Inclusive teaching and learning and Creating an inclusive school are two, four-week courses brought to you by the Commonwealth of Learning working in partnership with The Open University‘s UK Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA) team. This first course, Inclusive teaching and learning, focuses on what it means to be an inclusive teacher. The underlying assumption is that inclusive teaching is the responsibility of all teachers, not just those with special training, and that all teachers and teaching staff have a responsibility to develop and use inclusive practices. This course will benefit all leaners, including those with special educational needs.

In Week 1, the focus is on who is in danger of being excluded, and how we can think about the issue. In Week 2, you will examine why the attitudes and values of learner-centred education are an appropriate policy response to calls for a more inclusive system and discover tools to analyse teaching from a learner-centred perspective. In Week 3, you will examine what inclusive teaching looks like in practice and some of the practical teaching approaches that can be used to involve all learners. In Week 4 the focus is on how to bring about change. It introduces the idea of a teachers’ ‘toolkit’ to support your ongoing inclusive teaching and looks in more detail at open educational resources and the role of reflective practice in bringing about change. Finally you will look ahead to the next MOOC which will focus on developing an inclusive school.