Session Information
99 ERC SES 04 J, Inclusive Education
Paper Session
Contribution
Research examining education systems and the communities they serve seeks to understand the past endeavours, current realities, and future hopes for inclusive education worldwide (Lyons et al., 2016; Van Mieghem et al., 2020; Yada et al.,2022). The United Nations has recognised the need for inclusive and equitable education opportunities for all (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 1994; United Nations, 2006). Most recently, in Transforming our World Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations General Assembly, 2015), the United Nations outlined 17 sustainable development goals for people, planet and prosperity. Goal four identifies inclusive education as necessary to meet the target for a sustainable and resilient world. Additionally, the vision of the European Agency Statistics on Inclusive Education (EASIE) states that “All learners of any age are provided with meaningful, high-quality educational opportunities in their local community, alongside their friends and peers.” (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2024). The Agency’s position statement – second edition (European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2022) emphasises the importance of all ‘education actors’ to widen their understanding of inclusive education by including the voices of learners, increasing the capacity of schools and learners, developing partnerships with stakeholders, and by increasing societal awareness of the impact of segregation and social isolation. Understanding school leader’s experiences and perspectives across regions, therefore, is key to evaluating the past, assessing the present and identifying future goals for inclusive education in Europe and internationally.
This presentation investigates school leaders’ perspectives about the factors they identify as influential to their school staff’s collective efficacy for inclusive practices. While collective teacher efficacy is broadly acknowledged as an important factor contributing to school performance outcomes (Bandura, 1997; Donohoo et al., 2020; Goddard, 2001), collective teacher efficacy for inclusive education, is a less measured construct in the field of education (Lyons et al., 2016; Sharma et al., 2023). To date, a limited amount of research suggests that collective teacher efficacy is an important contributing factor in the delivery of inclusive practices across a school (Chong & Ong, 2016; Lyons et al., 2016; Sharma et al., 2023). In this presentation, the views of school leaders from Melbourne Australia will be shared. More specifically, in this research, their perspectives about the collective efficacy of their staff as they navigate their school’s inclusive journey were examined. The specific research questions that guided this study were.
1. What factors do school principals identify as the facilitators in enhancing collective efficacy and commitment to inclusive education in their school?
2. What factors do school principals identify as the barriers to enhancing collective efficacy and commitment to inclusive education in their school?
Method
Semi structured interviews were conducted with six school principals from Melbourne Australia. Four principals were from a secondary school setting and two were from a primary school setting. The secondary schools consisted of two co-educational schools, an all girls’ school and an all boys’ school. For the co-educational schools, the first had a student population of 2506 students, 212 teachers and 50 teacher assistants. The second had a student population of 840 students, 80 teachers and 16 teacher assistants. The all-girls’ school had a student population of 967 students, 103 teachers and 7 teacher assistants. The all-boys’ school had a student population of 978 students, 104 teachers and 9 teacher assistants. The two primary schools were co-educational. The first had a student population of 430 students, 41 teachers and 15 teacher assistants. The second primary school had a student population of 436 students, 42 teachers and 12 teacher assistants. The interviews were conducted via video conferencing software, Zoom. The interviews were automatically transcribed using the in-built features of Zoom. Interview questions were framed for a school context, were open ended and aimed to prompt the thoughts and feelings that school principals hold about the facilitators and barriers to building their staff’s collective efficacy for and commitment to inclusive education. Qualitative data analysis was conducted using NVIVO software. Braun and Clarke’s (2013) six step process for thematic analysis guided the qualitative analysis. Firstly, data was read and listened to repeatedly for familiarity and note taking. Secondly, data was coded, reviewed and codes were matched to the research question. Similar codes were merged, and unrelated codes were removed. Thirdly, themes were generated from the codes. Fourthly, themes were reviewed for accuracy to participant responses and connections were drawn between themes. Fifthly, themes were defined and named. Finally, findings were analysed in relationship to each of the schools, their contexts and what this means for future inclusive practices in schools.
