Chinese student teachers attending summer school in Edinburgh

During mid July 2017, Professor Lani Florian led a one-week residential summer school programme ‘Comparative Approaches to Inclusive and Special Education’, which I assisted with its development and preparation before leaving for fieldwork in China. The summer schools was to provide sufficient opportunities for schools to enhance their knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and principles relevant to inclusive and special education. The programme covered a range of topics, including international advocacy, the policy development and challenges in practice in Scotland, the UK, the EU, USA, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, developing contexts as Indonesia and Jordan, and also issues related to conflicts such as education for Syrian refugee children. I brought the programme to the inclusive education team in Beijing Normal University, and they considered it to be an excellent opportunity for their student teachers. After applying for funding to support such international exchange, scholarship was granted, and as there were many students interested, with colleagues at BNU and Moray House, we ran an interview panel and eventually selected 9 undergraduate and postgraduate students from BNU to attend the summer school. The students were also invited to present on China’s development of inclusive and special education. They participated in discussions and visits to educational sites in Edinburgh with many other students from different countries. The chairperson of the Scotland China Education Network Dr Judith McClure kindly hosted the students. After returning to Beijing, each of them shared their experiences and reflections with peers in the Faculty of Education, and wrote up formal reports.