“Secondary Education and Vocational Training of people with disabilities in Greece: Institutions, Concepts and Practices”

Author(s):

Athena-Anna Christopoulou(presenting / submitting)Athina Zoniou-Sideri

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Poster

Session Information

ERG SES C 05, Poster Session

Poster Session

Time:

2015-09-07

11:00-12:30

Room:

309. [Main]

Chair:

Christine Winter

Contribution

Issues which relate with the education and the vocational training of people with disabilities have preoccupied academics and researchers from different disciplines for many years. Indeed scholars in the sphere of pedagogics, sociology & psychology have approached and have tried to provide answers to fundamental questions regarding the establishment of the most appropriate conditions of education, intervention and rehabilitation of such population (Barnes & Mercer, 2003). At the same time, in the level of state preoccupation, almost universally, all countries of western world in the last years have sought to adopt a series of educational policies and initiatives aimed at the elimination of discriminations and the ensuring of equal opportunities in education (Barton & Armstrong, 2007).

In Greece, a significant development in this direction has started to emerge since the early ’80s when for the first time we saw established a State commitment to provide education for students with disabilities (Zoniou- Sideri, 1999). Since then, particular representations have been made in both institutional and legislative respects regarding this issue, while significant changes have been made regarding the concepts and the attitudes towards people with disabilities. Despite this mobility, however, significant objections continue to exist in the scientific community regarding the effectiveness of certain education policies, adopted by the system, while at the same time major deficiencies and shortcomings are observed in educational practice (Vlachou, 2006).

In the cultural environment of these conclusions, many contemporary scholars support the view that in present times -perhaps more than ever- is required an adoption of a stance of critical reflection on the experience of the country in the sphere of secondary education & training of people with disabilities (Zoniou-Sideri et. al., 2006). In other words, a detailed examination of the following is required: a) the social, political and cultural conditions that have shaped the current concepts regarding disabilities in Greece and driven the adoption of specific practices and b) aspects of effectiveness (or non-effectiveness) of the adopted practices and existing training structures for the people with disabilities.

Despite the importance of the adoption of this critical stance, in Greek literature, the area of vocational training of people with disabilities remains un-researched while there is also a comparative deficit in the level of survey research -as well as social historical studies- that may reveal significant dimensions of this issue.

The research, which is presented in this context and which will aim to reduce this deficit, constitutes an element of a broader research in progress contacted as part of a PhD thesis. Specifically, its aim is the following: a) to track the course of special education and vocational training of people with disabilities in Greece and to highlight the social, political and cultural conditions which have shaped the concepts regarding the disabilities and driven the adoption of specific practices in this sphere and b) to describe and evaluate aspects of the prevailing situation in this context.

In this framework, the main research questions which are posed are the following:

a) In which manner has the state approached institutionally the issue of education & vocational training of people with disabilities?

b) What role did they play regarding the formulation of specific concepts and the adoption of specific practices, parameters like the international declarations regarding the education of people with disabilities, the internal dynamics of the educational agencies and institutions, the prevailing social organisation models as well as the legislative socio/educational requirements of the European Union.

c) Which are the attitudes and the concepts of students, academics and education officers concerning the function and the effectiveness of the educational frameworks in which students with disabilities study?

Method

In order to answer the above questions a research strategy of a flexible plan was adopted. In this context, some of the main data production methods which were used until now in this on-going research and on which this presentation will focus are: a) the analysis of primary and secondary sources of written material, namely archival data, such as laws, Ministerial Decisions, Presidential Decrees, union decisions, published views of political parties and the examination of relevant newspaper articles and journals as well as b) the conduction, on a pilot basis, of semi structured interviews with academics, students and education officers who take action in this sphere. The purpose of these interviews was the collection of information regarding: i. the historical development of the institution of special education and the vocational training of people with disabilities in Greece ii. the current situation in the field and iii. the potential critical fields of future interventions. The findings of the above investigations will constitute starting points in order to make up the respective questionnaires and to adopt quantitative methods of data collection in the future. The material which was derived from archival sources and the collection of qualitative data was approached through the content analysis method. The final findings of the research -which will have derived from the combinative review of written sources and qualitative data- will be: a) examined in relation with the findings of other relevant researches from Greece and internationally and b) approached, in an interpretive level, by exploiting the conceptual framework which is provided by the social model of disability approach (Barton & Oiver, 2003) as well as a series of other ideological footholds such as: Foucauldian thought (Treiman, 2005), the theories of critical pedagogy (Freire, 1993) and the feminist approaches (Fawcett, 2000).

