ABSTRACT
Therefore, the University of Ulster attempted to provide for teachers’ further professional development through the special needs option in the BEd (Hons) action research based in-service course. The course is primarily concerned with the professional development of teachers and is designed to help teachers meet current challenges, namely, the major changes occurring in all sectors of education and especially in the field of special needs. The professional development arises from a process of investigation, action and reflection. It begins with a focus on the practical situations that are making demands on teachers, demands that require that they make sense of these situations in their social, historical and political context; and that require an engaging in a systematic process of investigation in order to reveal the personal and social assumptions, values and purposes embedded in their concrete situation.
