Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) has long been a crucial objective for the Pakistani education system, aiming to elevate the quality of education, a topic of extensive debate over the years. Numerous education reforms and intervention plans have been introduced to address quality issues at all levels of the education system. However, one significant barrier to achieving quality education is the presence of inadequately prepared teachers, who often lack the enthusiasm needed to directly impact student learning outcomes. Teachers who complete their professional education without a solid foundation in inclusive teaching practices are likely to struggle in addressing the needs of students from diverse backgrounds, including those with disabilities or from marginalised communities. Therefore, in pursuing the goal of including all children, regardless of ability or disability, it is crucial that university educators equip student teachers with the critical pedagogical skills necessary to meet the needs of learners with diverse disabilities. Based on my decade of research into reforming teacher education, I conclude that initial teacher education must find ways to better integrate theory and practice. One indispensable aspect of this relationship, as evidenced by my research, is that teacher preparation is most effective when student teachers have the opportunity to work collaboratively with classroom teachers in constructing and applying their professional knowledge.

In Pakistan, the State has taken steps towards enhancing inclusive education by embracing the National Education Policy and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to affirm the value of inclusive and equitable quality education for all. However, the translation of policy into practice has been sidelined. To overcome this stalemate, it is necessary for university faculties to invite various stakeholders to collaborate on the change agenda, thereby sharing the responsibility of creating a viable, functional, and concrete model for the training of student teachers.

This approach mirrors the strategies of some Western universities that are adopting inclusive collaborative models to prepare teacher educators for addressing the diverse needs of learners. Since such a collaborative model did not exist in Pakistani teacher education programmes, I adopted it to experiment with the agenda of university and school collaboration for integrating inclusive practices in my recently sponsored Higher Education Commission project in Pakistan. I employed the “3-H model” addressing Heart, Head, and Hands as an apprenticeship for navigating the emotional, cognitive, and practical dimensions of teaching and learning. This inclusive model, originating from the work of Australian researchers, notably Umesh Sharma from Monash University, has shown promising results in preparing teachers for the implementation of inclusive practices.

Pakistan’s education system is marked by a wide range of disparities, including those related to socioeconomic status, geographical location, and disabilities. The holistic 3-H apprenticeship approach to inclusive education is essential not only for promoting a supportive and accessible learning environment but also for empowering educators to effectively meet the needs of all students, regardless of their abilities or diverse backgrounds. I trained almost two hundred student teachers at a public university using this apprenticeship model, aiming to integrate inclusion by heart, head, and hands in collaboration with university faculty and school staff. Different cohorts of student teachers engaged with university faculty and school educators to learn the concepts of inclusion, encapsulated by heart, head, and hands through inclusive pedagogies.

The first component, inclusion by ‘Heart,’ teaches student teachers to create significant connections with their students, fostering understanding and mutual respect, and allowing students to feel safe and valued—indispensable elements in creating a positive learning environment. A sense of belonging, inclusion, and empathy were demonstrated through teacher educators developing emotional and social relationships with students. The second component, inclusion by ‘Head,’ emphasizes the importance of promoting cognitive engagement and critical thinking in teaching. Student teachers collaborated with university and school educators to learn how to differentiate instruction to meet the diverse learning needs of their students. This included adapting curriculum materials, using a variety of teaching methods, and assessing students’ progress in ways that promote inclusive practice. For example, a teacher may need to modify a lesson plan to accommodate a student with a visual impairment or design an assessment that allows students with different abilities to demonstrate their understanding, such as responding orally when written skills are inadequately developed.

The third component, inclusion by ‘Hands,’ focuses on the practical application of teaching strategies and the development of skills essential for inclusive education. Teacher candidates were trained to translate learning theories into practice through a collaborative approach. They were provided with different teaching scenarios for role-modelling and received feedback from supervisory classroom teachers on how to address students’ learning difficulties, further enhancing their responses. Additionally, student teachers worked together in co-teaching as part of the peer mentoring process for microteaching, building their skills and knowledge in inclusive education contexts.

From the findings of my project, I learned the effectiveness of the collaborative model through university and school partnerships in translating learning theories into practice to address inclusion. This project has provided a baseline structure for a collaborative model that can be used to prepare teacher candidates to apply inclusive practices with hands-on activities. However, the success of this approach depends on the commitment of the entire education system, including policymakers, school administrators, universities, teacher educators, and the broader academic community, to implement this strategy. Inclusion requires recognising the strengths of all members of a community. Achieving this recognition and fulfillment demands the collaborative effort of all parties, whether in schools, workplaces, or broader society.

Sadia Shaukat
The writer is working as Associate Professor of education at the University of Education. She is a researcher, academician and consultant.