INCLUSIVE TEACHING PRACTICES IN UNIVERSITY CHILEAN TEACHERS

In the past three decades the Chilean higher education system has grown significantly and students characteristics have diversified. To respond to these differences teachers need to deploy special efforts to make their teaching more appropriate and universal. The aim of this research was to validate a scale for assessing the inclusive teaching practices in the university context and to describe the achievements of Chilean college teachers on this scale.

To address this goal a quantitative study was conducted in which 235 university teachers, of different undergraduates programs, participated. The University Inclusive Teaching Practices Scale was composed by 14 items that explore the frequency in which teachers perform actions to promote the participation and learning of all students, with special attention to those that tend to be excluded from the educational process.

Exploratory factor analysis showed two dimensions that composed the construct. First, learning support, which investigates teaching practices oriented to help the student to understand, strengthen and make sense of knowledge. Second, flexible teaching, that explores teachers´ actions for adapting the class to respond to the different ways that students have to acquire learning, expressing their knowledge and motivating to get involved. Both dimensions evidenced high internal consistence (Cronbach’s alpha upon 0.75); and a significant correlation with implicit theories that promote inclusive education at the university, as a concurrent validity measure.

On average, teachers reported high levels of achievement in the learning support dimension and flexible teaching support, but in the second dimension they evidenced slightly lower scores. Differences in the teacher’s perceptions, related to the teachers gender and academic degree, where found. Female reported more inclusive teaching practices, in both dimensions, compared to male teachers. Teachers with Ph.D. degree evidenced less flexibility teaching than teachers with Major or Master degree.