Structural and functional model for training primary school teachers to work in inclusive education settings

Abstract

The article substantiates the necessity and reveals the essence of a structural and functional model for training primary school teachers to work in inclusive education settings. The paper analyses the specific features of inclusive practice at the level of primary general education, which are associated with the child’s transition to academic activities and the need to meet strict academic requirements. A contradiction is identified between the normative consolidation of inclusion and the insufficient special training provided by the bachelor’s programme in primary education. Based on the synthesis of the cultural-historical, system-activity, competence-based, learner-centred, contextual, and acmeological approaches, the target, content, procedural, and outcome-assessment blocks of the training model have been designed. It is demonstrated that the effectiveness of developing the inclusive competence of future primary school teachers depends on the integration of fundamental psychological and pedagogical knowledge with special defectological modules, as well as on the organisation of continuous contextual practice in real inclusive classrooms. The conditions for implementing the model are characterised – interdisciplinary integration within the university and networking with partner schools – along with the obstacles to its introduction: a shortage of qualified teaching staff, the unpreparedness of schools to host student teachers, and overloaded curricula. Directions for further work are outlined: empirical testing of the model and the development of diagnostic tools.