Teacher Competences for Inclusion in Primary Schools

Author(s):

Ed Smeets(presenting / submitting)Guuske Ledoux(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 02 C, Teacher Views and Competencies

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-08

15:15-16:45

Room:

429.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Fiona Hallett

Contribution

In The Netherlands, the government is aiming to achieve that schools become more inclusive. This accords with ongoing efforts in many European countries. New measures have come into effect in 2014. Mainstream and special schools are obliged to participate in regional clusters. More power has been handed over to the school boards with regard to setting up a support structure for schools, teachers and pupils in these clusters, and allocating budgets for supporting pupils with special educational needs (SEN). Contrary to what was customary before the new measures came into effect, budgets for SEN are now fixed on a regional level, and referring a high percentage of pupils to special schools will have a negative impact on budgets available for mainstream schools. As a results of this, expectations are that referral to special schools will decrease. In order to accomplish this, the capability of mainstream schools to provide SEN pupils with adequate education may need to be improved.

Learning difficulties and emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) are often a cause of pupils being identified with SEN by their teachers (Van der Veen, Smeets, & Derriks, 2010). Moreover, there is a reciprocal relationship between social, emotional, and behavioural problems and cognitive achievement (Hallahan, Llyod, Kaufmann, Weiss, & Martinez, 2005). Teacher-pupil interaction at school plays an important role in challenging pupils. Teacher-mediated interventions have been found to improve the academic performance of pupils with EBD (Pierce, Reid, & Epstein, 2004). Teachers’ attitudes and competences and the availability of support for teachers in schools are important preconditions for including SEN pupils in mainstream schools (Avramidis & Kalyva, 2007; Avramidis & Norwich, 2002). Teachers have to be prepared to educate pupils with various types of SEN. Within the framework of the Teacher Education for Inclusion (TE4I) project that has been initiated by the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education (Watkins, 2012) a so called profile of inclusive teachers has been developed. This includes a framework of core values and areas of competence. Teachers are expected to have high expectations for all learners’ achievements. Collaboration and teamwork are considered to be essential for all teachers. This includes working with parents and with educational professionals. Personal professional development is crucial. Teachers should be reflective practitioners and should engage in ongoing learning and professional development (Watkins, ibid.). However, whether professional development activities are effective depends upon several factors, including the form, duration, participants, the degree of content focus, active learning, and coherence (Birman, Desimone, Porter, & Garet, 2000; Kennedy, 2005).

The focus of the present study is on competences that are required of teachers in order to be able to provide optimum education to pupils with SEN in mainstream primary schools, as well as on promising ways of improving competences. The goal of the study is to answer four research questions:

1) What is the level of competence of teachers in mainstream primary schools with regard to educating pupils with special educational needs?

2) To what extent is the teacher’s self-reported level of competence with regard to educating pupils with special educational needs reflected in the teacher’s teaching practice?

3) Is there a relationship between the teacher’s self-reported level of competence with regard to educating pupils with special educational needs, the teacher’s teaching practice, and the pupils’ self-reported level of wellbeing, self-confidence, and task motivation?

4) What are significant preconditions for achieving a sufficient level of teacher competences with regard to educating pupils with special educational needs?

Method

The study comprised three research activities: 1) a literature review; 2) a survey study; 3) case studies. Focus of the literature review was on competences needed by teachers to teach SEN pupils, existing gaps in these competences, and effective ways of professional development. Within the framework of the survey study, two questionnaires were compiled. In these questionnaires several aspects were addressed, including school policy on professional development, quality of support, attitudes, competences, competence gaps, and professional development activities. The teacher survey also contained six vignettes with descriptions of fictitious pupils with SEN. Teachers were asked whether they felt able to include these pupils in their classroom. Special educational needs coordinators from a random sample of 800 mainstream primary schools were requested to complete the web survey and ask teachers from the same school to participate in the study by completing the teacher survey. Questionnaires were completed by 126 special educational needs coordinators and 280 teachers. Subsequently, case studies were carried out. In 10 schools that were considered examples of good practice interviews with the school leader and the special educational needs coordinator were conducted, classroom observations were conducted and pupils were requested to complete a questionnaire that included questions about the pupils’ wellbeing, self-confidence, and task motivation. In addition, classroom observations were conducted and pupil questionnaires were processed in an additional group of 13 schools. A total of 56 classroom observations have been conducted by trained and certified observers, using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2006). This tool focuses on teacher-pupil interactions in the domains of emotional support, classroom organisation, and instructional support. Questionnaires have been completed by 1044 pupils, in 45 classes from 23 schools. Questionnaires consisted to a large part of Likert items. In order to generate scale variables, factor analyses have been conducted, followed by reliability analyses that included calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. As a result of this, variables were clustered and mean scores were calculated for the clustered variables. Classroom observation mean scores were calculated in accordance with the CLASS manual. Classroom observation data were matched with the respective data from the teacher and pupil survey. In addition to descriptive analyses, correlation coefficients were calculated and regression analyses and multilevel analyses were carried out in order to find significant relations between clusters of variables from the special educational needs coordinator survey, teacher survey, pupil survey, and classroom observation data.

