Inclusive Education as a Tool of Promoting Quality in Education: Teachers’ Perception of the Educational Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

Abstract

Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion are influenced by factors such as training and teaching experiences. However, there is no conclusive trend correlating specific factors with negative or positive attitudes. The aim of this study is to understand the reality of inclusion in schools in Extremadura, Spain, from the teachers’ point of view. To do so, a reliable and valid questionnaire was administered to a total of 106 teachers from more than 20 schools in Extremadura, followed by the subsequent categorization of more than 300 comments obtained from semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers. The results show that teachers value an inclusive philosophy in schools, especially in terms of values and policies. Teachers working in special schools had a moderately more positive perception of the degree of inclusion in their school, although there were hardly any significant differences compared to teachers in other types of schools, nor were there any significant differences according to teachers’ prior training. Finally, the importance of evaluation in the creation of plans to guarantee an improvement in the attention to diversity is assessed.

Factors of educational inclusion to improve learning: Teachers' perspectives

“…Thus, there are teachers who have a positive perception of the term "educational inclusion" compared to other teachers who are unfamiliar with the subject but are willing to maintain and improve the educational quality of students with special abilities. This assessment is very important to create plans and ensure good educational quality [24] at local, national and international levels.…”

“…The presence of online education has caused apprehension among many parents who care for their children with special abilities because in countries such as Cuba the policies are consistent with their actions because the role of the teacher is of utmost importance to improve the quality of education [22,23] which is lacking in other countries such as Peru. The factors of influence towards educational inclusion on the part of teachers are their own experience and training [24] . This aspect is highly important for providing a quality education to students with special abilities.…”

Teachers’ Experiences of Inclusion in Classroom Settings

“…A study showed that data quality, internal consistency, and discriminative validity suggest that the five-point scale version should be used in future research [42]. In the questionnaire, the teachers were also asked to identify whether they mainly worked in a primary school (1st to 7th grade, age 6-13), a secondary school (age [14][15][16], or an upper secondary school (age 17-19).…”

“…Environmental changes comprise altered school settings with a new school location, new teachers, new subjects, and new classmates. Furthermore, biological changes relate to maturation and puberty occurring during the three years of secondary school (age [13][14][15]. This period of environmental and biological changes may affect social inclusion negatively.…”

“…In Norway, inclusion is ensured through the establishment of inclusive schools, and the principle of inclusion is incorporated in corresponding legislation and is also highlighted in central steering documents and national curricula for primary, secondary, and upper secondary education [13,14]. However, inclusion remains a challenge and an unrealized wish for many students with SEN [15,16]. However, there has been a clear tendency towards the use of alternative learning areas, such as special education units or bases and, in accordance with national data, 53% of students with SEN receive their SEN support outside of the classroom [4,17,18].…”