Network Interaction Of Teachers In An Inclusive Educational Environment

Abstract

The article substantiates the role of the methodological competence of teachers in inclusive education. The authors consider the methodological competence of teachers as a conceptual element in the design and effective functioning of an inclusive educational environment at a university. The effectiveness of the development of methodological competence of teachers in inclusive education is ensured by a number of factors, such as active interaction in the allocation of resources and the exchange of professional experience. To identify these factors, the method of pedagogical modeling was used. A structural model of an inclusive educational environment and a structural-functional model of network interaction and social partnership were developed. One of the main components of this process is the university’s social partnership with various organizations and companies that are interested in integrating students with disabilities into society. The Inclusive Education Centre acted as the coordination structure in this interaction. For this, the authors developed a scientific and technical training program within the framework of the inclusive educational environment “Network and Social Partnership”, the implementation of which is associated with the creation of collegial support - legislative, organizational and substantive, educational, psychological and pedagogical, etc.

Keywords: Inclusive educationinclusive educational environmentnetworkingskills development

Introduction

Regulatory, educational, methodological, personnel, material and technical and information support is the basis for determining the optimal development paths and means of introducing inclusive education. To meet these requirements, modern educational practice is forced to change after the changes in society, to master new educational concepts, and try to use new educational technologies. Inclusive education is considered to be one of the priority areas for the development of the education system throughout the world. Its humanistic message lies within focusing on the realization of the right of all citizens to receive quality education (Alekhina, 2016).

Creating an environment accessible to people with special educational needs becomes an unconditional requirement for the development of educational institutions, which sets the task for teachers to change the traditional forms and methods of teaching such students.

But at the same time, many educational organizations do not have the necessary resources for the quality implementation of inclusive education. As a rule, a rather low level of competence of teachers working with such students, a shortage of didactic and educational-methodological developments, educational technologies that allow implementing inclusive education, are noted.

Problem Statement

The inclusive educational environment of the university is formed as a complex system of organizational, pedagogical and material and technical conditions that integrate the university’s resources of various nature – financial, economic, subject-material, technical, organizational and administrative, personnel, normative-methodological, technological, etc. (Isakova, Lisina, Smirnova, & Vezirov, 2016).

Inclusive education focuses these resources on the achievement of a common goal - ensuring the availability of information, sources of knowledge and a variety of educational tools for students with special educational needs as equal subjects of the educational process, creating conditions for their successful adaptation and self-realization in the educational and professional sphere, as well as in society overall (Kosenok, Rasskazov, Stavruk, Muller, & Ilyashenko, 2017).

From this point of view, the most significant element of the university’s inclusive educational environment are teachers. At the same time, unlike specialists who accompany students with special educational needs and, as a rule, have special – correctional, pedagogical or medical education, university teachers of educational disciplines do not have special training for working with such students. Therefore, a special task and a conceptual element of the process of constructing an inclusive model at a university is the advanced training and continuous development of teachers' competencies in order to develop their competence in an inclusive educational environment.

The result of such work is the training of teachers with a sufficient level of professionalism, including methodological competence (Borlakova, Klushina, Klushina, & Kotov, 2018; Solovova, 2010).

Development of the inclusive educational environment of a university provides for not only continuous improvement of the theory and methods of vocational education, creation of training systems for academic disciplines on their basis, development of material and technical base and all pedagogical conditions, but also for taking into account the real state of the university’s external environment and interaction with it.

Based on the foregoing, the inclusive educational environment of the university is a system of organizational, pedagogical and material and technical conditions that provide students with special educational needs with an equal access to information sources and various teaching aids, which allow to remove psychological, social, didactic and other educational barriers that prevent them from full adaptation and self-realization in the professional sphere and in society as a whole.

The conceptual element of the process of designing and effective functioning of an inclusive educational environment in a university is the continuous development of professional competencies of teachers.

Research Questions

In the context of formation of a system of continuing education in the country, network interaction involves the union of different educational institutions that provide inclusive education. When creating a continuous educational vertical, it is possible to put into practice a systematic approach to the issue of including children with special educational needs in society.

Such cooperation of educational institutions allows one to use the intersection of educational spaces of different institutions and even form a common inclusive educational environment, which involves the organization of a team of specialists and teachers to work in the specific conditions of such an environment. The diverse vertical and horizontal interaction of the subjects of the network organization makes this structure extremely mobile and flexible.

Research Issues:

• What is the structure of an inclusive educational environment that implements the resource of social partnership?

• What components does the structural-functional model of network interaction and social partnership include?

• What can be a scientific and practical program for training teachers to work in an inclusive educational environment?

Purpose of the Study

For optimal coordination of the activities of all partners included in the inclusive educational environment, a specialized organizational structure is needed, which the Center for Inclusive Education can act as.

Depending on the resource possibilities, it can be created as a separate organization or on the basis of one of the educational institutions of an inclusive educational vertical.

