Session 4: Inclusive Education | Examining General and Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions of Inclusion

Author(s):  
Donna Tortu-Rueter
SAGE Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402095065
Author(s):  
Rashed Aldabas

Successful inclusive education for students with severe disabilities (SD) relies on the preparedness of their teachers. This descriptive study investigated special education teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness to teach students with SD in inclusive educational settings. A survey was sent to 382 teachers of such students. In general, findings indicate that participants were confident that they were prepared to teach students with SD in inclusive education. Findings also show that the lowest levels of confidence were reported by participants with the shortest working experience, participants who have taught students with moderate and severe intellectual disabilities and those with multiple disabilities, participants who have taught in the lower grades, and those who have already taught in general classrooms. The practical implications of the findings are discussed for supporting successful implementation of inclusive education for students with SD in terms of improving special education teachers’ preparedness.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-129
Author(s):  
Olateju Oluwayemisi Ruth ◽  
Okanlawon Ayoade Ejiwale ◽  
Fakokunde Jubril Busuyi

Today’s classrooms in Nigerian schools are witnessing heterogeneous student populations. With this current classroom nature, teachers feel generally ill-prepared and are unwilling to accommodate disadvantaged students. According to research findings, unfortunately, disadvantaged students were usually excluded during classroom instruction. Consequently, this resulted in reduced learning opportunities, stigmatization and social exclusion. Thus, this paper investigated pre-service teachers’ level of knowledge about inclusive education and explored their beliefs towards inclusive education. To achieve these objectives, a descriptive study design was adopted. The sample for the study consisted of 166 pre-service science teachers who were drawn from the population of special education undergraduate students from a tertiary institution using the stratified random sampling technique. The study utilized two validated questionnaires, Teachers’ Knowledge about Inclusive Education Test (TKIET), and True-False Twenty-one-Item Test and Teachers’ Belief towards Inclusive Education (TBIS) which is structured on a 5-point Likert scale to elicit the information from the respondents. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of the study indicated that (1) pre-service teachers had a moderate knowledge about inclusive education and (2) pre-service teachers held positive beliefs about the effectiveness of inclusive education. Major conclusions which arise from this study are that pre-service special education teachers in Nigeria had moderate knowledge about inclusive education. In spite of their moderate knowledge about inclusive education they exhibited positive beliefs about the effectiveness of inclusive education.       Keywords: disadvantage students, struggling learners, adaptive instruction, curriculum modification, inclusive education


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Rodríguez-Oramas ◽  
Pilar Alvarez ◽  
Mimar Ramis-Salas ◽  
Laura Ruiz-Eugenio

In the international context of a progress toward more inclusive educational systems and practices, the role of Special Education teachers is being transformed. From an inclusive perspective, these professionals increasingly support students and their teachers in the mainstream classroom, avoiding segregation. However, Special Education teachers often struggle to reach and support all students with special needs and their teachers to provide quality inclusive education. For this reason, more research is still needed on in-service training strategies for the inclusion of students with special needs that effectively translate into evidence-based school practices that improve the education of all students. This article analyses the impact of two evidence-based dialogic training programs of Special Education teachers working in mainstream schools carried out in Mexico during the 2018–2019 school year. Through in-depth interviews with participants, it was identified how, after the training, teachers increasingly grounded their actions on scientific evidence and promoted interactive learning environments that improved the educational inclusion of their students with special needs. This training also became the venue to make evidence-based educational actions available to other students without special needs, improving the quality of education provided to all students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Y. Mngo ◽  
Agnes Y. Mngo

The opinions of general education secondary school teachers in seven select schools involved in a pilot inclusive education program in the Northwest Region of Cameroon were sought. The findings reveal that most teachers in Cameroon still prefer separate special education institutions to inclusive ones. These conclusions contradict earlier research which showed that resistance to integrated classrooms was emanating from beliefs and customs. Teachers with some training on teaching students with disabilities and more experienced and highly educated teachers were more supportive of inclusive education indicating that resistance to the practice is linked to inadequate or complete lack of teachers’ preparedness. Younger, less experienced teachers with no training in special education indicated less enthusiasm regarding the benefits of inclusion, their ability to manage integrated classrooms, and teach students with disabilities. The implication of these findings for future research, institutional support systems, institutional policies, and overall instructional leadership is discussed in this article.


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