Session Information
Contribution
In the last fifteen years inclusion has become progressively a common practice around the world. Since the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994) which recognizes the necessity and urgency of providing education to all children, young people, and adults within the regular education system, a great amount of research have supported the convenience of educating all children within their community giving them the opportunity to participate (Florian, 2007; Ainscow, 2000; Allan, 1999; Tilstone, Florian, & Rose, 1998). But fully participation requires changes in school practices, as well as to create new conditions to make possible everyone's learning within the regular classrooms (Cardona, 2006; Rose, 2002). Conditions like (a) promote positive attitudes toward the capacity of learning of all students, (b) strengthen team collaborative work, (c) make instructional and curricular adaptations, (d) increase supports and (e) assess efficacy have been regarded as basic requirements to make inclusion work (Ainscow et al., 2001; Giangreco, 1997). However, although all these conditions are necessary, not all of them are equally relevant or important: having enough resources and supports are possibly essential. Spain is one of the countries which are making progress to achieve an inclusive education for all the students. With the last educational regulations (LOCE, 2002; LOGSE, 1990) the philosophy of inclusion has gone a further step to become a legal fact. Despite this evolution, inclusion is not yet a reality in every single regular classroom. Teachers report positive attitudes (Cardona, 2000, García Pastor, 1998), and agree with the concept of inclusion, but they still think that the supports and resources they receive are not enough to satisfy their needs. Due to the fact that successful inclusion has been associated to the availability of supports and resources (Wolery et al., 1995), through this paper we analyze teacher perceptions of inclusion taking into account teacher professional competence, time to adapt, and their judgement about resources and supports.The following research questions guided this study1)What do Spanish elementary school teachers believe about inclusion? 2)Do teachers' opinions differ depending on the resources they have? 3)Do teachers' perceptions of inclusion vary depending on the supports they receive? The "Inclusion Attitudes and Beliefs" (Cardona, Gómez, & González, 2000) survey instrument was selected for use in this study. Twelve items from the original instrument were used. Participants were asked to respond using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) to 12 items reflecting their opinions and the conditions they work (professional competence, time to adapt, having/not having enough materials and supports from the special education teacher and the school psychologist). Cronbach's Alpha indicated good internal consistency reliability (? = .69) for this reduce version of the instrument. Factor analysis confirmed three main factors: (1) Perceptions and Attitudes about Inclusion (? = .68); (2) Availability of Resources (? = .64); and (3) Availability of Supports (? = .77). The instrument was administered to a representative sample (N = 133) of elementary school teachers from the city of Alicante and province. From the total sample, 89 teachers were female (67%) and 109 (29%) male; 5 teachers did not respond. The age of the respondents ranged between 23 and 64 (M = 44.3; SD = 8.5). Teachers with more than 15 years of teaching experience were highly represented (68%); 17% had between 9 to 15 years of school experience; 7%, 4 to 8 years; and 8%, less than 4 years of teaching experience. Elementary school teachers generally agreed with inclusion. Results show that teachers (a) found unfair to separate children and young with SEN from the rest of their peers (54%); (b) sixty-six percent favoured inclusion; (c) eighty-five percent thought of inclusion as a tool to promote attitudes of tolerance and respect toward differences; and (d) eighty-four percent thought that inclusion requires the presence of other educators in the classrooms. Teachers agreed with inclusion regardless of their preparation, time to teach all students, and the availability of resources and support from the specialists. Results in this study confirm that teachers in Spain have positive attitudes toward inclusion, independently of their preparation and level of support and resources they receive. Even though these attitudes are not very strong, they believe that inclusion promotes tolerance and benefits the education of all students. Due to the fact that they perceived collaboration as a crucial component for successful inclusion, further efforts should consider more precisely the role of co-teaching and team work between teachers in innovative inclusionary schools. Ainscow, M. (2000). The next step for special education: Supporting the development of inclusive practices. British Journal of Special Education, 27(2), 76-80. Ainscow, M.; Hopkins, D.; Soutworth, G., & West, M. (2001). Hacia escuelas eficaces para todos. Manual para la formación de equipos docentes. Madrid: Narcea. Allan, J. (1999). Actively seeking inclusion. London: Falmer. Cardona, M. C. (2000). Regular classroom teachers' perceptions of inclusion: Implications for teachers' preparation programs in Spain. In C. Day, C., & D. Veen (Eds.), Educational research in Europe (pp. 37-47). Louvain: Garant & European Educational Research Association. Cardona, M. C. (2006). Diversidad y educación inclusiva. Enfoques metodológicos y estrategias para una enseñanza colaborativa. Madrid: Pearson-Prentice Hall. Florian, L. (Ed.) (2007). The Sage handbook of special education. London: Sage Publications.García Pastor, C. (1998). Integration in Spain: A critical view. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 13(1), 43-56. Giangreco, M. F. (1997). Key lessons learned about inclusive education: A summary of the 1996 Schonell Memorial Lecture. International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education, 44(3), 193-206. Lipsky, D. K., & Gartner, A. (1997). Inclusion and school reform: Transforming America's classrooms. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes. LOCE (2002). Ley Orgánica 10/2002, de 23 de diciembre, de Calidad de la Educación. Boletín Oficial del Estado, 24/12/2002. LOGSE (1990). Ley 1/1990, de 3 de octubre, de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo. Boletín Oficial del Estado, 04/10/1990. Tilstone, C., Florian, L., & Rose, R. (1998). Promoting inclusive practice. London: Routledge.UNESCO (1994). The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. New York: UNESCO. Wolery, M., Werts, M., Caldwell, N. Snyder, E., & Liskowski, L. (1995). Experienced teachers' perceptions of resources and supports for inclusion. Educational and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 30(1), 1-26.
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