‘Teaching an inclusive classroom can be rather tedious’: an international perspective, Israel, 1998–2000

Abstract

Inclusion of students with disabilities into regular classrooms has been practised on a voluntary basis in Israel for the past 30–40 years. Special education legislation passed in 1988 included as one of its touchstones the mandate to mainstream students with disabilities into regular classrooms to the maximum extent possible. The ‘Plan for Inclusion’ began in 1996 and since 2000 it has been implemented in schools all over Israel.

Religion and attitudes of college preservice teachers toward students with disabilities: implications for higher education

“…Some studies reveal that they are supportive of inclusion (Avramidis et al 2000a(Avramidis et al , 2000bVilla et al 1996), while others suggest that they are hesitant or even opposed (Martin et al 2003;Minke et al 1996). Studies also reveal that teachers hold a number of major concerns about inclusion such as about their own lack of needed teaching skills, a possible negative influence on students without disabilities, the behavior and academic progress of students with disabilities and about classroom size and the lack of teacher time and resources (Avissar 2003;Scruggs and Mastropieri 1996;McLeskey et al 2001;Turnbull et al 2004).…”

Inclusive education in Israel from a curriculum perspective: an exploratory study

“…this leads us to argue that teachers are the key to the development of more inclusive forms of education. (Ainscow and Miles 2008, 21) Research reports relating to different areas of education strive to bring forth the voice of teachers using qualitative measures such as interviews and observations (Avissar 2003;Avramidis et al 2000;Rose 2001;Snyder et al 2001). Qualitative methods were used to investigate teacher perceptions regarding curricular and instructional adaptations following inclusion in six elementary schools (McLeskey and Waldron 2002).…”

“…In a way it is a follow-up to an earlier study (Avissar andLicht 2004, 2007) that looked into the implementation of the mandate to include children with SEN in mainstream schools in Israel between the years 1996-2001, using the paradigm of teachers' curricular activities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in that study with 129 teachers in inclusive classrooms within mainstream schools.…”

“…This typology points to the different roles attributed to the teacher whose training was in special education and to the demand from general ('regular') education teachers to include children with SEN in the classes. In addition, it is safe to assume the these different roles may have evolved as a result of the co-existence of a variety of models of inclusion along the lines of 'a cascade of services' as is evident from data collected in the earlier study (Avissar andLicht 2004, 2007): a selfcontained special class in the mainstream school; and inclusion in the mainstream classroom with assistance on a 'pull-out' basis or 'within-class' assistance. Following is a detailed description of the themes.…”

“…It is part and parcel of the curricular activities of the teachers. We have found (Avissar andLicht 2004, 2007) that in mainstream schools the IEP marks a curricular 'intersection' where individual strengths and needs meet and coincide with the general curriculum and with the class educational plan (CEP). In the current study the IEP was of interest mainly to the 'special education teachers' as they carry the responsibility for planning and supervising it.…”