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This study introduces an ecological framework for disabilities meant to provide a new model of viewing and learning about disabilities and special education. This model projects a multi-systemic view of factors that influence a person's life, where people with disabilities are active actors in the development of the world. The increased awareness about interconnectedness, globalization, inter- and trans-disciplinarity, influences on human experience, greening, sustainability, inequality, inequity and lack of opportunities is shifting how people think about potential and growth.

The methodological approach is qualitative, interpretive research.

In disability studies, the Ecological Model of Disabilities helps reframe this uniqueness as part of the spectrum of human experiences. In special education, the Ecoducation Model helps reframe the learning experience.

This research is conceptual, but it is also all-inclusive, rendering itself to a wide application in educational settings.

The Ecoducation Model for Special Education is specific to the education of children and adults with disabilities, and it is directly compatible with the broader Ecological Model of Disabilities. These ecological models can be applied to all levels of the ecological system, and to different ecodemes of population. Nevertheless, the ecological models need to be locally implemented, with general principles tailored to national traditions, laws and resources.

Advocating for the pursuit of individual well-being within the larger society, both models call for practical changes in a multitude of areas, including legislation and policy, training of professional personnel, sufficient financial input in programs designed for the care of children and adults with disabilities, change in societal mentalities to fight discrimination, disempowerment and isolation. Because the scope of ecological frameworks is incommensurate, being both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, further research possibilities are countless. The ecological perspective opens the fields of disability studies and special education to new theoretical and empirical possibilities.

Two epistemological models are described as new frameworks in disability studies: the Ecological Model of Disabilities and the Ecoducation Model for Special Education. Both are original models that look into the education and inclusion of the person with disabilities.

In this article, we highlight ways in which disability critical race theory (DisCrit) (Annamma et al., 2013), inclusive education and community-based participatory research (CBPR) can be used within professional development schools (PDS) to provide students with disabilities with more access to inclusive classrooms. At a grade 4–6 elementary school, we developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms. We conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model. Findings suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice. This study can inform tailored professional development efforts to improve educators’ inclusive practices.

We conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model.

The findings of this study suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice.

This study can inform tailored professional development efforts aiming to improve educators’ inclusive practices.

We developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to define and explore the roles of mentors, the responsibilities and even misconceptions of their position in partnership schools, the characteristics of effective mentors, the gaps that exist in current mentor training and the need for updated and forward-thinking flexible and accessible mentor training as it relates to improvements in University Teacher Preparation Programs and their partnership schools.

The authors detail the process of interviewing a diverse population of mentors and teacher candidates (TCs) who have participated in our professional development (partnership) schools. See Appendices A and B for parallel questions posed during each interview process. Following the interviews, data were gathered in both text and video-based formats to create mentor training video modules to improve the current state of mentor training in our program. Themes were identified following an analysis of both interview intakes, and modules were created to align with these themes.

Following the first rounds of implementation, the authors have reflected and noted that a need for an even more diverse population of both mentors and interns to be interviewed is necessary moving forward. The authors do note an appreciation by mentors and university partners in the quality, flexibility and accessibility that this new video module-based mentor training program provides.

The video-based mentor training modules that the authors detail honor the needs of both new and returning mentors. Via the interviews with teacher candidates, mentors are able to empathize and understand how to be better mentors to their future TCs. Via the scenarios and questions that follow each thematically driven module, mentors are able to independently reflect on their current practices and ways to improve their roles. At any point in the internship year, mentors can return to the video training modules to review and thus improve their practice.

Mentors, university supervisors, teacher candidates and site coordinators (those individuals who identify mentors in their buildings) note improvement in their ability to communicate effectively as a result of being presented with video modules and reflections about the role of mentors from both mentors and TCs.

The authors were called on by leadership in the College of Education at the University to create this original mentor training video module. It is unique to the College of Education at the University. Great value exists in its accessibility, adaptability (we can upload new videos at any time) and representation of both the mentor and TC perceptions, suggestions and experiences in our program.

Interprofessional practice (IPP) is one way to structure collaborations to more effectively meet the complex needs of students in educational settings. This article explores the lessons learned when one research team implemented interprofessional education (IPE) experiences in partnership with a public elementary school and pre-service professionals from elementary education, special education and communication science and disorders.

This reflective article explores the lived experiences of researchers and partners who completed an IPE experience within one professional development school’s site. Researcher anecdotes are included to support the viewpoints shared.

It was discovered that IPE experiences are essential to facilitate meaningful collaborations for pre-service professionals to learn with and from one another; however, this requires time, preparation and is most effective when teacher mentors and university professors lead with vulnerability and model flexibility. Investment in IPE is challenging but worth the effort when learning outcomes are realized.

Specific details regarding the structure of this experience are shared as well as future directional goals for programs hoping to implement IPE in their professional practice programs.

Positive psychology helps us understand the knowledge required to contribute to adolescents' societal development and adjustability. Adolescence is the crucial stage to work on for a balanced personality. The present study concerned adolescents' self-strength, happiness, and help-seeking behaviour. The authors aimed to explore the relationship between adolescents' self-strength and happiness and investigate the mediational effect of adolescents' help-seeking behaviour on their self-strength and happiness.

The research design of the current quantitative study was correlational, and 809 adolescents from China and Pakistan participated in the present study. Data were personally collected from participants through self-developed scales.

We deployed Pearson correlation and simple mediation using SPSS software and found a linear, positive, strong (r = 0.654, n = 809, p = 0.000 < 0.01) and statistically significant correlation between adolescents' self-strength and happiness. The authors also found a significant indirect effect of help-seeking on adolescents' self-strength and happiness at (β = 0.373, t(907) = 7.01).

