Training Needs of Teachers on Inclusive Education

Abstract

The inclusive education of children with special educational needs can represent school and education, in general, an opportunity to capitalize on the multitude of resources and potentials that the actors of the instructive-educational process have, thus opening the way to psychosocial horizons of personality development. The problem of strategies and methods of teacher training is the path to access to the goals of education, is known that openness cannot increase in the absence of a univocal training relationship between teacher and student. It can be stated that, in inclusive training, it is not known who offers and who receives the training. But for this recursive process to be able to begin, it is necessary to place the first point of support at the level of the teacher's personality, so the attitude. Positive attitudes toward the inclusion of children with special educational needs are essential for its successful implementation of it. This paper aimed to test the training needs for teachers in an inclusive education approach that will allow a deeper perspective in building "attitudes towards the inclusion of children with SEN". The method used was the questionnaire-based inquiry. The research sample comprised 428 teachers from urban and rural areas. The findings allowed a more precise identification of the constellation of variables and relationships that play role in creating an impact training course towards inclusion and are therefore essential for the implementation of a "school for all".

Keywords: Inclusive education, SEN students, teachers’ training, training needs

Introduction

Policy developments, as UNESCO (2000) and United Nations (2006) have put inclusive education (IE) on the worldwide reform agenda. Teachers need to be supported to foster inclusive education. According to the Profiles Enhancing Education Review (PEER) website by the GEM Report GEM (2020), less than 3 % of countries have adopted an “inclusive education law” that promotes teacher training while 10% have an education law that ensures inclusion for all but does not explicitly mention teacher training on inclusive education. Many authors have stressed that transforming schools into inclusive settings requires responding according to the needs of their students and developing teaching proposals to stimulate and encourage the participation of all students (González-Gil et al., 2013). While furthermost teachers tend to agree with the idea of inclusion, the implementation of it in regular schools presents substantial challenges for them, who are required not only to change their teaching methods according to the special needs of students with SEN but also to time and maintain a high standard of teaching (Abegglen & Hessels, 2018). Unfortunately, even teachers who adopt a positive attitude towards inclusion cannot overcome the problems related to its implementation, due to the lack of understanding of the issues involved and the lack of relevant teaching methodologies. The number of Students with SEN within general education classrooms has risen tremendously over the last 25 years (OECD, 2010). Research shows that teachers in inclusive classes often express dissatisfaction with the way the education system addresses their lack of basic knowledge and techniques for teaching special education. Moreover, teachers around the world feel that they are left to face inclusion on their own, without proper training, as evidenced by research studies conducted glob, example, studies have been conducted on the situation in Hong Kong (Lee et al., 2015) Spain (Chiner & Cardona, 2013), Japan (Yada & Savolainen, 2017), Croatia and Poland (Žic Ralić et al., 2020) and Israel (Malki & Einat, 2018). A quarter of teachers in 48 education systems report a high need for professional development in teaching students with SEN (UNESCO, 2020).

The success of inclusion training programs depends to a large extent on teachers' attitudes towards inclusion and their professional knowledge of “special education” (Sokal & Sharma, 2017) Training courses that have lasted for at least 18 months have the greatest impact on changes addition (Gibbs & Coffey, 2004).

For 40 years, the schooling of SEN children has been done in mainstream schools (even since the 1970s in Italy, the USA, UK) (Tomlinson, 1982). The first substantial approach and explanation of INCLUSIVE EDUCATION, as a director of the action in favor of education for all, took place at a UNESCO conference held in SALAMANCA, in 1994. There are serious obstacles, especially in the way of "full inclusion", given the current organization of schools, which makes it difficult to meet a wide range of individual needs (Evans & Lunt, 2002) Foundation to IE has garnered increasing global momentum since then (Ainscow et al., 2006). “All means all” is the new idea that shapes the road of inclusive lines in education (UNESCO, 2020). Teachers’ knowledge and skills are considered key factors for successful inclusive practice (UNESCO, 2020).

Problems are still encountered in the implementation of IE, even though this paradigm has been accepted in most countries Ainscow (2020). IE reports and research mutually clarify that the role of the teacher is contributory to student success. For that, teacher training on IE is one important branch in creating of IE environment, but we marked that is more important to operationalize the concept of “Inclusive Training” by creating IE Communities of practice (Brandon & Charlton, 2011). Teachers’ development should create cooperative spaces where teachers can plan together, share ideas and resources, and have opportunities to observe one another working (Messiou & Ainscow, 2015).

