The onus is on teacher education to adequately prepare teachers to meet the challenges of diverse student needs and abilities. Besides learning the skills and strategies to include students with special needs within mainstream classrooms, it is also important for teachers to understand their own experience of disability that is situated within life in Singapore. Exploring Disability in Singapore: A Personal Learning Journey invites teachers to explore their own positioning in relation to the experience of disability within their social contexts. Set against the re-envisioning of Singapore as an inclusive society, this text is designed to guide teachers on a personal learning journey to "de-construct" or gain a critical awareness of how self and society have arrived at particular positions in relation to speical needs. The perspectives and insights of teachers who have successfully included students with special needs are shared in this text to help teachers "re-construct" personal pedagogies for inclusivity and to illustrate how these are interconnected with the use of appropriate approaches and strategies. Also included are the voices of pre-service teachers to encourage and help fellow sojourners to appreciate, affirm and respect their own unique learning journeys.