Many studies have highlighted the importance of community and cooperation in inclusive education. However, traditionally, teachers are trained to manage their classes alone. Along with the aspirations of inclusive education, there is high pressure to develop school cultures that are more communal and to reorient school personnel’s work, making it more collaborative, in order to meet the diverse needs of all students. In this research, we explored and compared the collaborative ways in which teachers supported their students in four schools in Austria, Finland, Lithuania, and Poland. As a conceptual framework, the research utilized theories of interprofessional teamwork. The researchers applied a theory-led thematic analysis to the research data. The main findings indicate that collaborative action needs to be an essential part of teachers’ work in an inclusive school. The schools and teachers implemented both proactive and reactive ways of constructing an inclusive pedagogy when they supported their students.
<p class="Abstract">The paper presents results of the part of international survey on teachers’ opinion on autism characteristics and specific educational approach and treatment. Research was undertaken in Poland under the auspicies of ASD-EAST project using quantitative and qualitative methods. The results showed the significant differences in teachers’ perception on autism regarding to the school settings they worked in. The strong need for special training in the field of ASD was also expressed by teachers.</p>
Due to the shortage of autism-specific professional development, the international ASD-EAST project was implemented. This article presents the findings of a quantitative survey undertaken among Polish teachers (in two school settings: special, N=60; mainstream/inclusive, N=30) who attended ASD-EAST workshops. The aim was to identify the post-autism-specific professional development increase of teachers’ knowledge concerning the characteristics of students with ASD and teachers’ subjective confidence regarding their professional competencies. The results showed that the training opportunity was considered by teachers to be important and effective. The results provide grounds for concluding that the programme may be recommended for practical use in order to train teachers who will work with students with ASD
The action research reported in this chapter lasted for one semester. This was a novel time because schools, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, suspended their in-person activities and implemented online learning. This has necessitated the formulation of research purposes and problems appropriate to the dynamically changing educational reality (and beyond). This chapter provides a theoretical background to the risks to education during a pandemic. The assumptions, implementation and results of the research project implemented by the action research method in the selected Polish class are also discussed. The empirical data, mainly qualitative, triangulated by various sources of information, reconciled perspectives that were used to identify specific topics and threads appearing in the gathered inputs, to present it in an orchestrated manner and to interpret it. The analyses carried out lead to the conclusion that the application of the UDL approach promotes the success of inclusive education, despite the difficult experiences of the pandemic period. It has been proven that UDL approach implementation has a positive impact on the course of the teaching-learning process, optimises it to enhance the activity, commitment, self-reliance and responsibility of students and develops their cooperation, which breeds inclusion in education. The extraordinary situation faced by teachers and pupils due to the need to switch to online learning, contrary to temporary concerns, has reinforced the changes brought about by the implementation of the UDL approach in the learning process.
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