Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate how general and special education instructors perceive their collaborative teaching responsibilities and their attitudes toward inclusive environments. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 300 teachers in accordance with the social interdependence theory and cooperative learning conceptual framework. The survey was composed of two parts. The first section examined collaborative teaching duties for both instructors. It included 29 items and four categories (planning, instruction, evaluation, and behavior management). The second section included 15 items to assess attitudes toward inclusion. The study enrolled a total of 233 teachers (123 in special education and 110 in general education) with a response rate of 78%. The results showed that there was agreement between general and special education on only one of the four domains (instruction). Additionally, special education teachers expressed a more favorable attitude toward inclusion than did general education teachers. The current situation’s implications were explored with an emphasis on the necessity for additional shared practical activities among teachers.
Highlights
Since the 1960s, the groundwork for inclusive education has been laid with many calls for the “mainstreaming” of students with disabilities (SWDs)
A convention for inclusive education was provided in 2006 by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This convention stressed the right for the inclusion of SWDs with other students, equal access to schools, and provision of accommodations on all levels of learning (Lyons et al, 2016). This protocol proposed by the convention for inclusive education has shown great benefits for SWDs including an increase in academic skills (Szumski and Karwowski, 2015; Van Hove, 2015; Schnepel et al, 2020), sense of belonging
This study aimed to explore the perceptions of general and special education teachers about their roles and responsibilities within the inclusive settings and roles of collaborative teaching
Summary
Since the 1960s, the groundwork for inclusive education has been laid with many calls for the “mainstreaming” of students with disabilities (SWDs) The foundation of this movement was celebrated within the United Nations International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981, which focused on the full participation in society for all people with disabilities (Hornby, 2015). A convention for inclusive education was provided in 2006 by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities This convention stressed the right for the inclusion of SWDs with other students, equal access to schools, and provision of accommodations on all levels of learning (Lyons et al, 2016). Collaboration has evolved into a vital component of the effectiveness and success of inclusive education (Mulholland and O’Connor, 2016) and the primary strategy necessary to establish inclusive schools (Hansen et al, 2020). A consensus needs to be reached between general and special education instructors regarding the roles and objectives of inclusion in the classroom (Zagona et al, 2017)
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