Inclusive Education Initiative
What is Inclusive Education?
Supporting students with disabilities and learning differences is essential for creating transformational educational environments where all students have the opportunity to thrive and lead. According to UNESCO, approximately 33% of children with disabilities are excluded from school, with this figure rising to 50% in some countries, highlighting a significant barrier to their academic success. The World Bank notes that inclusive education not only improves social outcomes by fostering better social interactions and personal development for both students with and without disabilities, but also has long-term economic benefits by enhancing future employment opportunities. By promoting inclusive practices, we support social integration, reduce stigma, and prepare all students for a diverse and interconnected world.
In partnership with network organizations and the communities where they work, Teach For All strives for a more liberated and equitable world by developing the network’s capacity to support learners with disabilities and learning differences.
We do this by:
Further building global organization and network partner staff members' awareness and understanding
Facilitating and curating learning opportunities
Curating high-quality examples and resources from across the network
Building and maintaining relationships with external partners
Centering Intersectionality
Recognizing that identities are multifaceted, intersecting in complex ways that influence individuals' experiences and perspectives, this initiative is dedicated to exploring and understanding these intersections, acknowledging that a child's identity encompasses more than just one aspect. Through this exploration, we aim to develop inclusive practices that honor the entirety of each child's identity.
Inclusive Educators Lab Community
To explore Inclusive Education at Teach For All, we have co-created the Inclusive Educators Lab Community. This is a space for any educator or teacher coach within the Teach For All network to come together to explore critical learning questions that lead to the creation of more inclusive practices that ensure that all learners are able to reach their fullest potential. Our community learns, discusses, reflects, and shares best practices through our bi-monthly newsletter, virtual community calls and online discussion hub.
Inclusive Educators Lab Learning Questions:
How are teachers and teacher educators effectively prioritizing inclusive education approaches to expand inclusivity for students with learning differences and disabilities within their schools and classrooms?
- What are the variances in definitions and understandings of inclusive education across different global education systems?
- How do our experiences and mindsets around ability/disability impact how we effectively teach students with intersectional identities, including disabilities and learning differences?
- How can we innovate our strategies to navigate the complexities of intersecting identities in the classroom, honoring diverse dimensions such as cultural identity, race, class, sexuality, and more within varied educational environments?
- How are educators creatively fostering a profound sense of belonging and acceptance for every student, irrespective of their backgrounds or identities, within classrooms and school environments?
Interested members of the Teach For All network can register to join our community.
Inclusive Education Fellowship
Our annual Inclusive Education Fellowship is an opportunity for teachers and teacher coaches from across the Teach For All global network and beyond to explore what classrooms who are growing ALL students holistically look, sound and feel like. We engage together in learning around research based best practices for engaging students with learning differences and disabilities (and all students!) - including Universal Design for Learning, Metacognition and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy. Fellows become avid action researchers to enable them to continuously reflect, learn, and grow to better access opportunities for all of our learners - particularly those with learning differences and disabilities. Each Fellow leads a project related to Inclusive Education to contextualize and bring to life this work locally, and we share these projects to learn together globally.
Inclusive Education Resources
Explore a curated selection of case studies, Inclusive Education Fellowship project overviews, and resources to support you in learning research-based best practices for Inclusive Education with a deep focus on Universal Design for Learning, Metacognition, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy on our Learning and Insights Hub.
Contact Us to Get Involved
For more information about Teach For All's Inclusive Education initiative, send us an email.
