Perceived Knowledge and Attitudes of Faculty Members towards Inclusive Education for Students with Disabilities: Evidence from a Greek University

Nikolaos Bitsakos,Maria Papadakaki,Anastasia Maraki,Joannes Chliaoutakis

doi:10.3390/ijerph19042151

Abstract

The current paper aimed at investigating factors affecting the perceptions and attitudes of faculty members towards inclusive education for students with disabilities in a Greek University. A questionnaire, based on the “Expanding Cultural Awareness of Exceptional Learners-ExCEL” was distributed online to 311 faculty members, during the first semester of 2020. The questionnaire explored participants’ sociodemographic and academic background, prior training and personal experience with disability, perceived knowledge, beliefs and attitudes towards inclusive education practices. A total of 80 questionnaires were completed (males 56.3%; aged 41–50 years 43.7%; working experience > 16 years 52.4%; prior training on disability 77.5%). Factor analysis identified four constructs relevant to: (a) perceived knowledge regarding the legal framework (“Perceived Knowledge”), (b) intention towards the provision of general accommodations in class (“Help in Class”), (c) intention towards resource provision (“Material Offer”), and (d) beliefs about the provision of accommodations to students with disabilities (“Negative Attitude”). Gender, faculty subject and prior training on disability were shown to affect the participants’ “Perceived Knowledge”, while working position was shown to affect “Material Offer”. Age, working experience, and personal experience with disability did not reveal any significant effect. More research is needed to investigate the attitudinal and practical barriers of faculty members towards meeting students’ educational needs.

Highlights

We first present the research strategy and the methods used in the current study and we report on participants’ perceptions and attitudes towards inclusive education practices, placing emphasis on personal and workrelated characteristics that have been shown to influence these dimensions
In order to identify factors that influence the participants’ perceived knowledge and attitudes towards the provision of accommodations to students with disabilities, we explored the effect of the participants’ basic demographic characteristics, selected workrelated characteristics and prior experience with disability on the four composite factors
Our results indicate that most of the participants do not feel confident about their knowledge of the legal framework applying to higher education regarding students with disability

Summary

Introduction

Individuals with disabilities constitute a large proportion of the general population of higher education students. Individuals with disabilities have been found to be less likely to enroll in higher education and more likely to experience study delays, while running a higher risk of dropping out of higher education than students without disabilities [2–4]. They have been shown to face several challenges, including discrimination from peers, the lack of an empathetic approach from faculty members, and inadequate accommodations [5–8]. By “inclusive policy” we expect institutional decisions that support the inclusive education model through increasing

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion