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Strengthening special education teaching in Africa and beyond
Following a project that started in the Middle East, Dr Daisy Loyd (UCL Institute of Education) is working across the world to improve education for diverse learners.
6 May 2026
In different contexts around the world, there's an ongoing narrative that teachers feel unprepared to work in diverse classrooms, particularly with students who have more complex needs. Even when inclusive policies exist, the reality of implementation can be complicated.
Dr Daisy Loyd, who works in inclusive education the Department of Psychology and Human Development at the UCL Institute of Education (UCL IOE), started researching this topic in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Working in collaboration with Professor Zachary Walker (now at The Education University of Hong Kong) and colleagues from United Arab Emirates University, they did a country-wide survey in the UAE, alongside group and individual interviews with school leaders and teachers. The purpose was to understand how well inclusive policy was embedding into practice, and how prepared teachers felt to implement inclusive education practices.
This work opened up opportunities to analyse different contexts, leading to projects that are currently underway in Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and South Africa. With funding from the former Africa and Middle East Teaching Fund, Daisy was able to partner with Professor Shakila Dada from the University of Pretoria to run a pilot project.
Special education teacher experiences in South Africa
“South Africa has a policy of inclusive education and a commitment to provide quality education for learners with disabilities,” Daisy explained. “But we know there are challenges in special education contexts, and we wanted to gain a better insight into how prepared teachers feel in that context, and the barriers and enablers in specialist contexts.”
Using three different scales in a survey format that incorporate evidence-informed practices for learners with disabilities, the collaborators were able to identify what teachers are doing well, and what they are finding difficult. It resulted in measures of teachers’ perceived competence in the practices they’re using with learners who have special educational needs and disabilities.
To build on these findings, Daisy travelled to South Africa to visit special education schools, collect qualitative data, and meet representatives from the Department of Education to hear about challenges and resource allocation from a departmental and provincial perspective.
“We found that teachers feel prepared in ensuring their pupils are comfortable in their learning environment, but they find it difficult to adapt the curriculum to learners with disabilities,” Daisy said. “In South Africa, there is a parallel curriculum, but it hasn’t been formally endorsed yet, making implementation more complicated. There are also concerns it isn’t necessarily appropriate for those with more severe or profound learning disabilities.”
Other issues the research surfaced are that special education schools are assessed to the same criteria as mainstream schools, and that support and opportunities for students to go into further education or employment are limited. Learner perspectives could also be engaged with more effectively to inform practice and ways of learning.
Daisy shared that many of the same challenges are seen in other contexts too, and that research like this can help with global policies, as well as country and context-specific ones.
Broadening understanding of special education contexts
As a result of this project, research in South Africa has now expanded across four provinces: Gauteng, Limpopo, Western Cape, and Eastern Cape, which includes both collecting survey data and teacher interviews. During their time in South Africa, Daisy and Zachary have run knowledge exchange initiatives with the University of Pretoria too, including seminars and workshops on topics such as leadership in special education, and gaining consent from learners with disabilities to participate in research.
This work is now part of a wider programme of research that is expanding globally. With further funding awarded this year from UCL Global Engagement and the Reach Alliance, Daisy and Zachary’s research is now expanding into China, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
“This will enable us to do some cross-cultural comparison, which is helpful in terms of the global agenda for inclusive education, and enabling quality education for learners with disabilities,” Daisy said. “But also we're keen to capture those cultural and contextual nuances, because you can't just pick up what happens in one context and drop it to another.”
Daisy, Zachary, and Shakila believe international collaborations like these are crucial for better outcomes for learners with special educational needs and disabilities. “It's helpful to see where there are parallels in strengths and areas for development,” Daisy said. “This means we’ll know where to upskill teachers, and how to ensure this work is culturally and contextually relevant so it’s sustainable. Close collaboration is absolutely vital to achieving this.”