You Can’t Teach Inclusion If You Were Never Trained for It

Inclusive education policies are ambitious. Sometimes inspiring. Often beautifully written. But policies do not teach children. Teachers do.

And here lies one of the most quietly devastating contradictions in inclusive and special education worldwide: we expect teachers to implement inclusive practices using assessment systems they were never trained to understand, question or redesign.

We speak fluently about inclusion. We whisper nervously about assessment. Yet, assessment is where inclusion either lives or dies—usually quietly, behind a stack of scripts and marking schemes.

The Global Reality: Inclusive Ideals, Underprepared Teachers

Across the world, teacher education programmes have expanded their coverage of inclusive education. Courses discuss diversity, disability, differentiation and learner-centred pedagogy. Student teachers learn that “every child can learn”.

Then they graduate and encounter assessment systems that behave as though every child learns and proves learning in exactly the same way.

Globally, many teachers report feeling confident teaching inclusively but profoundly uncertain assessing inclusively. They know what inclusion should look like in classrooms but not how to translate it into defensible, credible assessment decisions.

This gap is not a personal failure. It is a structural one.

Assessment Literacy: The Missing Link No One Likes Talking About

Assessment literacy refers to a teacher’s ability to design, interpret, adapt and justify assessment practices in ways that are valid, fair and meaningful. In inclusive education, this literacy becomes non-negotiable.

Nonetheless, in many teacher preparation programmes, assessment is treated as a technical skill rather than a professional judgement. Student teachers learn how to mark, not how to question what is being measured—or who is being excluded in the process.

As a result, inclusion is often reduced to classroom interaction, while assessment remains rigid, inherited and largely unquestioned.

Africa’s Context: When Authority Replaces Professional Judgement

In many African education systems, teachers operate within deeply hierarchical structures. Curriculum, assessment formats and marking schemes are centrally determined. Deviating from them can feel professionally risky.

Teacher preparation often emphasises compliance over critique. Student teachers learn how to “set questions correctly” rather than how to ask whether those questions are appropriate for diverse learners.

Ironically, African classrooms are rich in adaptive teaching. Teachers improvise daily—linguistically, culturally, pedagogically. But when it comes to assessment, improvisation is discouraged, even punished.

Inclusion stops at the red pen.
Ghanaian Realities: Teaching Inclusively, Assessing Traditionally

Ghana’s teacher education reforms strongly endorse learner-centred instruction and inclusive practices. Colleges of Education and universities increasingly address differentiation, special educational needs and classroom diversity.

However, assessment training remains largely examination-oriented. Student teachers are prepared for systems dominated by the Basic Education Certificate Examination and the West African Senior School Certificate Examination.

New teachers quickly learn an uncomfortable truth: inclusive assessment may be encouraged in theory, but high-stakes examinations reward conformity, speed and written accuracy.

Professional identity adjusts accordingly. Teachers learn to teach inclusively until assessment season arrives.

The Emotional Cost to Teachers (Rarely Discussed, Widely Felt)

Teachers often experience moral discomfort when assessment outcomes contradict what they know about their learners. They recognise understanding, growth and effort but must record failure because the assessment tool cannot capture those qualities.

Over time, this creates professional conflict. Some teachers disengage emotionally. Others revert to test-driven instruction. A few quietly bend rules to protect learners, absorbing personal risk in the process.

None of these outcomes represent healthy professional practice.

Inclusive Assessment Is Not a Talent — It Is a Learned Skill

Contrary to popular belief, inclusive assessment does not require exceptional teachers. It requires adequately prepared ones.

Teachers need explicit training to:
understand assessment validity,
distinguish learning outcomes from modes of expression,
use formative assessment meaningfully,
and defend professional judgement within accountability systems.

Where this training exists, inclusion becomes sustainable rather than heroic.

Rebuilding Teacher Preparation: From Delivery to Decision-Making

Teacher education must move beyond treating assessment as a mechanical process. Teachers are not technicians; they are decision-makers whose judgements shape lives.

In Ghana and across Africa, this means preparing teachers not only to implement assessments, but to understand their limitations, negotiate flexibility and advocate for inclusive practices within existing systems.

Assessment literacy is not an optional add-on. It is the backbone of inclusive professionalism.

Conclusion: Inclusion Will Fail Without Confident Assessors

Inclusive education cannot survive on goodwill alone. Without teachers who are confident, competent and supported in making inclusive assessment decisions, inclusion will remain fragile and inconsistent.

If we want inclusive classrooms, we must first build inclusive assessors.

And that work begins long before a teacher enters a classroom.

Bibliography
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2018). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. GL Assessment.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2023). Equity and inclusion in education: Supporting disadvantaged students and schools. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Publishing.

United Nations Children’s Fund. (2019). Inclusive education: UNICEF’s position. United Nations Children’s Fund.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2020). Global education monitoring report 2020: Inclusion and education – All means all. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Ministry of Education & United Nations Children’s Fund. (2015). Inclusive education policy. Government of the Republic of Ghana.

Website: https://jaansahpublications.com

By J. A. Ansah

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