The Extent of Teacher Leadership for Inclusive Education among Regular Education Teachers in Guizhou, China

China’s “Learning in Regular Classroom” policy provides educational support to students with disabilities in regular classrooms. However, the effectiveness of this policy is challenged by factors related to teachers’ understanding of disabilities, teaching practices, and the top-down educational orientation and management systems in China. Drawing on evidence from past studies in other countries, teacher leadership has been shown to promote professional growth, increase collaboration between teachers, and facilitate teachers’ efficacy in teaching students, but the extent to which teacher leadership is practiced in China to support students with disabilities is not known. This study aimed to explore the extent to which teacher leadership shaped the perspectives of Chinese regular education teachers towards inclusive education and disabilities, and their practice of teacher leadership to support inclusive education. Using a qualitative research design, seven secondary school general education teachers who were recruited using a snowball sampling method in the Guizhou Province, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol. The interview data were coded inductively and analysed using thematic analysis. Three interconnected themes emerged: (a) lack of teacher leadership in building a community of practice to support students with disabilities but a heavy reliance on school leaders and policymakers to support these students; (b) supporting inclusive education but regarding it as impractical and misaligned with other educational policies and teachers’ responsibilities; and (c) lack of proper understanding about students with disabilities and perceiving their academic skills as unimportant. Given the conflict between the teachers’ support for disabilities but their lack of knowledge and skills to support disabilities and the absence of teacher leadership, this article considers training in disability knowledge and teacher leadership as essential to motivate general education teachers to engage more in fostering inclusive policies and practices in China.