Using self-reported scales to gather information was one of the study's limitations. Adolescents may have misunderstood the notion or construct narrated in words or responded biasedly despite the bilingual scales.

This study offers social and practical implications for educators, parents, and school administrators to address the development of adolescents' personalities using a positive psychology lens.

The findings are of significant importance for teachers working in the elementary schools. They may work on adolescents' self-strength, happiness, and help-seeking to develop balanced personalities.

This study aims to examine the relationship between teacher ideals and attitudes toward peers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among teacher college students, and the effect of knowledge of ASD identification on this relationship.

This study used a quantitative approach and included 341 teacher college students. A vignette was used to assess social and professional attitudes toward peers with ASD. The participants were divided into identification and nonidentification groups based on how accurately they identified the peer depicted in the vignette as having ASD. A teacher ideals questionnaire consisting of two subscales indicating different ideal teachers − a dedicated/engaging teacher (e.g. a teacher who can work with enthusiasm) and a skillful teacher (e.g. a teacher who is knowledgeable) − was developed and administered to evaluate the participants’ teacher ideals and self-perceptions of a teacher.

In the nonidentification group, ideals of a skillful teacher were significantly correlated with social attitudes toward peers with ASD. The identification group exhibited no significant correlations between ideals and social attitudes. Furthermore, the self-perceptions of being a dedicated/engaging teacher was significantly correlated with professional attitudes toward peers with ASD in the identification group.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the relationship between teacher ideals and attitudes toward peers with ASD. Teacher ideals were related to negative social attitudes toward peers with ASD. While knowledge of ASD identification weakens this relationship, it may drive the relationship between self-perceptions of a teacher and professional attitudes toward peers with ASD. Therefore, ASD education is important for reducing the stigma toward ASD in teacher education.

Education-based discrimination has not received sufficient attention within the field of human resource development (HRD), which can provide practical interventions to help solve the hardships of high school graduate employees (HSGEs). This paper aims to bring this issue to the forefront by framing the current marginalization of South Korean HSGEs as an individual-level issue that has repercussions to early career development, and also as an organizational-level issue that has implications on workplace learning and development.

This paper used an integrative literature review method by analyzing studies that have focused on the challenges faced by HSGEs. The objective was to identify patterns of their experiences and call attention to strategies they utilize to cope with the marginality they face in the workforce. The Korea Citation Index (KCI), a database that manages Korean domestic journals, was used. In total, 187 articles were found, and 15 articles succinctly matched the research criteria.

HSGEs struggled with employment unreadiness and faced discrimination based on their academic background, young age and low-rank position within organizations. In turn, they were vulnerable to poor working conditions (e.g., high work intensity, long working hours, etc.). These challenges led HSGEs to pursue a college degree and/or engage in workplace learning.

The use of critical human resource development (CHRD) has typically been limited within a South Korean context. We deliberately applied a critical perspective to raise awareness about how contemporary forms of marginality have gone unchecked, specifically by interrogating the exclusion and disempowerment experienced by HSGEs.

Professional development (PD) is an essential component of continuing learning for in-service teachers. This paper discusses a school-based example of using the best practice of coaching in early childhood education supported by a professional development school partnership. We explain how a teacher identified need led to a collaborative, multistep approach to meeting that need in connection to State mandates.

In this research, we used a case study methodological approach with a team of preschool teachers at one school. The model combines use of PD sessions, classroom coaching, classroom observation and reflection.

Teachers’ feedback indicates that using the strategy positively impacted most of the participants’ ability to support communication, community-building and inclusive practices in their classrooms. The data that emerged in the following year evidenced increased use of visual supports in classrooms, use in connection with literacy goals and interest in creating new uses in the school.

This article contributes an action-oriented school-based example of bridging research to practice to support teachers’ needs through PD and coaching in a PDS. The design and practical implications may interest preschool educators, instructional coaches, administrators, professional development schools and others involved with monitoring teacher development initiatives.

To explore the project-specific information-seeking pathways of Chinese parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and understand the information seeking in their daily lives.

This study utilized the interview, critical incident technique and information horizon mapping to gather data from 27 Chinese parents of children with ASD during project-specific information seeking. These data were then examined using content analysis and descriptive statistics methods.

First, the information-seeking pathways of parents of children with ASD show the significant importance of both interpersonal and online sources, characterized by the combined use of multiple types of information sources. Second, information-seeking pathways considerably vary across project contexts. For diagnosis and school selection, parents had fewer pathways and primarily relied on interpersonal sources. Meanwhile, they utilized interpersonal and online sources combined for selecting rehabilitation institutions and methods, with the most information-seeking pathways for rehabilitation methods.

This study presents novel insights into the information-seeking pathways of Chinese parents of children with ASD in seeking project-specific information. It provides valuable references for relevant governments and rehabilitation institutions in building information service platforms, strengthening information quality regulation and providing information resources for parents of children with ASD.

Teacher agency plays a crucial role in teachers’ professionalism and makes them capable of acting powerfully in their teaching context. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of case-based instruction (CBI) on the agency development of EFL (English as a foreign language) student-teachers.

The study followed a descriptive narrative design and involved ten student-teachers in five CBI sessions. The data collected through different data sources, such as narratives, interviews, recorded sessions and focused groups, were analyzed using a deductive-inductive thematic analysis.

The results showed that CBI has a constructive role in developing the agency of EFL student-teachers. Active participation in CBI sessions helps teachers consider their future desires. The exploration of cases in CBI sessions helps them recall past experiences that led to the development of their agency. Brainstorming ideas in CBI sessions helps teachers consider their beliefs in decision-making and analyze their past experiences. In conclusion, CBI can help develop teacher professionalism and acknowledgment of the importance of teacher agency.

The research has addressed student-teachers’ agency development through an ecological perspective and CBI.