Abstract
The present paper constitutes a literature review research, discussing issues of inclusion of individuals with disabilities. Inclusive education refers to the appropriate response to the diversity of students with disabilities, addressing their Special Educational Needs (SEN) as equal members and as stakeholders of the culture of the school learning community. These inclusive educational environments both influence and are subject to the dispositions of their addressees. The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of the recipients of inclusive education towards the inclusion of preschoolers, of primary school aged students and of adolescents with disabilities. For this reason, the thirty (30) most recent (2000-2015) relevant empirical studies, at European and international level, are reviewed, investigating the related attitudes of Typically Developing (TD) children and of parents of children with and without SEN. Regardless of the student age, it is observed that parents of TD children and of children with mild SEN express conflicting relative attitudes. Moreover, parents of children with moderate and/ or severe disabilities and TD children by majority assess the present issue in a positive and in a negative way, respectively. Generally, an effect of demographic, socio-cultural and socio-economical parameters in the attitudes of the surveyed is noted. Several reasonable parental doubts are depicted, influencing the associated student views. In conclusion, the integration of students with SEN in mainstream educational settings is a field of expression of various and multifactorial attitudes. Lastly, the methodological limitations of the studies reviewed and future research proposals are set out.
Author Information
Georgios Moutsinas, Primary School of Dafnoula, Greece
Paper Information
Conference: IICEHawaii2016
Stream: Special Education, Learning Difficulties, Disability
This paper is part of the IICEHawaii2016 Conference Proceedings (View)
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