Social Representations of Inclusive School from the Point of View of Slovak Education Actors

The inclusive education approach refers to the promotion of educability, welcoming all students in the same space. In this context, the systematic review aims to analyze the social representations of teachers about inclusive education in the preschool and elementary classroom, between the years 2010-2020. The study was conducted through a search in the Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and EBSCO databases. Inclusion criteria such as language, empirical studies, last 10 years, and exclusion criteria considering duplicate articles and gray literature were applied. In the first iteration, a total of 86 original articles were obtained and after applying the exclusion and inclusion criteria, a total sample of 18 articles met inclusion criteria. An exhaustive content analysis of the selected research was carried out through a thematic analysis. The studies were organized in chronological order for descriptive and interpretative analysis. Among the most relevant findings of the study, the categories of diversity in the classroom; teachers and inclusive school; teaching-learning and inclusion stand out. The findings make it possible to respond to the objective of the study, highlighting the change in the teachers’ representations that allow a better understanding, valuation, and respect for the rights of all students, especially in early childhood. As for the conclusion, the adequate articulation between teachers’ representations and practices are essential aspects to generate a social transformation and guarantee an inclusive classroom in contexts of high social and cultural diversity.

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“…Inclusive education is perceived as a method to create institutions that take care of their needs. 2 [48] Quantitative:…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teachers’ social representations of inclusive education: A systematic review of literature 2010-2020

Muñoz-Oyarce

Monzalve

Sepúlveda-Vallejos

2023

IJERE

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“…That was also why the statement referring to the effort of school to fulfil the idea of inclusion even above the scope of standard state support was ranked relatively high. Similarly, oriented researches suggest that this concept of thinking is relatively frequent in Slovakia (Vaníková 2018;Sabo, Vančíková, Vaníková, & Šukolová, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It also highlights cooperation with family and two-way communication. Thus, defined school corresponds with the image that arose in the research by Sabo, Vančíková, Vaníková, & Šukolová (2018) entitled Inclusion as a natural part of community life. The authors state that the description clearly shows that inclusive school is perceived as a place that can be attended by all children living in the neighbourhood, this regardless of their characteristics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Various Perceptions of Inclusive School: Q Methodological Study

Vančíková

Basarabová

Sabo

et al. 2021

JESR

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Although inclusive education has become a global norm, it cannot be said that there is a universal definition of it. Namely, the ideas of what inclusive education is are formed in a local context under the influence of societal, political, economic and cultural forces. This is confirmed also by results of the research the subject of which was examination of perceptions of inclusive school formed in the Slovak socio-cultural context. The aim of the research was to find out how education actors (teachers, school headmasters, teaching assistants, specialists providing support to pupils, parents) think about the concept "inclusive school". For this purpose, the Q-methodology was used that produced eight various descriptions of inclusive school. They uncovered various contexts in which education actors´ ideas about inclusive school were formed. Some are wider, others refer to socio-cultural specifics of the country; others are more personal, reflecting personal experience, inner beliefs or even projected ideas and desires. The research shows that the pedagogical discourse about inclusive education in Slovakia is not only specific, but also internally variable. Received: 4 May 2021 / Accepted: 21 July 2021 / Published: 5 September 2021

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“…Universities should also offer classes that provide a complex view on individuals with SEN. In Slovakia research in the area of inclusive environment was carried out by Sabo et al (2018) who focused on examining the social representation of inclusive schools among Slovak teachers. They identified 5 factors representing a closer specification of ideas about inclusive schools.…”

Section: The Inclusive Environment At the Researched Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Attitude of University Students with Special Educational Needs to the Inclusive Environment at Their University

Belková

Zólyomiová

2021

Acta Educationis Generalis

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Introduction: In order to build a quality inclusive environment (not only in education) it is not enough to have material and personal capacity. The students themselves also need to be included via quality assessment of this environment. Research focused on the attitudes of university students with special educational needs (SEN students) towards the inclusive environment quality at a specific educational institution in Slovak conditions has never been done before. Methods: The research team aimed to identify SEN students’ attitude (N=20) to the quality of inclusive university environment. To maintain anonymity, university will not be specified; as for students, only their degree of study and gender will be listed instead of their age (65% were females). An attitudinal questionnaire developed by the authors was used to identify how the respondents perceived the quality of inclusion in the respective university environment. Results: SEN students’ attitudes show the highest score in emotional components (AM=3.607; SD=0.602). Additionally, there is a statistically significant relation between their attitudes and the coordinator’s work quality. A statistically significant difference was measured between the attitudes of those SEN students who were satisfied with the work of their coordinator and those who were not (p-value 0.008). We noted a strong deviation in favour of the satisfied students. Discussion: SEN students generally perceive the inclusive environment at the faculties at which they are currently studying as positive, which can result from the fact that coordinators are appointed specifically to cater to their needs. A distance course has also been created to improve the inclusive environment for students; it helps to improve the effectiveness of communications between coordinators and students, and quickly resolve any issues related to education. Limitations: Both the size of the research sample and the fact that the survey was conducted at only a single university were limiting factors. Thus, we cannot generalize our findings to the entire university SEN student population nor to all Slovak universities. Conclusions: In the conditions of the institution in question no research of this nature has ever been done before. In order to increase the internal quality of the school environment a reflection on the inclusive environment quality from SEN students is necessary. Looking forward, we recommend carrying out a more detailed observation of the inclusive environment quality in relation to the coordinator for students with special educational needs (hereinafter SSEN coordinator), their work quality and expertise.

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Social Representations of Inclusive School from the Point of View of Slovak Education Actors

Cited by 8 publications

References 7 publications

Teachers’ social representations of inclusive education: A systematic review of literature 2010-2020

Teachers’ social representations of inclusive education: A systematic review of literature 2010-2020

Various Perceptions of Inclusive School: Q Methodological Study

The Attitude of University Students with Special Educational Needs to the Inclusive Environment at Their University

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