Inclusion Of Disabled Students Research Articles

The Future of Inclusive Education at the University of Bologna: A Survey of Students’ Opinions and Attitudes

This research paper focuses on analyzing the current situation regarding the educational and social inclusion of students with disabilities, based on the point of view of students studying at the College of Education and Learning Sciences in Bologna (Italy). Due to the complexity of the educational situation being analyzed, a descriptive methodological approach was followed, collecting and analyzing quantitative data through a survey. The data sample was obtained incidentally by taking advantage of the research collaboration of one of the authors who was present in Bologna. Overall, the results indicate that these students hold generally positive opinions and attitudes toward the inclusion of disabled students. It should be noted, however, that an improvement in basic training is needed, and that studies should be conducted on educational practice aiming to further develop the implementation of action plans based on academic quality in order to include students with disabilities in higher education.

The gap and the bridge: Brazilian Physical Education pre‐service training for inclusion

Currently, the inclusion of disabled students in school still faces significant obstacles to its implementation. In Physical Education (PE) classes, these obstacles are mainly associated with failures in the pre‐service training offered in undergraduate courses. This study aimed to investigate pre‐service training on the inclusion of disabled students from the perspective of PE teachers. Four teachers, aged 27 to 32, participated in the study. The PE teachers took part in interviews, guided by open questions, which were later transcribed and analyzed using the technique of content analysis. The results section discusses the role of pre‐service training concerning the inclusion of disabled students in PE classes, and identifies the gaps in this training. The PE teachers indicated the need for a change in perspective with regard to inclusion in PE classes.

The ‘normal’ physical education classes: the ableism facing the inclusion of disabled students

The study aims to understand the ableism facing the presence of disabled students in physical education (PE) classes. Through a case study with an exploratory qualitative design, we captured the inclusion (or lack thereof) of disabled students through the perspectives of three PE teachers who participated in this study over one school year. The teachers completed a weekly reflective journal with field notes, and participated in two focus group interviews, which were assessed using the content analysis technique. The PE classes were immersed in ableism, which translates into a body-focused process of normalisation. Our findings underscore the difficulty encountered in the inclusion of disabled students because it is considered a counterpoint to what is believed to be PE. A comprehensive change in perspectives regarding the understanding of disability and normativity is required. Points of interest This study is important to discuss how meaningful the physical education classes have been to the disabled student; The disabled students still feel excluded from Physical Education classes; Physical Education curriculum is mainly based on competitive sports practices raising questions about its meaning to the disabled student; Physical Education teachers do not change the traditional curriculum for the best learning opportunities to the disabled children; The inclusion of the disabled student calls for fundamental changes on what is assumed as Physical Education class at schools and for effective teachers.

‘I Don’t Have Time For This’: Stuttering and the Politics of University Time

Over the last four decades, increasing numbers of disabled students have entered institutions of higher education worldwide. Since 1994, the South African Government has been committed to transforming educational policy to redress the past oppression of disabled persons. Educational policies, legislation and interventions have been implemented to promote inclusive education. However, recent studies have found disabled students continue to be excluded and discriminated against at institutions of higher education in South Africa. In this analytical autoethnography, I describe my personal experiences of stuttering at two South African universities, exploring personal life stories through Felt’s (2017) concept of academic chronopolitics. I argue that chronopolitics, which exists in institutions of higher learning, acts as a barrier to inclusion and participation for disabled students, specifically those who stutter. I advocate for the creation of spaces that are enabling and inclusive for all disabled students.

Embedding and Sustaining Inclusive Practice to Support Disabled Students in Online and Blended Learning

UK higher education data has shown persistent differences in degree outcomes for specific student groups. Consequently, the Office for Students (the UK government’s higher education regulator) are funding 17 projects to address these inequalities. Building on its expertise, our institution is leading the IncSTEM project alongside colleagues from two other universities, to evaluate, scale up and promote inclusive teaching and learning practice within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines in higher education.There are challenges with inclusive distance learning, many of which are emphasised in STEM through the prevalence of practical and field activities, the widespread use of groupwork, and the use of text that is rich in symbolic notation. Online and blended learning approaches, including access to digital learning resources, bring opportunities for more inclusive practice, but can also lead to unforeseen and unquantified barriers for students. Integrating an inclusive approach to teaching and learning requires universities to embed and sustain practices that consider the diverse needs of students throughout curriculum design and delivery, bringing benefits to all students.In this paper, we present data on staff perceptions and practices regarding accessibility and inclusion for disabled students, explore examples of inclusive practice, and discuss how these can be applied by practitioners in order to create a higher education environment in which students of all backgrounds and characteristics are able to succeed.

