Initial teacher education for inclusive education: A bibliometric analysis of educational research

Abstract

In the context of international demands in recent decades to strengthen the commitment to inclusive policy and practices within education systems, teacher education has been challenged to find ways to prepare teachers capable of addressing the various needs of learners. The goal of this paper is to examine the research literature on initial teacher education for inclusive education (ITEIE) by using bibliometric analysis carried out on 440 documents indexed byWeb of Science (WoS). The findings support the understanding of the ITEIE field regarding the evolution across time, the contributions in the field, the relevant journals, authors, and papers, the collaboration patterns. Although there has been a significant increase in the number of published works over the years, only a small number of countries and researchers have made significant contributions to the field. The analyses performed with VOSviewer software indicated poor collaboration among participating countries and authors. Several general topics have been addressed in the field over the past 25 years. There is a need to develop more cross-border research groups to ensure progress in the field. By mapping the emerging ITEIE research literature, this study can be a starting point for the development of new studies in the area.