Expected Outcomes
This presentation uncovers significant existing themes about school leaders’ perceptions of the collective efficacy of their staff for inclusive education: the facilitators and the barriers. All school leaders discussed the importance of a shared commitment amongst staff toward every student enrolled at their school. When discussing inclusion, principals referred to the differences experienced in their school communities. Differences included academic ability and disability, but also included cultural and language differences and the socio-economic differences impacting students and their families. School leaders acknowledged that inclusive education is a work in progress at a societal, systems, and school level. They recognised the importance of inclusive education for their school and their role in leading their school’s inclusive journey into the future. Themes generated about the facilitators of collective efficacy and commitment to inclusive education included: effective communication and collaboration between school leadership, teachers and teaching assistants, students and their families; appropriate resourcing including employment of staff, time, and facilities; the creation of inclusive environments across the school (physical, sensory and academic); time and structures for staff to engage with understanding students’ academic and wellbeing needs, curriculum planning and for collaboration; systemic support in the form of resourcing but also access to specialist advice and services; and professional learning for staff. Themes generated regarding the barriers to the collective efficacy and commitment of their staff to inclusion were: the need for more professional learning for teachers; improved skills amongst teachers in differentiation; addressing teacher workload and finding more time for teachers to collaborate and plan for inclusive teaching; better systemic support for schools in readiness for including every student particularly those with acute social emotional needs and high physical needs. Implications of findings for school leaders, policy makers, and researchers in building a school’s collective efficacy and commitment will be shared during the presentation.
References
Bandura, A. (2000). Exercise of human agency through collective efficacy. Current Directions in Psychological Science : a Journal of the American Psychological Society, 9(3), 75–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00064 Braun, V., Clarke, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: a practical guide for beginners. Sage. Chong, W.H., & Ong, M. Y. (2016). The Mediating Role of CTE Beliefs in the Relationship between School Climate and Teacher Self-efficacy across Mainstream and Special Needs Schools. In Asia-Pacific Perspectives on Teacher Self-Efficacy (pp. 19–35). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-521-0_2 Donohoo, J., O'Leary, T., & Hattie, J. (2020). The Design And Validation Of The Enabling Conditions For Collective Teacher Efficacy Scale. Journal Of Professional Capital And Community, 5(2), 147–166. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-08-2019-0020 European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (2024, January 25). European Agency Statistics on Inclusive Education. https://www.european-agency.org/data. European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education. (2022). Agency Position on Inclusive Education Systems. Second Edition. Odense, Denmark. https://www.european-agency.org/sites/default/files/Agency-Position-Paper-2022-EN_0.pdf Goddard, R.D. (2001). Collective Efficacy. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(3), 467–476. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.93.3.467 Lyons, W.E., Thompson, S. A., Timmons, V. (2016). 'We are inclusive. We are a team. Let's just do it': commitment, collective efficacy, and agency in four inclusive schools. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(8), 889–907. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2015.1122841 Sharma, U., Loreman, T., May, F., Romano, A., Lozano, C. S., Avramidis, E., Woodcock, S., Subban P., & Kullmann H. (2023). Measuring collective efficacy for inclusion in a global context. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 38(3) https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2023.2195075 United Nations. (2006). Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (1994). The Salamanca statement and framework for action on special needs education. http://www.unesco.org/education/pdf/SALAMA_E.PDF. United Nations General Assembly. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Retrieved from https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda United Nations Development Programme. (2022). Human Development Report 2021-22: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World. New York. https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2021-22pdf_1.pdf Van Mieghem, A., Verschueren, K., Petry, K., & Struyf, E. (2020). An analysis of research on Inclusive Education: a systematic search and meta review. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 24(6), 675–689. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2018.1482012 Wray, E., Sharma, U., & Subban, P. (2022). Factors influencing teacher self-efficacy for inclusive education: A systematic literature review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 117, 103800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2022.103800 Yada, A., Leskinen, M., Savolainen, H., & Schwab, S. (2022). Meta-analysis of the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and attitudes toward Inclusive Education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 109, 103521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103521
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