Abstract:

In Russia, the idea of inclusive education has been discussed for thirty years in the context of modernizing the education system. The inclusive form of education applies to many subjects of the education process: children with limited health abilities (LHA – this term is in official used in Russia) and their parents, teachers and other specialists, but also children without developmental problems and their parents. Many psychologists and educators emphasize that the successful integration of typically developing children and children with LHA largely depends on shaping a friendly environment, including attitudes towards the inclusion of teachers and parents [1], [2]. The few available data show a wide variation in the opinions of Russian society regarding joint education of students without development problems and students with LHA. In 2016, 40% of respondents considered joint education to be beneficial to both groups of students [3]. Therefore, it is interesting to disclose the opinions on this subject of teachers working in an inclusive school and parents of children without LHA attending such school.

The pilot study covered 34 persons, including 12 teachers and 22 parents of typically developing students attending an inclusive general school in St. Petersburg in Russia. Questionnaires entitled Attitudes towards inclusive education for teachers and Attitudes towards inclusive education for parents by E.M. Kulesza were used.

The results show that the vast majority of respondents – teachers and parents – positively perceive children with HLA as a student and a friend. However, according to both interviewed groups, only students with physical disabilities are able to learn together in one class with non-disabled peers. Students with other disabilities or disorders, especially intellectual disabilities, in their opinion, should learn separately, because they require a special organization of teaching. Only a few teachers stated that they were trained to work in an inclusion class. It also turned out that most parents did not know that the school their daughter/son attended was the inclusive one. It seems that these parents don't know much about the idea of inclusive education.

The study was of a pilot nature, therefore it is necessary to expand the sample, which allow for generalizations.

References:
[1] V.Z. Kantor, Yu.T. Matasov, G.N. Pienin, A.P. Antropov, “Inklyuziya razumnaya: integraciya i differenciaciya,” Universum: Vestnik Gercenovskogo universiteta, no. 1, pp. 44–49, 2012.
[2] N.N. Malofeev, “Ot institucionalizacii k inklyuzivnomu obrazovaniyu detej s osobymi obrazovatel’nymi potrebnostyami,” Al’manax, no. 34, 2018.
Retrieved from https://alldef.ru/ru/articles/almanac-34/from-institutionalization-to-inclusive-education-of-children-with-special-educational-needs
[3] “Otnoshenie obshchestva k detyam s ogranichenny’mi vozmozhnostyami zdorov’ya i detyam-invalidam,” Fond podderzhki detej, nahodyashchixsya v trudnoy zhiznennoj situacii, 72 p., 2017.
Retrieved from https://www.hse.ru/mirror/pubs/share/206979080

Keywords:

Inclusion, school, teachers, parents, opinion.