Curriculum Circles: Building Community for Collaborative Teacher Professional Development for Inclusion

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 5:10 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Collaboration for Equity and Community (Table 5)

Abstract

Collaboration in teacher continuous professional development (CPD) constitutes an important component for inclusive education. This paper presents the results of a Participatory Action Research project which aimed to build a community to foster collaborative teacher CPD for inclusion in Chile. ‘Curriculum circles’ were created in two schools as spaces for collaborative thinking and development of inclusive curriculum-making practices: 14 teachers and professionals participated during one academic semester. Our findings suggest that Curriculum Circles can be useful in creating CPD for inclusion when constructed based on a culture of recognition, confidence to discuss mistakes, and appreciation of teachers’ knowledge. Curriculum Circles allowed teachers to collaboratively engage with their unrest produced by the mismatch between inclusive expectations and policies, and local challenges.

Authors

• Constanza Andrea Cardenas Alarcon, University of Glasgow

• Ines Alves, University of Glasgow