Expected Outcomes

Six relevant types of competences were identified with regard to educating pupils with SEN: interpersonal competences, pedagogical competences, content related and didactic competences, classroom management competences, collaborative competences, and competences in reflection and professional development. On the whole, special educational needs coordinators as well as teachers themselves reported that teachers’ competences were sufficient. The largest shortcomings reported referred to diagnosing the special needs pupils have and setting adequate goals for these pupils. Regression analyses showed that teachers felt more able at educating pupils with various types of special needs when they had more experience teaching pupils with SEN and when they held more positive attitudes towards including pupils with SEN in mainstream schools. A significant relationship was found between the teacher’s self-perceived level of ability and the rating of the quality of the teacher’s instructional support given by the observers. In addition, significant relationships were found between some of the ratings given by the observers and outcomes of the pupil survey. One of the outcomes of the multilevel analyses is that teachers’ attitudes towards including pupils with SEN were significantly related to the level of support teachers perceived from the school leader and the special educational needs coordinator. The interviews that were conducted confirmed the important roles of the school leader and the special educational needs coordinator. Most school leaders conducted classroom observations in order to assess teachers’ competences. In addition, encouraging teachers to visit their colleagues’ classrooms was seen as one of the key factors to success. Teachers should be involved in decision making about school policy with regard to professional development, and professional development should be practice oriented. Several competences were highlighted during the interviews, reflective competences being the most important one. However, school leaders stressed that differences between teachers in their levels of competence are inevitable.

References

Avramidis, E., & Kalyva, E. (2007). The influence of teaching experience and professional development on Greek teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 22 (4), 367–389. Avramidis, E., & Norwich, B. (2002). Teachers’ attitudes towards integration / inclusion: a review of the literature. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 17 (2), 129-147. Birman, B.F., Desimone, L., Porter, A.C., & Garet, M.S. (2000). Designing Professional Development That Works. Educational Leadership, 57 (8), 28-33. Hallahan, D.P., Lloyd, J.W., Kauffman, J.M., Weiss, M.P., & Martinez, E.A. (2005). Learning disabilities. Foundations, characteristics, and effective teaching. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Jordan, A., Schwartz, E., & McGhie-Richmond, D. (2009). Preparing teachers for inclusive classrooms. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 535-542. Kennedy, A. (2005). Models of Continuing Professional Development: a framework for analysis. Journal of In-service Education, 31 (2), 235-250. Naraian, S., Ferguson, D.L., & Thomas, N. (2012). Transforming for inclusive practice: professional development to support the inclusion of students labelled as emotionally disturbed. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16 (7), 721-740. Pianta, R.C., La Paro, K.M., & Hamre, B.K. (2006). Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Manual. Charlottesville, VA: Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning. Pierce, C.D., Reid, R., & Epstein, M.H. (2004). Teacher-mediated interventions for children with EBD and their academic outcomes. Remedial and Special Education. 25 (3), 175-188. Stanovich, P., & Jordan, A. (1998). Canadian teachers’ and principals’ beliefs about inclusive education as predictors of effective teaching in heterogeneous classrooms. Elementary School Journal, 98 (3), 221-238. Van der Veen, I., Smeets, E., & Derriks, M. (2010). Pupils with special educational needs in the Netherlands: number, characteristics, and school career. Educational Research, 52 (1), 15-43. Waitoller, F.R., & Artiles, A.J. (2013). A Decade of Professional Development Research for Inclusive Education: A Critical Review and Notes for a Research Program. Review of Educational Research, 83 (3), 319-356. Watkins, A. (Ed.) (2012). Teacher Education for Inclusion. Profile of Inclusive Teachers. Odense, Denmark: European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education.

Author Information

Ed Smeets (presenting / submitting)

Radboud University, Netherlands, The

Guuske Ledoux (presenting)

Kohnstamm Institute University of Amsterdam

Amsterdam

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