Expected Outcomes

The findings of this research project will seek to: a) provide a systematic recording of the development of special education & vocational training of people with disabilities in the framework of secondary education the last 30 years, not only at a legislative level but also at the level of educational practice. b) emphasize the socio-political dimension of this course, through the critical presentation of the current context. c) reveal important descriptions “from the inside out” as well as occasions for critical reflection on the existing structures and frameworks. d) penetrate into issues which affect the management of scholastic heterogeneity in the sphere of education e) contribute to a further awareness regarding the conditions and practices which can foment scholastic marginalization or contribute to the promotion of a more inclusive educational policy and teaching practice and, finally, f) constitute starting points for further specialization and thorough examination of the field under investigation, in the draft of research questions.

References

Armstrong, F., Armstrong, D., Barton, L. (2000) (Eds.) Inclusive Education: Policy, Contexts and Comparative Perspectives. London: David Fulton Publishers. Armstrong, D., Armstrong, Α.& Spandagou I. (2010). Inclusive Education: International Policy and Practice. Sage Publications. Barnes, C, Mercer, G. (2003) Disability. Oxford: Polity Press. Barton, L. (2004) The Disability Movement: Some Observations, in J. Swain, S. French & C.Barnes, Disabling Barriers-Enabling Environments, London: Sage Barton, L., Oliver, M (2003) Disability Studies: Past, Present & Future. Leeds: The Disability Press Barton, L., Armstrong F. (2007) Policy, Experience and Change: Cross-cultural Reflections on Inclusive Education. London: Dordrecht-Springer Books Dyson, A. (1999) Inclusion and Inclusions : Theories and Discourses in Inclusive Education. In: H.Daniels, P.Garner (eds) World Yearbook of Education: Inclusive education. London: Routledge. Fawcett, B. (2000) Feminist Perspectives on Disability, Harlow: Prentice Hall Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, Continuum. Graham, L. J. & Slee, R. (2008). An illusory Interiority: Interrogating the discourse/s of inclusion. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 40(2), 277-293. Lindsay, G. (2003) Inclusive Education: a Critical Perspective. British Journal of Special Education, vol 30, no 1, pp 3-12. Mittler, P. (2000) Working Towards Inclusive Education: Social Contexts. London: The Cromwell Press Ltd Slee, R. (2008). Beyond Special and Regular Schooling? An inclusive education reform agenda. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 18(2), 99-116. Tomlinson, S. (2003) Sociological perspectives on special and inclusive education. Support for Learning vol 16, no 4, pp 191-194 Treiman, S (2005) Foucault & the government of disability, University of Michigan Press. Vlachou-Balafouti, A. & Zoniou-Sideris, A. (2000) Greek Policy Practices in the Area of Special/Inclusive Education. In: F.Armstrong, D.Armstrong, L.Barton (eds.) Inclusive Education: Policy, Contexts and Comparative Perspectives. London: David Fulton Publishers. Vlachou, A. (2006) Role of special/support teachers in Greek Primary Schools: a counterproductive effect of “inclusion” practices. International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol 10, no 1, pp 39-58. Zoniou-Sideri, A. (1996) Disabled people and their education, Ellinika Grammata: Athens [in Greek] Zoniou-Sideri, A, Deropoulou-Derou, E, Karagianni, P.& Spandagou, I. (2006) Inclusive Discourse in Greece: strong voices, weak policies, International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol 10, no 2-3, pp.279-291. Zoniou-Sideri, A., Vlachou, A. (2006). “Greek teachers` belief systems about disability and inclusive education”, International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 10, No 4, 5, pp. 379-394

Author Information

Athena-Anna Christopoulou (presenting / submitting)

University of Athens

Faculty of Early Childhood Education

Athens

Athina Zoniou-Sideri

University of Athens, Greece

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