The result of the functioning and development of the inclusive educational environment of the university are educational services of a new quality that can increase the requirements for teachers (the development and use of teaching aids and training and monitoring tools, well-established interaction with other participants in inclusion, the operational solution of difficulties, the possibility of consultative and coordinated work of different specialists).

It is possible to solve these problems provided that the teachers are prepared for the implementation of the idea of inclusive education in the educational process and for a systematic professional, including methodological activities in the context of inclusion (Petrova et al., 2016; Ponikarova, Denisova, & Lekhanova, 2012).

The article presents a solution to the problem of increasing the methodological competence of teachers working in an inclusive educational environment through the use of network interaction resources and social partnership.

Research Methods

In the course of the study, the following methods were used:

• the method of modeling of the educational environment and the interaction of subjects of the educational process. In the process of modeling, the component composition of the educational environment as a system, the information flows within the system, the direction and nature of the control actions were studied. The result is presented in the form of a structural model of the educational environment and a structurally functional model of network interaction and social partnership;

• the method of pedagogical design allowed one to develop a program of scientific and practical training of teachers within the framework of the inclusive educational environment "Network Interaction and Social Partnership".

Findings

Since the development of the inclusive educational environment of the university is associated with huge resource costs, the social partnership of the university with various organizations and enterprises is an important component of this process, since it significantly expands the resource base of inclusive education (Morova, 2014).

The partners of educational organizations of the inclusive educational vertical are the state represented by the regional educational authority, public organizations providing assistance to people with special educational needs, as well as employers – organizations and enterprises involved in the professional adaptation and employment of such persons.

In addition, an inclusive educational environment involves partnerships between educational institutions at various levels and institutions of additional education, health care, sports, and culture. The subjects of an inclusive educational vertical are students with special educational needs, their parents, as well as the teaching and support staff of educational organizations.

It is possible to solve these problems provided that the teachers are prepared for the implementation of the idea of inclusive education in the educational process and for a systematic professional, including methodological activities in the context of inclusion (Ponikarova, Denisova, & Lekhanova, 2012).

The relevance of the development of the program is dictated by the peculiarities of the country's current socio-political situation, built on the humanistic relations between the individual, society and the state (Maslennikova, 2017) and due to the insufficient development of the theoretical and pedagogical foundations for the implementation of an inclusive approach to the training of people with special educational needs (Rasskazov & Muller, 2018).

The structure of an inclusive educational environment presented in Figure 01 is distinguished by the close interaction of educational institutions of all levels, from pre-school educational institutions to higher education institutions and further, with the participation of organizations providing further professional activity.

Figure 02 presents the structural-functional model of network interaction and social partnership, the implementation of which will help to increase the methodological competence of teachers.

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We have developed a program of scientific and practical training of teachers in the framework of the inclusive educational environment "Networking and Social Partnership". The goal of the program is to create collegial support (legal, organizational, substantive, educational, psychological, pedagogical, etc.) for students, employees and university professors in the process of training students with special educational needs of various no sological groups (Figure 02 ). Creating a mechanism for a full-fledged effective organizational interaction in an inclusive environment is not easy. At present, the inclusive educational practice is still in the process of forming; often this work is still only experimental in nature. A certain detachment from the problems of people with disabilities, which unfortunately exists, only speaks of the lack of awareness of such problems.

The program provides a set of measures, private expected results, the implementation of which is reflected in the roadmap. Improving the efficiency of inclusive education for people with special educational needs on the basis of a comprehensively developed network interaction and social partnership, which is the goal of the program, provides for solving the following issues:

• Improving the efficiency of inclusive education for people with special educational needs on the basis of a comprehensively developed network interaction and social partnership, which is the goal of the program, provides for solving the following problems:

• the implementation of psychological, pedagogical, diagnostic, methodological support of the subjects of the educational process;

• improving the quality of education and socialization of persons with special educational needs.

The expected results of the program are the integration of the forces of the educational process agents through network interaction and social partnership for the successful socialization of students with special educational needs:

• creation of a network of professional community of stakeholders in the field of inclusive education;

• creation of a supporting platform for technological, educational, methodological, informational events for teachers of educational partner organizations;

• increasing the efficiency of using methodological resources;

• regulatory, organizational, informational and scientific and methodological support for the implementation of inclusive education with special educational needs;

• expanding opportunities for advanced training, pedagogical skills and psychological and pedagogical competence of the teaching staff.

Conclusion

Thus, a program that implements networking and social partnership provides organizational conditions for expanding the boundaries, scope and directions of further study of the problems that have become the subject of our study. The effectiveness of the development of the methodological competence of university teachers in the context of inclusive education is ensured by the totality of factors considered, which are represented by the pedagogical condition which is the active involvement of teachers in the implementation of network interaction in an inclusive educational environment.

References

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