English language teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education

Abstract

The paper studies attitudes of teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) towards inclusion of children with special educational needs (SEN) in Serbian mainstream schools. The participants were 96 primary teachers of English with diverse experience in teaching inclusive EFL classes. The results showed that most of the respondents (N=84. i.e. 87.5%) had negative attitudes towards inclusion, due to both the lack of competences and to the absence of adequate conditions for effective inclusive practice: only 29.16% of the respondents claimed they had been specially trained to teach SEN children; 69.79% reported the availability of SEN teams in school, but most of them claimed that the teams met irregularly; only 27.08% (N=26) reported having a classroom assistant in school; most of the respondents (N=89, i.e. 92.7%) expressed their concerns related to a number of challenges they faced in daily work. Considering the fact that teachers are the key to supporting the process of inclusion, and that positive attitude is a predictor of success in inclusive teaching, the change of Serbian EFL teachers' negative attitudes towards inclusion is of great importance. This can be achieved by providing adequate pre-service and in-service education of EFL teachers, and by improving the conditions in our schools.

Measuring preservice foreign language teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education through a newly developed scale

“…Their inaction can cause indifference and demotivation among the teaching staff (García et al, 2016) and this cannot be afforded by SEN students. As an example, Savic and Prosic‐Santovac (2017) revealed that 87.5% of the EFL teachers polled in their research showed negative attitudes toward inclusion due to the absence of adequate conditions for effective inclusive practice. Hence, to change negative for positive attitudes, authorities should improve the conditions in our schools (Savic & Prosic‐Santovac, 2017), make the allocation of the available resources more flexible (based on the severity of needs represented in the inclusive settings) and set learning support teams within the schools to care for individual teachers who request guidance over a teaching concern related to SEN (Avramidis & Norwich, 2002).…”

“…Unfortunately, collaboration can be improved most of the time (Colmenero Ruiz & Pegalajar Palomino, 2015; Schwab et al, 2019). Savic and Prosic‐Santovac (2017) reported that almost 70% of respondents in their study carried out in Serbia admitted that SEN teams rarely met, and in Spain, Reoyo et al (2012) and Hernández and Carrasco (2012) showed that preservice secondary teachers think that the lack of coordination and communication perceived during their practicum makes total inclusion hard to achieve.…”

“…Negative attitudes are difficult to reverse but they can be changed for positive ones by providing adequate teacher training to EFL teachers (Savic & Prosic-Santovac, 2017). EFL training programs are generally focused on subject matter knowledge and learning about SEN is usually acquired externally.…”

“…Positive attitudes are predictors of success in inclusive teaching (Savic & Prosic-Santovac, 2017). Since attitudes are not innate but learned, they should be taught to teachers (Navarro-Mateu et al, 2020).…”

“…Inclusive education is a complex process in which most of the responsibility falls on teachers, who have to implement the laws and policies through educational practices that benefit all. However, specialist teachers usually feel unprepared for the aforementioned required skills due to a lack of training (Blume et at., 2019; Colmenero Ruiz & Pegalajar Palomino, 2015; Crisol Moya & Caurcel Cara, 2020; Debreli, 2012; Navarro‐Mateu et al, 2020; Savic & Prosic‐Santovac, 2017; Schwab et al, 2019; Taylor & Ringlaben, 2012). Therefore, if teachers are the key to inclusion (Colmenero Ruiz & Pegalajar Palomino, 2015; Savic & Prosic‐Santovac, 2017), they must be trained for such purpose regardless of their specialization.…”