Inclusive Education in Higher Education?

Abstract

The present study provides partial findings from research currently underway at the University of Seville: ‘Hurdles & Help as Perceived by University Students Disabilities’. (Directed by Dr. Anabel Moriña, project funding: MICINN, I+D+I, ref. EDU 2010‐16264). How does the university, as an institution, open doors and/or put hurdles in the way of students with special needs? The present study adopts a qualitative methodological approach. More specifically, biographic‐narrative methods are employed to give shape to a series of life stories. A wide range of data gathering techniques were used, including discussion groups, in‐depth interviews, classroom observation sessions, photographs, biograms, etc. Data analysis was carried out in two phases. In the first, the focus was on individual life stories. The second phase involved applying comparative data analysis methods to transcriptions of documents generated using aforementioned methods, in line with Miles and Huberman (1994). Maxqda10 data analysis software was the tool of choice. Results will be discussed with the following questions as a backdrop: Is the University inclusive? We will analyse institutional barriers and aids, as perceived by the students themselves. Architectural and structural hurdles affecting access to university classrooms, infrastructures and other spaces will be assessed here. Finally, we will take a closer look at student expectations with respect to their conception of the ideal university. Is the University an institution that opens or closes its doors to students with disabilities? Based on the analysis in the previous section, a number of conclusions can be reached. The first and foremost is the fact that the students coincided in their opinions, independently of the disability they might have and the courses studied, both when identifying help and barriers. Having said that, the number of barriers identified surpassed the help.

The Readiness of Leading and Teaching Staff to Develop Students’ Sociocultural Competence in the Inclusive Learning Environment

“…At that, it is possible to invite several teachers to instruct (Pancsofar & Petroff, 2016), and involve family members in inclusive education (Kiyama & Harper, 2018). Using resource centres to assist in teaching students with disabilities (Kovács, 2019) and providing counselling services in inclusive education (Morgado, Cortés-Vega, López-Gavira, Álvarez, & Moriña, 2016) will be advantageous.…”

Inclusive Educational Environment in Students’ Social-Cultural Competence Development

“…Professional training provides this category of people inclusion into educational environment, in which their needs, abilities and individual characteristics are realized [9] and innovative forms of correctional support are used [7]. Social effectiveness of inclusive education [1] is possible in terms of -social-professional structure of society development‖ [8] and accepting invalids and people with disabilities as valuable members of society [36] providing psychological and pedagogical support of inclusive educational process [31], including social adaptation and rehabilitation of students [5]. Qualitative professional and higher education and then professional activity are important factors of their successful socialization and a full-rate participation in all spheres of social life.…”

Determinants And Markers Of Formation Of Inclusive Competence Of Future Teachers

“…One part of the research indicates the presence of barriers for the effective teaching of students with special needs. Lack of information (Morgado et al, 2016;Moriña et al, 2017a), inadequate education and training of teachers to work with disabled people (Hewett, Douglas, McLinden, & Keil, 2017;Rodríguez Martín, Álvarez Arregui, & García-Ruiz, 2014), lack of convenient and accessible infrastructure (Lourens & Swartz, 2016;Strnadová, Hájková, & Květoňová, 2015), lack of convenient and accessible virtual learning environment (Bakken et al, 2017;Zubillaga Del Río & Alba Pastor, 2013), poorly functioning interaction of university staff and special employees (tutors, mentors) (Björnsdóttir, 2017;Moriña et al, 2017b;Murphy 2017), insufficient consideration of students' individual characteristics (personal qualities) (Emmers et al, 2017), lack of favorable social environment (Björnsdóttir, 2017), rigidity of curriculum (Björnsdóttir, 2017), (Hewett, Douglas, McLinden, & Keil, 2017), (Rodríguez Martín, Álvarez Arregui, & García-Ruiz, 2014) and teaching methods (Björnsdóttir 2017), lack of funding and administrative support (Cambridge-Johnson et al, 2014) have been identified.…”