Inclusive education in Ghana: Every child shines in a particular area

Dr. Jacqueline Specht from Western University

Today, our team met with about 50 teachers from Ghana International School to discuss inclusive education in their school context and the broader community. The school is one of the leading private schools in Ghana. We were curious to find out about their experiences with, and perspectives of, inclusive education.


The workshop was a balance of providing information related to inclusive education and gaining insights from the participants. We used the "heart, head, hands" framework for our instructional blocks:

Heart: what do we believe about inclusive education?
Head: what does the research say?
Hands: what can we do to support all students?




At the end of each block, we asked the participants to provide feedback on some key questions such as:

• What experiences have shaped your thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes about students with special education needs?
• Are there spaces in your classrooms and schools where only certain students belong? Why?
• What plans need to be in place to support educators on the journey with inclusion?

Dr. Kimberly Maich from Memorial University

We collected the responses from the participants on these questions and will use them to help inform our future research and project development. The workshop will be repeated next Saturday with a similar group from public schools so it served as a bit of an opportunity to determine how we can gain insight into inclusive education in Ghana.

This written comment from one of the groups of participants caught my attention and serves as an important reminder of why we work in Canada and beyond to foster inclusive school environments: