A new British Council report by three members of the Cambridge Network for Disability and Education Research (CaNDER) provides insights into the challenges and opportunities relating to teachers with disabilities around the world.

Being a Teacher with Disabilities: Perspectives, practices and opportunities, was co-authored by Professor Nidhi Singal, Dr Patricia Kwok, and Dr Thilanka Wijesinghe and is freely available online. CaNDER is a research network which focuses on disability and education; it has a base in the Faculty of Education but involves an international network of scholars and practitioners.

Not only are there many teachers with disabilities in the education sector; previous research also highlights that they play a very important function in serving as role models and promoting inclusivity. They also act as potential “agents of change” by creating a culture within education institutions that is more empathetic and respectful of differences. Despite these contributions, there is also evidence that teachers with disabilities face considerable institutional barriers and social stigma in the workplace.

With this in mind, the new report answers questions about the policies and guidelines which exist to support teachers with disabilities in their work; their experiences in different schools and contexts; the strategies they use to function successfully in the classroom; their experiences of initial training and continuing professional development; and ways forward that will promote greater inclusion and accessibility. The research team interviewed 25 teachers from five countries: Spain, Rwanda, Jordan, Sri Lanka, and Brazil.

The study picks out some recurring issues and challenges for teachers with disabilities. For example; teachers in all countries reported a lack of workplace accommodation. This manifested in various ways; for example, a lack of ramps or ground-floor classrooms for physically disabled teachers, and more broadly an absence of wider support networks.

Additionally, senior management in many schools was found to be sometimes reluctant to give teachers with disabilities full teaching responsibilities, potentially limiting their career progression. Apart from Jordan, none of the countries surveyed had a long-term policy for accommodating disabilities.

At the same time, the research provides valuable information about systems and strategies that support teachers. For example, it draws out accounts of supportive colleagues in school settings; and while relationships with students were more variable and sometimes problematic, many teachers said that explaining their disabilities made their classes more accommodating and their work easier.

As well as providing a picture of trans-national differences and trends, the report outlines some key recommendations for governments, educational programme designers, and programme monitoring, research and evaluation. These include more active recruitment of teachers with disabilities; making disability awareness part of teacher training; personalised support for disabled teachers (such as mentors and technology training); and full workplace disability policies in education, alongside all other sectors.

The full report is available through the British Council website.