Social and Educational Barriers to Inclusive Education of Individuals with Special Health Needs

Abstract

Inclusive education development has objectified new tasks for teachers on the individualization of training and upbringing learners with special health needs. At the same time, significant efforts have been made by the pedagogical community to solve these tasks causing challenges for teachers, increasing the risks of inclusive education and reducing the quality of students' achievements. Studying the barriers in teachers' perceptions of the inclusive education and its principles, on the one hand, and teachers' professional difficulties in implementing inclusive practices, on the other hand, is an urgent research task that has both theoretical and practical meaning. This article is aimed at identifying and classifying professional difficulties that create social and educational barriers to the development of inclusive practices. The key research method is the pedagogical dialogue with the expert, developed by the authors of the article. The research involved 110 teachers of general education institutions of the Murmansk region. This method allowed experts to objectify the teachers' difficulties both mental and practical in relation to their implementation of inclusive educational practices. The results are presented by identifying, describing and classifying the professional difficulties of teachers in inclusive education, due to the social and educational context, as well as highlighting the contradictions in the essence of these difficulties. The research results allow predicting the risks of inclusive education in the inclusion itself, keeping the learners with special health needs within the educational activities, together with peers with healthy development, and developing the effective ways to resolve problem situations.

Inclusive Education at UNRWA in Lebanon: A Case Study of a Lower Elementary School

“…This finding is in line with these studies (Alhammad, 2017;Alkhateeb et al, 2016;Ambia, & Rahman, 2021;DEEWR, 2012;Kuzmicheva & Afonkina, 2020;Hadidi & Alkhateeb, 2015;Muthukrishna et al, 2016;Sharma et al, 2019) which found that teachers, parents, and students had negative, stereotypical and biased attitudes towards students with SEN. Nevertheless, the finding of negative attitudes of teachers, parents, and students towards including students with SEND is inconsistent with a study by Hussein (2019) which found that attitudes of teachers, parents, and students were positive and improving.…”

“…1. Pressures on Funding (Ambia, & Rahman, 2021;Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2012; Kuzmicheva & Afonkina, 2020;Sharma, Armstrong, Merumeru, Simi, & Yared, 2019;Muthukrishna et al, 2016) Wapling ( 2016) contends that education systems in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) may be providing little to no support at all for its implementation at the level of direction, resources, and skills. United Nations Children's Fund [UNICEF] and World Health Organization [WHO] (2015) emphasize that ATs are a necessity for children with disabilities to enjoy their life and rights.…”

“…2. Poor Development and Support for Teachers (Ambia, & Rahman, 2021;DEEWR, 2012;Kuzmicheva & Afonkina, 2020;Muthukrishna et al, 2016;Sharma et al, 2019) According to Wapling (2016), many teachers in LMICs have neither undertaken any training on how to teach students with diverse needs in their classes, nor has this concept been introduced to them. Moreover, Donohue and Bornman (2015) note that many teachers still lack the theoretical or practical foundation for designing inclusive lessons.…”

“…4. Persistent Exclusionary Cultures and Practices of Schools (Ambia, & Rahman, 2021;Cologon, 2013;DEEWR, 2012;Kuzmicheva & Afonkina, 2020;Muthukrishna et al, 2016;Sharma et al, 2019) Ahsan, Sharma, and Deppeler (2012) highlight the need for changing teachers' attitudes towards inclusion of students with SEND into regular classes and effectively preparing them to implement IE practices. Alkhateeb et al (2016) declare that most public schools in the Arab region lack willingness for accommodating students with disabilities and have poor preparation for providing them with educational services, as well.…”

Adaptive Lesson Strategy as a Means of Individualizing Educational Activities

“…However, this problem has not yet been solved. Nevertheless, the evolution of the pedagogical consciousness and, accordingly, the professional activity of the teacher is moving in the direction of studying the characteristics and opportunities of the child, taking into account the diversity of educational needs of students in inclusive education and the obvious understanding of such changes in order to achieve high educational results (Kuzmicheva & Afonkina, 2020).…”