To create an IE teacher training paradigm and its impact on education for all we explore the methodology of training in this field in literature, the influence of CoP in IE, and possible implications for teacher education in the future, which is the gap from our study we want to fill in. To find an answer to one of the research questions (What kind of training activities would teachers prefer to participate in to improve their inclusive competencies), this paper summarizes the ideas of training strategies and other activities carried out in schools in different countries as opportunities for increasing inclusive climate of schools. Web of Science database was used to examine 80 articles. The search for framework documents was limited to those documents available and accessible on the Internet for free.

The descriptors or keywords used were the following: “inclusive education (IE)”, “Communities of Practice (Cop)”, and ”teacher training”. Separately, special attention was paid to the guides published by international organizations with a reliable background in actions oriented towards the objective of the present study, which is the development of inclusive education. We analyzed articles that address the links between inclusive education and CoP. Also, other aspects that we followed are what kind of activities are more utils for teachers and seem more attractive (e.g. organized by the school, volunteerism, service-learning, open classroom climate, etc.) (Eaker & Marzano, 2020).

Many studies have been conducted and have demonstrated the importance of training programs for teachers in the field of inclusive education, but the impact is not relevant. After participation, the teacher returns to the old methods and with the same attitude (Moriña et al., 2020). There is not much research on creating practice communities for middle school teachers from inclusive classes.

This research can contribute to demonstrating that teachers’ attitudes maybe influence better change by offering them warrants for action, reference points for decisions, and practical toolboxes in Communities of Practice. We focused our search criteria for this research on exploring literature on teacher training and IE practices to ensure that the results could be shifted more correctly into practice in a specific context (Mayer & Oancea, 2021). The objective of this study is to analyze descriptively the teacher’s training needs within the framework of Communities of Practice, in secondary schools that have been carried out in inclusive education or not.

Problem Statement

Continuous professional training in the current context of permanent change, including at the level of educational policies, involves efficient management of time, resources and training offered dedicated to multiple categories of teachers.

In general, education can be defined as a living mechanism that imprints destinies and makes unique paths for the direct beneficiaries through each teacher, so the training and manifest personality of each one is important.

Research questions

The research questions are: “Which are the intervention characteristics as strategy, duration and frequency, and tools used that influence teacher” willingness to include SEN students into the general education classroom?”, “IE–based teachers training influences teachers’ attitudes and perceptions, knowledge, and strategy and skill development”.

Purpose of the study

The aim of the research: is to identify the need for continuous professional training of teachers in pre-university education, in the field of inclusive education.

Research methods

The data was collected with open questionnaire instruments. The subjects of this study were 428 school teachers from Prahova and Dâmbovița County.

Research Objectives:

1.Identifying the degree of interest of teachers in Prahova and Dambovita County in participating in continuous professional training activities

2.Identifying the degree of interest of teachers in inclusive education training

3.Identifying the optimal ways to carry out in-service training activities, from the perspective of teachers who carry out their activities in schools where there are children with Special Educational Needs

Target group: teachers from Prahova and Dambovita County.

Data collection period: 27.01.2022 - 20.04.2022. The questionnaire was applied through the Google Forms platform.

Findings

The instruments used in data collection included several aspects of general questions about a zone (rural, urban), age, gender, level of education and experience of working in inclusive classroom settings school, and training programs completed. Other questions were about other training results, teacher expectations, and the number of children with special educational needs in their classes, barriers during learning in an inclusive setting, the capacity of inclusive education implementation, training topics, and school support.

The results obtained the following data in Table 1.

Of 428 teachers, approximatively 78, 09 % are experienced in the evaluation, manage with different students, motivate disinterested students, but 111, 73% feel confident in their abilities as an experimented teacher. As presented in Table 1 it was found that 43, 36% barely effectively manage to work with teams of students.

In Table 2 sample size shows that 393 teachers are female and only 35 are men. In Romania, the gender ratio in schools is about ten to one. The result of the study reflects also this fact. The data presented in Table 3, reflect the average level of teachers’ level of studies and half of them have diploma.

Table 4 shows respondents’ answers to the question “What is your teaching degree?”

Table 5 illustrates the situation of length of teaching experiences. One hundred and sixty five (37%) were working in a school more than 13 years and one hundred and twenty-three (28%) have more than 22 years’ experience working in a post-primary school.

