Factors Promoting School Transformation Towards Educational Inclusion: Lithuanian Educators’ View

Author(s):

Alvyra Galkiene(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

04. Inclusive Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

04 SES 08 B, Inclusive Schooling

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-10

09:00-10:30

Room:

206.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Michael Shevlin

Contribution

Topic.The research aims at revealing factors that promote general school transformation towards the implementation of inclusive education. Scientific problem is analysed in the context of school transformation from Soviet regime in Lithuania.

Research question raised:in educators’ view, what education reality factors promote inclusive education development in general schools?

Research object: attitude of educators working at general schools towards factors promoting inclusive education.

The research is based on a proven statement that inclusive education is a view of the world where fundamental education is implemented for all people, ensuring full participation, full membership, and fully-fledged civil rights (Kliewer, 1998).Moreover, synergetic activity of pupils with different possibilities in common classrooms is much more than learning outcomes achievable in heterogeneous classrooms(R. Opertti, Brady, Duncombe, 2010). The idea of inclusive education is no longer a topic of discussion but the question of its quality implementation remains open and at times provokes professional tension (Brackenreed, 2008). Quality transformation of a school towards inclusive education is linked to cultural changes in the school(McMaster 2013, 2015, Bhatnagar, 2014). It is proven that changes in the attitude of school community leads towards changes in practice just as practical educational solutions might help change the attitude towards inclusive education (Razer, Friedman, 2013). A teacher’s engagement in acknowledging pupils’ variety, her/his experience and practical solutions determine the quality of pedagogical interaction (Gökdere, 2012),they can overcome differences in the classroom and (s)he, like nobody else, senses barriers to inclusive education development and factors promoting it(Van de Putte, De Shauwer, 2013).

In Lithuania, education system transformation takes place as social consciousness is still transforming from sovietisation consequences, which encouraged the development of conformist and dissident attitudes, into attitudes based on freedom and responsibility. The pivot of the education reform in independent Lithuania is recognizing every person’s individuality and freedom to develop in equal conditions according to individual needs. It is affected, on the one hand, by declared ideas and, on the other hand, tradition or habits still vivid in society.The idea to replace the strictly segregated education system of pupils with special needs with an open one, accessible to everyone and ensuring equal rights was established by the first Law on Education of the independent Republic of Lithuania in 1991. Today, favourable legal basis exists for the development of inclusive education but practical realization of the idea is localized in separate education institutions engaged in implementing the idea.

Similar situation is observed in other countries liberated from Soviet regime. Therefore, it is important to unveil the meaning of school transformation towards inclusive education and factors facilitating good quality process of the transition by analysing the attitude of teachers who work both in general schools and specialized ones for pupils with special needs.

Method

The research was implemented by the qualitative diagnostics method of phenomenography. This method allows seeing the ontology of a phenomenon from the perspective of people’s different experiences, explaining their relationship with reality, and building new theories (Hallett, 2014, Žydžiūnaitė, Jonušaitė, 2007). Open questions’ questionnaire was used for data collection. Research participants were the following: 355 teachers of general schools from various regions of Lithuania, including town and village schools, who educate pupils with special learning needs in general classrooms; 27 teachers working at special schools for children with special educational needs only. When analysing data, teachers were not identified according to regions or subjects taught. The aim was to reveal common trends in the perception of the phenomenon from the perspective of different experiences of the phenomenon. The teachers were asked to answer two questions based on their personal experience: 1) what conditions should be met in order for inclusive education to become a natural reality in your school; 2) is introducing inclusive education in Lithuanian schools meaningful; if so, why?The answers to the first question emphasize primary perspective: the phenomenon is described as it is or should be in reality, while the answers to the second question showsecondary perspective: how educators see the change of the phenomenon in the changing reality. Data analysis was carried out in four stages: 1) data was grouped into two topics according to questions given, the text was read in order to establish general trends in the phenomenon perception; 2) phrases, which reveal different features of the phenomenon perception, were grouped; 3) general meaning of different groups of features was identified, subcategories established; 4) data was summarized, feature categories were identified; 5) categories compared, their unique characteristics looked for. When analysing the research data, general schools were grouped into two groups: schools where pupils with special needs make up 1-10 per cent of the total number of pupils (further referred to as Group I), and schools where these pupils make up 11-20 per cent (further referred to as Group II). Opinions of educators from specialized schools were analyzed separately.

