Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education
Abstract
The world over there is a wave towards more inclusive education for children who are disadvantaged in one-way or another. The Salamanca conference of 1994 focused on the child with Special Education Needs (SEN) with a call to governments to ensure that such children were given an appropriate education especially by being included in mainstream classes. Developing countries shows less initiative and effort towards including the child with SEN, with more efforts towards including the girl child. But some schools are implementing the policy on their own initiative. It can be assumed that their belief in inclusive education drive their practice. This was a small scale study aimed at finding out their beliefs, their sources and the relationship with their practices.
It was a qualitative case study where in-depth interviews and classroom observation of one teacher were conducted. The class had two children with SEN while the remaining fourteen had no obvious SEN.
It was discovered that in line with theories of education and teacher change, there is interplay between beliefs and practices. But the interplay is not necessarily linear in nature but complex usually mediated by the contextual background underlying the actions. It was discovered that some SEN were more accommodating than others in mainstream classes. The biggest impediment to inclusive education is the societal perceptions of the people. The schools and teachers are ready to accommodate the children if supported by the society.
Repository Citation
Khamis, G.
(2011).
Teachers' Beliefs and Practices Observed in Inclusive Classes,
Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education, 2
(8).
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Disability and Equity in Education Commons, Special Education Administration Commons, Special Education and Teaching Commons
