Empowering Teachers for Inclusive Education
All students require quality education regardless of their abilities and disabilities, yet is has been a challenge to offer students in Latvian schools such education for the past several decades. Notably, one of the most crucial principles in education is inclusive education. The concept of inclusive education is also linked to high expectations, societal ideals and a problematic, insufficient support situation in particular classroom environments. The latest research on the state of inclusive education in Latvia indicates that its system is in an early stage of development. Targeted and systematic actions in this direction have been launched relatively recently; with several solutions having emerged that are not yet systemic (Beizītere, Grumolte-Lerhe, Ziemane, Valtenbergs, 2020). They include changes at various education systems’ levels—from education policy to the practices of individual schools to a need for diverse resources. In the implementation of the approach of inclusive education in schools, the teacher's attitude, understanding and readiness to work within the inclusive education approach is of great importance. Introducing changes regarding implementing inclusive education can be done by new teachers trained in that area.
Therefore, identifying the main challenges in preparing teachers for inclusive education helps in promoting and developing their competencies.
Ideas of inclusive education started in the 20th century. Rapid developments such as the Salamanca Declaration (UNESCO, 1994) followed the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948). The Salamanca Declaration focuses on tailoring education systems on each pupil’s needs. The understanding of the concept itself has also changed in the course development of society and politics. An inclusive education concept is a process for addressing all diverse educational needs, increasing opportunities for everyone to participate in learning, culture, and reducing the exclusion of the uneducated (UN, 2006; Thomas, 2013; UNESCO, 2017; Rozenfelde, 2017). Therefore, equality is one of the most important principles characterizing the concept of inclusive education. Equality is characterized by components such as fair treatment, dignity, and equal access to resources (Murray, Urban, 2012). It also covers social, cultural and ethical aspects (Allan, 2012).
Hindrances to equality in education are different national, cultural and historical experiences, educational goals, and availabilities of resources (Artiles, Kozleski, Waitoller, 2011). For equality in education to be achieved, a country must develop inclusive and equitable policies for reducing the disparities in the way education systems, forms of learning, learning environments and assessments of student achievement are now organized (UNESCO, 2017). Institutions that implement the principle of equality create environments that respect and value individual differences; they promote a school culture that reduces bias and eliminates systemic inequalities. Arguably, students must not be taught the same thing for equal opportunities in education to be realized. It means that everyone has the same opportunities to learn. Booth and Ainscow developed the Inclusive Education Index, which allows schools to be assessed as inclusive institutions in three dimensions:
- building inclusive cultures,
- development of inclusive policies, and
- development of inclusive practice. (Booth, Ainscow, 2002 p.7)
Creating an inclusive learning environment requires consideration of factors at all school levels: the real commitment and action of the school administration, the collective work of teachers of inclusive culture, the purposeful work of support teams, regular communication between teachers and parents, scheduled meetings to plan and assess the use of peer-centred teaching methods, parental involvement and support, the provision of an individual education plan for every special needs’ pupil and a competent teacher to adapt the curriculum and teaching methods (Rose, Tilstone, 2003; Higgins, MacArthur, Kelly, 2009; Coughlan, Lister, Seale, Scanlon, Weller, 2019; McConlogue, 2020; Allan, Jørgensen, 2021).
Teachers are the most important factors influencing how students succeed in school. Teacher competence has a crucial role in achieving positive outcomes in inclusion education (Hattie 2009; Hanushek 2014). However, there are concerns that an inclusive approach in educational institutions is difficult to implement and that teachers are not well prepared and do not receive sufficient support.
This is a major challenge for educators seeking to create an inclusive environment in schools or to teach inclusively in a particular classroom (Allan, 2012). Teachers, for example, claim that they do not have suitable working conditions to deal with visa-inclusive education (Kreitz-Sandberg, 2015), which can contribute to teacher overload and burnout. A link exists between the emotional intensity of teacher burnout and the emotional intensity of receiving public support (Fiorilli, Albanese, Gabola, Pepe, 2017). This indicates that schools should have not only a support system for students but also for teachers.
Successfully implementing inclusive education concept requires diverse competencies of teachers. The European Agency for Special Needs Education has formulated the guidelines for preparing teachers for an inclusive classroom in their practice. They specify an inclusive teacher profile with four core values and competences: assessing learner diversity, supporting all learners, collaboration between and within teams and personal professional development (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2012).
The signs showing the possibilities of a teacher meeting the diverse needs of students are positive experience with diversity and positive attitude concerning inclusive attitude (Saloviita, 2018) According to H. Savolainen, O.-P. Malinen and S. Schwab (2020) during pre-service teacher preparation, successful teaching experiences in an inclusive class may be a powerful way to improve efficacy and thereby shift the attitudes of prospective teachers in a more positive direction.
Currently, there is a growing demand for teachers support and professional development, which motivates teachers to participate in and develop inclusive schools and also enhancing their competence.
Full text available: Margevica-Grinberga, I., & Šūmane, I. (2021). THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FUTURE TEACHERS. SOCIETY. INTEGRATION. EDUCATION. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference, 1, 432-441. https://doi.org/10.17770/sie2021vol1.6352
