Attitudes of Primary School Teachers Towards Inclusion of Children with Special Needs in Mainstream Educational Programs in Primary School

Abstract

The article explores the attitudes of primary school teachers towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream educational programs in primary schools. The theoretical part discusses the requirements of the new school system imposed on teachers. The empirical part presents a study on the attitudes of primary school teachers towards the inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream primary schools and on whether there are differences in attitudes between younger and older teachers. Descriptive and inferential methods of empirical pedagogical research were used in this paper. The data was collected through an online questionnaire filled out by primary school teachers across Slovenia. The study results showed that all teachers, regardless of age, feel that they are not sufficiently trained to work with children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). At the same time, they agree that they did not acquire enough skills during their undergraduate studies to work with these children. Furthermore, the teachers feel they do not have enough experience working with these children. At the same time, they agree that the children with SEND should be included in programs specifically tailored to their needs and not in mainstream primary school programs. Additionally, the results have shown that teachers think it is necessary to set different educational goals for children with SEND than for other students. The teachers feel that working with children with SEND means additional work. However, they think that the inclusion of children with SEND in mainstream educational programs is not assessed as problematic. They feel that other students are also specifically addressed in the class with children with SEND. However, older teachers than younger ones believe they did not acquire enough knowledge during their undergraduate studies.