Factors correlated with teachers’ attitudes towards the inclusion of students with special educational needs in Cyprus

Abstract

Inclusion of SEN students in mainstream classrooms constitutes an ambitious objective of the education system in Cyprus. The legislation currently in effect provides for a clear-cut frame of action, largely based on the willingness of teachers in the mainstream school, who are expected to develop positive attitudes that encourage and support the coeducation of SEN and non-SEN students. However, the impact of infrastructural insufficiency, prejudice and, above all, the lack of specific knowledge as regards special education, seems in many cases to pose obstacles that undermine any efforts made. The present study, based on recent research in the schools in Cyprus, aims at recording teachers' perceptions and determining the factors that influence Cypriot teachers' attitudes towards inclusion after the implementation of the new laws on special education in Cyprus. The findings of this research confirm that the provisions in the new laws have adopted the right course of action, although teachers' feelings of inadequacy, non-SEN students' circumspection and SEN students' hesitation have not yet been satisfactorily addressed.

Teachers’ experience with inclusive education in Singapore

“…In an interesting permutation of inclusive practices, Koutrouba, Vamvakari, and Steliou (2006) reported that in Cyprus, a small percentage of children with mild disabilities receive adapted instruction in special classes within general education. Students with severe disabilities attend special schools, strategically built within the compounds of the general education school buildings, whereas the vast majority of students with mild SEN are fully included in general education schools.…”

“…The lack of training opportunities is also consistently associated with negative reception of inclusion across different school systems. Teachers in Cyprus experience mistrust towards inclusion largely due to a lack of graduate training in special education (Koutrouba, Vamvakari, & Steliou, 2006).…”

Inclusion, Disability and Culture

“…Moreover, there is great evidence in the literature that providing schools with adequate and appropriate resources and materials, adapting teaching materials, restructuring the physical environment to be accessible to students with physical disabilities and reducing class size are instrumental in the development of teachers' positive attitudes (Clough & Lindsay, 1991;Janney et al, 1995;Koutrouba et al, 2006;LeRoy & Simpson, 1996).…”

“…In their study of factors affecting teachers' attitudes towards inclusion in Cyprus, Koutrouba et al (2006) argued that addressing infrastructural and specialized staff shortages in schools is very important, as this shortage is a major cause of mistrust among teachers towards inclusion efforts. They added that providing equipment to schools with appropriate ramps and lifts, supplying Braille machines and closed-circuit television systems (for students with visual impairment), providing headphones and special microphones and the staffing of schools with sign language users and speech therapists (for students with hearing and speech disabilities) could significantly reverse teachers' negative attitudes.…”

Forms of Classroom Arrangement: Streaming, Mixture, Inclusion

“…Another important aspect of inclusive classrooms is that they maintain the same standards for all pupils, and this can be ensured through the promotion of interactive and group work (Stevens and Slavin 1995;Stainback and Stainback 1996;Porter 1997;Blatchford et al 2003;Meijer et al 2003;Koutrouba et al 2006). All of these inclusive strategies are implemented in heterogeneous groupings.…”