ABSTRACT

Inclusive education communities and systems are based on how teachers can use their knowledge, skills, and social awareness to meet the increasingly diverse needs of the learners within their classrooms. International research suggests that teachers often feel underprepared to meet the needs of all learners and are largely ill-prepared to know how best to teach and include children living with a chronic illness. The findings from a mixed-methods study involving 55 New Zealand primary school teachers are reported here. Drawing on this study, this paper presents teachers’ experiences on how they got to know these children as individuals. Teachers reflected on how they sought the children’s own voices to better understand the implications of their illnesses for living and learning. The paper presents teachers’ experiences on how they embraced the opportunity for their own professional learning and development, and for some teachers, the joys of working with these inspirational children. The themes ‘don’t stress’, ‘learn everything you can’, and ‘work as a team’ are presented. This paper argues that teaching a child living with a chronic illness is a privilege. It is an opportunity for teachers to develop knowledge and skills that will benefit their practice with all children.

摘要

全纳教育社区和系统的基础是教师如何利用其知识、技能和社会意识来满足课堂上学习者日益多样化的需求。国际研究表明，教师常常感到自己没有准备好满足所有学习者的需求，并且在很大程度上不知道如何最好地教学和包容患有慢性病的儿童。本文报告了一项涉及 55 名新西兰小学教师的混合方法研究的结果。根据这项研究，本文介绍了教师如何了解这些孩子的个人经验。老师们反思了他们如何寻求孩子们自己的声音，以更好地了解他们的疾病对生活和学习的影响。本文介绍了教师如何抓住自己专业学习和发展机会的经验，以及一些教师与这些鼓舞人心的孩子一起工作的乐趣。主题是“不要有压力”、“尽你所能学习一切”和“团队合作”。本文认为，教导患有慢性病的孩子是一种特权。这是教师发展知识和技能的机会，这将有利于他们对所有儿童的实践。