“We Need Structures in Place”: Educators’ Experiences With Special Education at International Schools

Abstract

This article engages the construct of the policyscape to explore how educators have experienced policy-to-practice dissonances when working at international schools overseas. Extracted from a qualitative study of educator acculturation in the context of the lived experiences of 17 kindergarten–Grade 12 expatriate teachers, counsellors, and school leaders at international schools in five regions in Southeast and East Asia, this subset of findings explores the most prevalent policyscape manifestations that emerged in the study. These manifestations involve issues about supporting students with known or probable “special education” needs. Findings include widespread perceptions by the participants of inadequate policy and program infrastructure to properly support students with special needs. These inadequacies ranged from identification processes, school and staff capacity, and leadership gaps, and they were further mired by ideological and cultural differences noted by stakeholder groups. Participants with local cultural mentors experienced greater self-efficacy and leadership capacity in addressing the policyscape manifestations. The study was exploratory, with the findings informing a research agenda to further investigate some of the gaps that emerged in the findings.