Inclusion and Special Needs Education in Sierra Leone: Developing Local Expertise by Elevating Content and Context Connections

Abstract

Inclusion and special needs education has gained attention in recent years in the West African country of Sierra Leone. Policies addressing access to education are in place and various international partners have been supporting the growth of knowledge through short term in-person professional development, but policies have not translated into practice; systems and methods for identifying and teaching learners with disabilities are lacking and an in-country expertise is not fully developed. An innovative approach to international partnership was used where content expertise and context expertise were equally elevated so that practices fit Sierra Leone’s needs and in-country experts in the field of inclusion and special needs education developed.