Expected Outcomes

Primary research data analysis was basis for primary insights.Final conclusions will be presented at the conference. Teachers participating in the research are open to inclusive education development: 80 per cent accept significance of the phenomenon, 11 per cent believe children with special needs should be educated in specialized schools. A quarter of teachers of the opinion work in special education institutions and argue insufficient preparedness of schools to accept such children, 9 per cent of teachers are undecided. In primary perspective,in reflections of teachers’ experience of factors promoting inclusive education development, two feature dimensions emerged: 1) Managerial solutions (dominating feature characteristic); 2) Educational solutions. Group I school teachers’ opinions emphasize first dimension factors merged into one category of educational environment adjustment (adapting buildings, individual work space for teachers, pupils, funds needed to employ specialists, small number of pupils in classes). Group II school teachers see the following main factors promoting inclusion: embodying educational paradigm change in practice (educational inclusion of every child as purpose of every teacher, co-operation- and partnership-based practice, methodological changes, constant improvement). School Group I saw this category as the second most important one. Other categories of inclusion promoting factors, important to both school groups, were identified: assistance to pupils, assistance to teachers. 5 per cent of teachers claim that inclusive education is a reality in their schools. In secondary perspective, teachers analyse the meaningfulness of school transformation towards inclusion in three feature dimensions: 1) Inclusive education as precondition for societal change, 2) Inclusive education as socio-pedagogical reality enriching factor; 3) Inclusive education is meaningful only when certain conditions are met. In school Group I teachers’ deliberations, the prevailing feature category was seeing inclusive education as societal change accelerator. Teachers from school Group II emphasised conditions determining inclusive education quality, which can provide meaning to this phenomenon.

References

Bhatnagar, N. (2014). Building Inclusion from the Ground Up: A Review of Whole School Re-culturing Programmes for Sustaining Inclusive Change. Exceptionality Education International, Vol. 24, No. 2, 17–30. Brackenreed, D. (2008). Inclusive Education: Identifying Teachers’ Perceived Stressors. Exeptionality Education International, V 18, Nr. 3, p. 131 – 147. Gökdere, M. (2012). A Comparative Study of the Attitude, Concern, and Interaction Levels of Elementary hool Teachers and Teacher Candidates towards Inclusive Education. Educational Sciences. Theory and Practice, Vol. 12, No. 4, p 2800-2806. Hallett, F. (2014) The Dilemma of Methodological Idolatry in Higher Education Research: the Case of Phenomenography. Huisman, J. Tight, M. (Ed.) Theory and Method in Higher Education Research II. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, p 203-226. Kliewer, Ch. (1998), The Meaning of inclusion. Mental Retardation, Vol. 36, No. 4, p. 317-22. McMaster (2013).Building Inclusion from the Ground Up: A Review of Whole School Re-culturing Programmes for Sustaining Inclusive Change. International Journal of Whole Schooling, Vol. 9, No. 2, p. 1-24. McMaster (2015). “Where is _____?”: Culture and the process of change. International Journal of Whole Schooling, 11(1), 16-34. Opertti, R., Brady, J., Duncombe, L. (2010). Moving Forward: Inclusive Education as the Core of Education for All.Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, Vol 39, No 3, p. 205 – 2014. Razer, M., Friedman, V. J. (2013). Non-abandonment as a foundation for inclusive school practice. Prospects, 43, p. 361–375. DOI 10.1007/s11125-013-9278-6. Van de Putte, I., De Shauwer, E. (2013). "Becoming a Different Teacher..." Teachers'Perspective on Inclusive Education. Transylvanian Journal of Psychology. Special Issue, p. 245 – 263. Žydžiūnaitė, V., Jonušaitė, S. (2007). Fenomenografija – kokybinėsdiagnostikosmetodas: metodologinispagrindimas. Pedagogika. Nr. 85, p. 76-80.

Author Information

Alvyra Galkiene (presenting / submitting)

Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences

Vilnius

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