Inclusão no Ensino Superior pela Lente Omnilética: Um foco na formação docente

The current paper aims to carry out an omnilectical analysis about the Education of teachers towards the inclusion of disabled students in higher education. The discussion will be based especially on the Brazilian’s 2008 National Policy of Special Education in the Perspective of Inclusive Education and its possible impacts on the inclusion of disabled students in the largest State University of Brazil, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and its implications for university teachers’ practices and education.

Gender inequality and disabled inclusivity in accounting higher education and the accounting profession during financial crises

In this article, the authors find that, during financial crises, the wage gap between female and male accounting professionals declines and gender inequality in higher education is affected. In addition, less support and lower wages for disabled accounting professionals demotivate disabled students in accounting higher education. Because of budget cuts during financial crises, universities limit their support to women and the disabled. The authors consider 104 universities from the database of the United Kingdom’s Higher Education Statistics Agency for 2005–2011. Their theoretical and empirical findings establish that there was a growth in female students and a decline in disabled accounting students during the recent financial crisis. The established link between the higher education and the accounting profession enriches the accounting literature and may help policymakers to identifying better ways of enhancing equality and the inclusion of disabled students in accounting higher education to address inequality and non-inclusivity in the profession, especially during periods of financial crisis.

Educação Física Escolar: Percepções do Aluno com Deficiência1

RESUMO: a inclusão de alunos com deficiência é prevista em lei e manter boas estruturas físicas e pedagógicas na escola é um ponto fundamental para que o acesso possa acontecer. A Educação Física faz parte desta inclusão e pode proporcionar grandes melhoras na qualidade de vida de alunos com deficiência. Este estudo teve como objetivo compreender as percepções do aluno com deficiência a respeito das aulas de Educação Física. Para isso foi realizada uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa utilizando para coleta de dados uma entrevista semiestruturada a qual foi gravada, transcrita e posteriormente analisada. A amostra foi constituída de 20 alunos com deficiência matriculados em escolas regulares da cidade de Santos Dumont - MG. A partir das entrevistas, destacou-se a percepção do aluno com deficiência a respeito da Educação Física escolar; o entendimento deles quanto ao conceito de qualidade de vida; as melhoras proporcionadas na qualidade de vida através da Educação Física; as facilidades e as dificuldades nas aulas; e as questões concernentes à relação aluno/professor e aluno/aluno. Os resultados dessa pesquisa podem auxiliar a comunidade escolar e o professor de Educação Física a melhorarem a inclusão nas escolas regulares. Além disso, as percepções dos alunos com deficiência sobre as aulas podem ajudar o professor na busca de um ambiente melhor com aulas que atendam a todos e proporcionem uma melhor qualidade de vida.

A Negociação de Sinais em Libras como Possibilidade de Ensino e de Aprendizagem de Geometria

Resumo A discussão sobre a inclusão de pessoas com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais está cada vez mais presente nos meios acadêmico e escolar. Este artigo discute um processo de negociação de sinais em Libras, em aulas de matemática, com base em atividade de ensino realizada com estudantes surdos dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental de uma escola da rede pública de ensino. Dentre os diferentes aspectos que se mostraram relevantes, destaca-se a interação que se estabeleceu na sala de aula durante uma conversa sobre geometria, tema central das aulas. A primeira seção do artigo apresenta aspectos sobre a surdez e sobre a educação de pessoas surdas. Em seguida, são apresentados o contexto em que se deu a atividade de ensino e trechos das conversas em que os alunos negociam e fazem acordos sobre os sinais a serem utilizados para se referirem às figuras geométricas, que estavam ausentes nos dicionários. Os resultados indicam a importância do processo de negociação de sinais para a ampliação da Libras no campo lexical, bem como para o envolvimento dos alunos na atividade uma vez que oferece uma oportunidade de exploração das propriedades matemáticas envolvidas nas tarefas. Por fim, reconhece-se que a inclusão de estudantes com deficiência na escola regular parece estar bem amparada pela legislação em relação ao acesso, mas ainda é preciso mais ações que garantam espaços de aprendizagem para todos.

Disabled students: identity, inclusion and work-based placements

Research about disabled identity reflects diverse perspectives on the merits and challenges associated with such an identity. This paper explores the impact of disabled identity on the inclusion of disabled students in higher education and employment contexts. It considers their experiences of inclusion in a university setting and its associated work-based placements and discusses the extent to which students had to negotiate a range of experiences of disabled identity. The paper suggests that many disabled students, especially those with behaviour-related impairment labels, are subject to continued exclusion in university and, more particularly, work settings, and this contributes to an employment disadvantage compared with their peers. To this end, the paper highlights the importance of enhancing inclusion for disabled students, especially in employment settings, through a focus on reducing destructive identities.