Ministry of education order No. 1985/1305/5805/2016 of 4 October 2016 on the approval of the methodology for integrated evaluation and intervention to classify children with disabilities in the degree of disability, the school and professional orientation of children with special educational needs, as well as for the empowerment and rehabilitation of children with disabilities and/or special educational requirements provides in Art. 5 "f) inclusive education refers to an education system open to all children and everyone in part. Inclusive education also means a process of identifying, diminishing and eliminating the barriers that prevent learning in school and outside school, so of continuous adaptation of school to children;” The alternative of regular schooling, in public education, for students with special educational needs, is a reality of institutional reform in our country. The ratio between pupils with special educational needs in special schools and those integrated into mainstream schools is 1 in 1.

Unfortunately, curricular reform is not correlated with institutional reform (A Flying Start, 2019). The reasons are multiple: an insufficient number of itinerant/ supportive teachers; the unenthusiastic attitude of teachers in mainstream education; teaching experience still uncrystallised; an insufficient supply of in-service training programs in this field, and the lack of professional learning networks. Table 6 shows that the number of lower secondary school teachers is one third.

Teachers from lower secondary schools declared not have sufficient competencies efficiently to meet the needs of students with SEN.

Based on the results it can conclude that teachers from regular schools have less competence in teaching students with special educational needs than teachers from inclusive schools.

Teachers are interested in participating in IE training courses 380, which means 88,8%. Another important aspect shown in Table 7 is that only 53 teachers don’t have students with Special Educational Needs in their classroom and they never had, 42 had only one, 37 had 2, 17 teachers had 3 students, and 14 teachers have 4 students.

Qualitatively the teacher needs an increase in didactical competence because 42 respondents (see Table 8) were experienced in the considerate of learners, especially children with special educational needs, assembly lesson plans, handling knowledge, and evaluating/ assessing according to inclusive situations.

Projects in the field, validated by the international scientific community, prove that the road to good practices passes through the methodological empowerment of teachers working with students with learning difficulties, in an integrated school. From a formal point of view, training programs are a viable way of transforming the existing situation in special education.

In Table 9, teachers are very interested to study subjects such as “Classroom working methods to facilitate the integration of students with SEN” and “alternative methods of working with student classes” and less in General aspects related to disabilities. They want practical them to develop the competences.

The general attitude of teachers, motivation, openness, and empathy are important factors that could only be ensured by making necessary changes in teacher training programs and curricula (Atkinson, 2000). Any training for the development of school practices for all becomes viable only when exemplified by the activities of the class (Florian & Marmedda, 2019). Therefore, the most effective courses are those that have module practices of experimenting with those acquired in theory. Any training to develop school practices for all becomes viable only when exemplified through classroom activities (Florian, 2021). Therefore, the most effective courses are those that have practical modules for experimenting with those acquired in theory. Any such course must have practical models for carrying out activities, to be based on the presentation and analysis of model activities, on exchanges of experience but also on the permanent practice of the proposed ones. Demonstration lessons are useful at first, but then it is natural that working in the classroom every day is in the sense and spirit of the school inclusive. Teachers need to experience what they want to do with students. You can't understand inclusive education if you don't use it and if you don't put yourself in the student's shoes. The interactive methods, as teachers need to demonstrate, are completed with the game and the empathic participation of each one (Vrăsmaș & Vrăsmaș, 2021).

Conclusions

The approach was generated by the declared objectives of the study, more precisely the continuous training and professional development of the teachers in the pre-university education, on the topic of inclusive practice of the teaching career in the inclusive school at the level of the learning communities, the design of the teaching activities in the peer-learning system, evaluation, recognition, and equivalence in the didactic activity, at the level of the community learning, in an inclusive context and relevant areas in the global context of digitalization of education systems and in specific/non-specific contexts.

From this perspective, the results of the needs analysis undertaken led to the achievement of the proposed objectives, namely:

1) Identifying the degree of interest of the teachers from the target group in participating in continuous professional training activities in inclusive education;

2) Identifying the degree of interest of the teachers from the target group towards the training in the field of inclusive education in an inclusive context;

3.) Identifying optimal ways to carry out in-service training activities, from the perspective of teachers working in inclusive schools.

Teachers need to improve their competencies because more than 60% of respondents experienced issues in adapting their methods to different students, using communication networks, and maintaining sufficient contact with colleagues. The training of the teacher through the professional learning networks and Community of Practice us develop the study, in the field of inclusive competence in the field of SEN thus involves restructuring the personality profile in the sense of forming an openness and flexibility oriented towards the acceptance of otherness.

Acknowledgments

Concerning the ethical issues of this study, the confidentiality of the information was definite. In addition, the teachers were asked that, if they don’t want to participate the results were withdrawn from the study, their figures would not be taken into account for the study and would be deleted. Two results were deleted.

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