Teachers’ experiences in implementation of inclusive education for learners with special needs: a scoping review

Inclusive education promotes equal opportunities for all learners, including those with special needs, within a unified educational environment. Despite global policy emphasis, limited empirical evidence provides a comprehensive understanding of teachers’ experiences in implementing inclusive education across contexts. This scoping review synthesizes worldwide research on teachers’ experiences of training, preparedness, policy support, and resource availability within inclusive settings. A systematic search was conducted across Taylor and Francis, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases. A total of 685 studies were retrieved, and assessed for inclusion, 14 articles met the inclusion criteria and were synthesized. Findings revealed that inadequate training and preparedness,limited policy support, and resource constraints remain major barriers to inclusive education implementation. School, and classroom-based challenges affecting teachers in providing support to learners, include negative perceptions of inclusion , classroom management challenges, stress, workload, and demotivation. Cultural and community beliefs, along with poor perceptions of inclusive education for learners with special educational needs, further hindered the provision of inclusive education support. The review concluded that teachers continue to face significant challenges which limit their active participation in supporting learners with special needs. The study recommends strengthening policy implementation, teacher support, and resource provision to create more inclusive environments.