From thinking to practice: school staff views on disability inclusion in Turkey

This paper presents outcomes of a qualitative interview study conducted in four Turkish primary schools that had been identified by the Ministry of Education as engaging in the inclusion of disabled students. The main purpose of the study was to examine school staff views on inclusion in their schools. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with four class teachers and four school counsellors. Findings from the thematic analysis of the interview transcripts suggested that: (a) school staff held positive beliefs towards educating disabled students in regular schools and believed in the contribution of this to both disabled students and their non-disabled peers; (b) special educational paradigms existed in mainstream schools and shaped professional practice; (c) there was a lack of conceptual and methodological knowledge of inclusion among stakeholders, indicating a need for awareness raising and development; (d) disabled students were far from being fully included within classroom practice; (e) there was a lack of collaboration among school staff, inadequate family engagement and a strong need for effective school leadership in inclusion; and (f) there were individual efforts by the school staff to develop inclusive practices. Findings of this study will be useful in guiding current practice to support inclusion in contexts, like Turkey, where it is at an early stage of maturation. It is also filling a gap in providing first-hand accounts and perspectives of practitioners implementing reforms in difficult circumstances.

Non-disabled secondary school children's lived experiences of a wheelchair basketball programme delivered in the East of England

Frequently an unquestioned belief is held in British schools in the value of ‘normalized’ ability in physical education (PE). Consequently inclusion of disabled students can be problematic. Negative perceptions of disability are rarely challenged. This study investigated the embodied experiences of 49 non-disabled secondary school pupils during a programme designed to introduce disability sport to non-disabled school children entitled ‘The Wheelchair Sports Project’. Funded by a County Sports Partnership, Wheelchair Basketball sessions were delivered by trained coaches during PE for a 12-week period. Forty-nine pupils aged between 10 and 12 years took part in the study. Non-participant observations were completed during the programme, and semi-structured group interviews were completed with 24 participants pre- and post-project. Bourdieu's theoretical framework guided data analysis. The impact of the project on pupils' perceptions of physical disability was investigated. Prior to the project, pupils emphasized the ‘otherness’ of disabled bodies and described disability sport as inferior and not ‘real’. Observations highlighted how pupils experienced physical challenges adapting to wheelchair basketball. Pupils struggled to control wheelchairs and frequently diverged from acceptable behaviour by using their lower limbs to ‘cheat’. Post-programme group interviews demonstrated that, due to their own embodied experiences, pupils began to question their perceptions of the potential ability of participants with physical impairments. Pupils described high physical demands of wheelchair basketball and began to focus upon similarities between themselves and physically disabled individuals. However, participants made no reference to impairments other than physical disability, emphasizing the specificity of the effects of pupils' embodied experiences on their embodied habitus, which, although difficult to assess over the long term, appeared to have an impact on self-perceptions over the short term.

The Impact of Teaching Academic Education Course of Children with Special Needs in the Ordinary Schools on Students’ Attitudes toward Inclusion of Disabled Children

The present study aimed at identifying the attitudes of the teacher student towards including students with special needs with the ordinary ones. Also, to determine whether there are statistically significant differences between students who have studied the academic education course of children with special needs in the ordinary schools and the students who have not studied this course in the Department of Special Education, Majmaah University for the academic year 1433 – 1432 A H . The study concluded that there are statistically significant differences between the children of the fifth level who have studied the academic education course of children with special needs in the ordinary schools and the children of the fourth level who have not studied this academic course. Also, the study concluded that both of the students of Level IV and V have a positive attitudes towards inclusion of disabled students in the ordinary schools.

Personalized Adaptive Networked Learning for Disabled Students & Social Networking for the Inclusion of students – The Multimedu tool

The Multimedia Education tool (Multimedu tool) is a web-based integrated system that “accumulates” information, in any form: video, audio, text, picture, documents. It is based on the contribution of academic collaborative networked communities, and makes the multimedia material accessible and available to everyone through a Terms Dictionary and a Multimedia Library. It also supports social networking. The Multimedu system facilitates personalized communication and supports learning and inclusion of disabled students in Higher Education. Services based on the Multimedu system can be offered to the disabled and other students in the mainstream class, in the parallel “assistive” classes, and in the labs. Distance learning is supported in synchronous mode. Asynchronous and online services are offered by the integrated multilingual multimedia dictionary of terms.

