The contribution of research to promote inclusive approaches of students with special needs (SSN) in Higher Education

Author(s):

Teresa Goncalves(submitting)Maria Leonor Borges(presenting)Maria Helena Martins

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 04 C, Higher Education: Issues for Inclusive Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

09:00-10:30

Room:

B026 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Gottfried Biewer

Contribution

This communication aims to highlight the role that research plays in promoting inclusive practices in HE institutions, based on principles set by Convenção dos Direitos da Pessoa com Deficiência (ONU) which are: i) respect for dignity, ii) individual autonomy including the right to make their own choices; iii) right to non-discrimination; right to participate, to full and effective inclusion in society and, the right to equal opportunities (Article 3). Research has shown that several institutions have been adjusting to conceptual changes proposed by Inclusion. Despite these encouraging signs, there still many areas that require more investment. Teaching and learning, monitoring and evaluation as well as the development of more inclusive attitudes of the academic community, to ensure equality, still require special attention.

Through these principles it should be developed efforts to provide students with special needs education (SSN) opportunities that allow them to continue their academic career in higher education, promoting inclusion, personal development and participation in social and economic life.

The contribution is a result from the study (still in progress), which aims to understand, which are the trajectories and experiences of students with special needs education (SSN) in our universities concerning access, and global conditions for staying in HE with success. This work is part of a one research line of a project titled: “Non-traditional students in higher education: research to steer institutional change” [1]”, which main purpose is to study the situation of non-traditional students (ENT)[2] at the University of Algarve and Aveiro.

[1] Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

[2] The term “non-traditional student” is useful for describing diferent groups of students that are underrepresented in higher education (HE).

Method

Taking as reference the general objective of this study we chose a qualitative methodology (Bardin, 1977; Merriam, 1998) based on biographical interviews. In this sense, we have privileged the use of biographical interviews among students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in order to capture the meaning of human actions and life stories, with a special focus on the following dimensions: a) personal details about students with special needs (gender, age, course that are attending, among others); b) to understand the perceptions about their disability, mainly, their adaptation and inclusion in university; c) to know the process of access to HE, to identify the main difficulties experienced students with special needs, to understand the role of family in access to ES and also to identify means of informations about support services to these students at enrollment; d) to know the positive and negative elements during process of teaching and learning (classroom, professors) and also pedagogical-didactic strategies implemented or will be implemented; and lastly, f) to know how to process the socialization of ENEE in class, i.e, to analyze the social relationships developed by students with special needs, together with traditional students and professors. Additionally, in order to collect data about trajectories and experiences of students with special needs education in HE we decided also to interview the elements of academic management and professors. It were applied interviews to special needs students (SEN), about their perceptions, experiences of inclusion their needs in academic life and also to peers. The knowledge found in this study assumed a qualitative approach, which aims to understand the meaning of the phenomenon under study, taking into account the perspective of the subjects and context in which it occurs. Qualitative methods are used to obtain details about phenomena such as feelings, ways of thinking and emotions. The present study aimed to know and understand the meanings associated with the inclusion of young people with SEN process, we opted to use the Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 2008).

Expected Outcomes

Widening access to higher education has become a top priority in Education around the world. In line with the increased focus on higher education, there is a growing body of research investigation trends about education and the experiences of non-traditional university students. Disabled students pose particular challenges to higher education, not only in terms of gaining physical access to buildings, but also in relation to much broader access issues concerning the curriculum, teaching and learning and assessment. The present study was conducted by researchers at the Algarve University between 2013 and 2014. It aims to analyze rates of participation by experiences of disabled students in higher education, in the light of wider policy agendas affecting the sector. Our main aim is to give recommendations to our University, so that we can contribute firmly to institutional changes in several dimension of teaching-learning process, and to the academic success and well-being of our SEN.We believe that the results of the present study will be an important contribute to discuss possible recommendations with structures of academic management in our university, in order to improve success academic between these group of students. We also hope that research could emphasize the role extremely important that HE have to equality of opportunities to all students and also to social development.

References

Fernandes, E., & Almeida, L. (2007). Estudantes com deficiência na universidade: Questões em torno da sua adaptação e sucesso académico. Revista da Educação Especial e Reabilitação, 14, p. 7-14; Pires, L. (2009). Contributos para uma Universidade Inclusiva. In Levantamento Nacional dos apoios aos estudantes com deficiências no Ensino Superior. Comunicação apresentada no I Seminário GTAEDES, Lisboa; Taylor, S. J., & Bogdan, R. (1998). Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods. A Guidebook and Resource. New York: John Wiley & Sons. UNESCO (1994). Declaração de Salamanca. Conferência Mundial Sobre Necessidades Educativas Especiais. Salamanca. "to be updated"

Author Information

Teresa Goncalves (submitting)

University of Algarve

School of Education and Communication

Faro

Maria Leonor Borges (presenting)

University of Algarve, School of Education and Communication

Social Sciences and Education

Faro

Maria Helena Martins

University of Algarve, Portugal

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