Abstract:
Delivery of quality and equitable inclusive education requires innovative approaches in teacher preparation. Transition
of learners with disabilities to secondary schools and their retention therein has been impaired by lack of teacher
preparedness. Teacher Professional Development (TPD) requires involvement of teachers individually and
collectively. There has been lack of a systematic continued capacity development of teachers to deliver quality
education in inclusive setting. Kenya Institute of Special Education in collaboration with Commonwealth of Learning
(COL) conducted a study to explore how inclusive teacher professional development strategies can be used as a driver
of access to quality education and lifelong learning for all. The aim of the study was to explore the use of teacher
communities of practice made up of teacher educators and practicing teachers as an innovative step in building teacher
professional capacity in inclusive education. The study involved 39 classroom teachers, 12 head teachers and 6 policy
makers in the education sector. Semi structured questionnaires were used to collect data from the respondents and data
analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The study revealed that creating a network for specialist
teachers to meet and share the teaching of concepts with teachers of regular schools in secondary schools is positively
correlated with enrolment of learners with learning disabilities, improved school infrastructure as well as improved
subject performance among many students. It was also found that the community of teachers sharing knowledge makes
teaching of abstract topics easy to teach regardless of whether the learner has a disability or not. The study concludes
that: inclusive teacher professional development pedagogies are instrumental in enhancing student support and
personalized learning; teachers need networks, where they link up and share on new and developing methodologies
that are effective in delivering academic content to a diverse community of learners including those with disabilities