Attitudes, Knowledge and Concerns of Teachers Towards Inclusion of Students with Disabilties

The aim of this research work was to study the attitudes, knowledge and concerns of teachers towards inclusion of students with disabilities in a regular classroom. The researcher however explored the relationship between the variables as well. The sample comprised of 100 higher secondary school teachers of which 50 were employed in Central schools while 50 were employed in Private Schools of Agra region only. Cross-sectional research method was adopted to collect and analyze data. The tool comprised of a four-part questionnaire that includes background information and three measurement scales on attitudes, knowledge and concerns of teachers, viz (i)ATIES (Attitudes towards Inclusive Education Scale, Author Felicia Wilczenski, Year: 1992) (ii) CIES (Concerns about Inclusive Education Scale, Author; Sharma & Desai, Year:2002) and (iii) Knowledge questionnaire (Author: Pottas, Year: 2005). The results indicated that teachers of both the schools displayed favorable attitudes, high level of knowledge and lower concerns towards inclusion of disabled students. It was evident that attitudes and knowledge were positively related to successful inclusion while concerns were associated with the extra burden to be experienced for inclusion. Thus, it is important to organize awareness programs on inclusion for school teachers to reduce their worries and concerns. Democratic education will only be successful with positive attitudes of teacher, good knowledge of inclusion methodology and lowered concerns.

The Lao PDR Inclusive Education Project 1993–2009: reflections on the impact of a national project aiming to support the inclusion of disabled students

The Lao People's Democratic Republic Inclusive Education Project started in 1993 and during a 16-year period, ending in May 2009, it aimed to support the participation of all children in school, with a particular focus on disabled students. The main strategy to enable this involved working to change the education system through the introduction of child-centred approaches to teaching and learning in 539 schools across the country. In this article, we consider the success of this approach, highlighting some of the achievements of the project and also the tensions involved in trying to facilitate the evolution of policy into practice across a national network of schools, referring to evidence collected and analysed during an evaluation of the project in 2008–2009. Our findings indicated that there was some evidence of these new approaches to teaching being used in schools and also that schools appeared to be performing well in significant areas including student enrolment, retention, grade completion and primary completion. There were also significant challenges which still needed to be met. These included a lack of provision for students with more complex needs, such as children with sensory loss, and significant numbers of disabled students who did not attend school.

Marking-out normalcy and disability in higher education

This article advocates for socially just pedagogies in higher education to challenge senses of normalcy that perpetuate elitist academic attitudes towards the inclusion of disabled students. Normalcy is equated here with an everyday eugenics, which heralds a non-disabled person without ‘defects’, or impairments, as the ideal norm. This article attempts to mark the pervasiveness of normalcy in higher education by presenting findings from a systematic experience survey of disabled students and non-disabled students within one higher education institution in the United Kingdom. The findings indicate that disabled students who have institutional disability support express more difficulties in their learning and assessment than students with no known disability. However, it was found that there was no significant difference in academic achievement between the two cohorts of students. In relation to the latter point, the evidence also shows that disabled students who do not receive institutional disability support underperform.

Attitudes Toward Disability and Social Inclusion: An Exploratory Analysis

Our work deals with inclusion of disabled students at university. Our premise is that young people are most likely to empathize towards disabled people. We have focused on attitude of students at university, trying to identifying those variables which would make them more liable to assist disabled people and to facilitate their integration. In order to answer our question, we based our research on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). We've made an enquiry to university students and we've developed the model for young peoples’ perceptions of disability. Our findings are hopeful in the way to inclusion.

Examining the tension between academic standards and inclusion for disabled students: the impact on marking of individual academics' frameworks for assessment

This article draws on developing theory regarding assessment and marking to explore the impact of staff values regarding widening participation on grading decisions. It reports on an innovative creative arts module delivered for students with complex disabilities. Data collection included observation of teaching, interviews with staff, students and learning support staff, recordings of two academic team discussions and a questionnaire on moderation issues completed by staff. Whilst the students were very positive about the experience, the data identified pace of learning, the role of support workers and issues in authenticating student learning as aspects for future development. In particular, the research suggests that staff tackled the tension between valuing academic standards and inclusion by recasting student achievement as different rather than inferior, interpreting assessment rubrics in the light of their individual ‘frameworks’ for assessment. The article considers whether this recasting of standards illuminates the problematic nature of standards and assessment criteria in higher education.

Inclusión educativa y pedagogía crítica

En este artículo presentamos los principios básicos de la inclusión educativa,centrándonos especialmente en la inclusión del alumnado con discapacidad, y sostenemosque la educación inclusiva debería ser entendida como un proceso de transformaciónde las escuelas tradicionales en espacios de aprendizaje para todo el alumnado. Elartículo se basa en la pedagogía crítica para argumentar que las prácticas educativasexcluyentes se han desarrollado centrándose en la discapacidad más que en las capacidadesde este alumnado. En esta misma línea, el artículo proporciona evidencias científicaspara desacreditar mitos relacionados con la educación del alumnado con discapacidad,especialmente mitos que han contribuido a su exclusión de las aulas ordinarias.Finalmente, basándonos en el modelo de las Comunidades de Aprendizaje, proporcionamosalgunas estrategias concretas para la transformación de las aulas ordinarias enambientes plenamente inclusivos.