Teaching in Informal Learning Environments as a Means for Promoting Inclusive Education

The idea of inclusive education has featured very highly in the educational priorities of many educational systems. However, the same educational systems are often criticised because of the failings of their teachers to respond to inclusive environments of learning, where all children, despite their different abilities, receive equal opportunities in teaching and learning. In one of our previous pieces of research the theme of informal learning environments arose as a factor that influenced inclusive education. Based on this finding, we go further and explore this theme in greater depth in this article. Data collected via qualitative research methods from three primary schools in Cyprus indicate that teaching in informal learning environments helps improve inclusive education. Further, it became apparent that certain factors helped in the successful teaching in informal learning environments. These factors were related to teachers' beliefs about effective teaching and the ways in which these beliefs found their way into practice.