Pedagogical education as an area to form teacher inclusive dispositions

Abstract

Introduction. In recent decades, pedagogical education as a special branch of vocational education has been called upon to solve a qualitatively new task related to satisfying the personnel demand for an intensively expanding inclusive educational practice.Aim. The present research aims to reveal the essential characteristics of the teacher inclusive dispositions formation in the context of her/his professional and personal formation in the process of university education in the system of pedagogical education.Methodology and research methods The research was based on a competency-based approach to the university training of an inclusive school teacher as a professional teacher of a new type within the framework of inclusive educational philosophy. In its empirical part, it was built on the basis of quantitative methodology with the use of correlation design.The final sample of the respondents consisted of 1122 master’s and senior bachelor’s degree students from 33 cities of Russia, mastering different educational programmes in pedagogy. On the basis of informed consent, the students filled out online forms (Yandex Form), which included a set of 4 authored and adapted questionnaires and tests.The empirical data obtained were processed by frequency, comparative and multivariate analysis, using the median test, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The analysis of the structure of professional dispositions and the internal consistency of the constructed scales was carried out using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis. For statistical calculations, the program IBM SPSS Statistics ver.23 and the AMOS module were employed.Results. The structure of relations between the components of inclusive dispositions and the indicators of the teacher professional dispositions is revealed. It is established that inclusive dispositions cannot be considered outside the context of the common teacher professional dispositions, being their integral component, which determines the significance of inclusive dispositions as a resource of professional and personal formation of a teacher.The asynchrony of the formation of inclusive dispositions of future teachers in the process of their university training is revealed, which is found in the status of future school psychologists and teachers of physical culture and life safety more preferable in contrast to future subject teachers.The authors revealed the heterogeneity of inclusive dispositions of future teachers in their correlation with different nosological groups of children with disabilities as potential subjects of school inclusion, which is manifested in the reduction of these dispositions in relation to children with behavioural disorders in comparison with similar dispositions concerning children with sensory, motor and communicative disorders.The conclusion is made that the framework of traditionally organised university training of pre-service teachers has an insufficient effectiveness to solve the problem of inclusive disposition formation among future teachers.Scientific novelty. The research findings are considered theoretically significant as they promote an understanding of the underlying patterns of the formation of inclusive readiness of the teacher, taking into account its dispositional predictors.Practical significance. The empirical materials obtained can be used as a basis for the modernisation of pedagogical education in terms of improving the personality-oriented university training for future teachers’ ability to work in the conditions of inclusion.