Session Information
04 SES 09C, Teacher's Professional Development
Paper Session
Time:
2008-09-12
10:30-12:00
Room:
AK2 138
Chair:
Joel Kivirauma
Contribution
A long-standing assumption in educational psychology has been that successful educational outcomes depend on adapting teaching to individual differences among learners. Instructional adaptation is considered to be a process of choosing and applying an appropriate teaching action after an assessment-based determination that previous lessons for an individual (or groups of individuals) were unsuccessful (Scoot, Vitale, & Masten, 1998) The concept of instructional adaptations provides a working framework for studying how teachers approach adaptations when students with special educational needs are placed in regular classrooms. For research purposes, specialized literature differentiate between general and specific adaptations. The former is that which the teacher carries out for a class-group as a whole, which does not call for significant curriculum change or modification. On the other hand, specific adaptations refer to individual adaptations of a planned curriculum in order to respond to particular and extreme educational needs. Before, however, asking teachers to differentiate the curriculum and implement more specific adaptations it is important to explore how they respond to more general adaptations that concern the class-group as a whole.
Method
In light of the above, the aim of the present study was to explore how forty five (45) primary education teachers responded to six sets of general instructional adaptation strategies in terms of their feasibility, desirability and effectiveness. For this purpose, Cardona’s (2000) questionnaire “The Teaching Adaptation Scale” (TAS) was modified so as to be used within a semi-structured interview context with teachers.
Expected Outcomes
The preliminary results of the study indicated that almost all of the proposed instructional adaptation strategies were highly desirable by the participant teachers. Interestingly, however, the qualitative analysis revealed lack of knowledge and training regarding general activity adjustment strategies and a need to explore further the way teachers understand and conceive the proposed adaptations. Additionally, in terms of feasibility and effectiveness, it seems that teachers prefer and chose to implement those strategies that demand little preparation, take up little time, do not alter the organizational routine of the class and benefit the majority of the class-students. The results of the study are discussed in terms of their implications for the promotion of more inclusive learning environments.
References
1. Cardona, M.M. (2003). Mainstream teachers' acceptance of instructional adaptations in Spain, European Journal of Special Needs Education, 18(3). 311-332. 2. Scott, B., Vitale, M.R. Masten, W. (1998). Implimenting instructional adaptations for students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms, Remedial & Special Education, 19 (2). 106-118. 3.Glaser, R. (1977). Adaptive education: Individual diversity and learning. New York: Holt, Rinehart &Winston.
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