Special Education Teacher Preparation in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Researchers have repeatedly identified special education teacher shortage as one of the factors that have stymied the development of special education in many African countries. Highly qualified special education teachers are an integral part of successful national educational systems. In order to ensure an optimum supply of qualified special education teachers in any country, one can start by examining special education teacher preparation programs in the country. In this paper, the authors sought to explore special education teacher preparation in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to identify the characteristics, key features, gaps, and therefore come up with specific recommendations. In doing this the authors hope that this information would be helpful to researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and organizations that are interested in contributing to the development of special education in these countries through personnel preparation.