Inclusive education and diversity: Moving from access to meaningful participation in teacher training colleges in Zimbabwe

This article examines the extent to which teacher training colleges in Zimbabwe have moved beyond mere access to meaningful participation for students with diverse learning needs.  Inclusive education has been a global priority since the 1994 Salamanca Statement, yet its implementation in Zimbabwean teacher training colleges remains fraught with challenges. The study draws on a qualitative review of existing literature, policy documents, and empirical studies on inclusive education in Zimbabwean higher and tertiary education institutions. Findings reveal that while Zimbabwe has ratified international frameworks and developed national policies espousing inclusive education, teacher training colleges continue to struggle with significant barriers including the absence of a dedicated inclusive education policy, students’ representation and access, inadequate lecturer support, rigid curricula, inaccessible infrastructure, resource constraints, persistent stigma and discrimination, inadequate lecturer training and professional development, and limited student support and accommodation services. Students with disabilities remain underrepresented, constituting only about 1% of the student population in teachers’ colleges. Moving from access to meaningful participation requires a paradigm shift that addresses structural, pedagogical, and attitudinal barriers. From a Critical Emancipatory Research (CER) perspective, the article calls for transformative institutional action to challenge and dismantle the structural, cultural, and attitudinal barriers that marginalise diverse students in teacher training colleges. This includes developing a specialised diversity and inclusivity policy framework, strengthening staff competencies through sustained professional development, transforming rigid curricula, improving access to infrastructure and resources, and drawing on indigenous philosophies such as Unhu/Ubuntu to promote more equitable, participatory, and socially just teacher education.