Abstract
The purpose of this article was to analyse the challenges primary and subject teachers had experienced concerning the implementation of inclusive education in Lithuanian primary schools, progymnasiums and gymnasiums. In this study, 86 Lithuanian teachers reflected on their experiences of teaching in heterogeneous classes. The data were collected from 13 group interviews. The article highlights the challenges encountered by the primary and subject teachers in implementing inclusive teaching. The findings were arranged under four themes. Concerning teachers’ pedagogical competence, the teachers highlighted difficulties in differentiating their teaching and including the students with special educational needs in the classes’ social peer networks. Teachers also pointed out the need for multiprofessional collaboration and dialogue with parents. The themes were then interpreted in the theoretical frames of teachers’ professional competences. At a practical level, the study’s findings may help teacher educators understand the teacher competences needed to implement inclusive education and support them to develop existing teaching programs to target the successful implementation of inclusive education. At a conceptual level, this study presents evidence for preparing teachers to work in the conditions of striving towards inclusive education.
Highlights
Including children with disabilities in mainstream education has been a global goal of educational reformists since 1990s, e.g. the Salamanca Statement (Slee, 2001; UNESCO, 1994)
The teachers encountered certain challenges in their work that seemed to be based on the methods they used in the current situation
The implementation of inclusion was challenging because the ideas of individualized learning, student’s well-being, multiprofessional approach for teaching, and dialogue with parents could not be met with traditional teacher-led methods and limited special educational knowledge
Summary
Including children with disabilities in mainstream education has been a global goal of educational reformists since 1990s, e.g. the Salamanca Statement (Slee, 2001; UNESCO, 1994). The goal of inclusion reflects the social model of disabilities, whereby society takes account of the diversity of its members (Peters, 2007). The Program for International Student Assessment report (PISA) by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2011) showed that many well-performing education systems have achieved good results while including marginalised groups of students in mainstream education. We ask what kinds of challenges primary and subject teachers encounter when teaching in heterogeneous classes. We ponder what kinds of professional competences would the teachers need, and are there any other kinds of issues causing challenges for their teaching? How do the teachers utilise the pedagogies related to inclusive education? Based on our findings, we ponder what kinds of professional competences would the teachers need, and are there any other kinds of issues causing challenges for their teaching?
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