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Teachers Knowledge and

Attitude towards Inclusive


Education: Basis for an
Enhanced Professional
Development Program

Maria Lexie S. Intia


Student

Mrs. Grace Tomacder


Professor
Summary

The main purpose of this study was to investigate international school teachers

knowledge and attitude towards inclusion of students who have special educational

needs into mainstream classrooms in the Eastern Seaboard Region of Thailand. The

researcher used the descriptive survey method in the baseline data, which is to see the

general picture of the population and the nature of its existing condition. The respondents

were full time teachers employed in all four international schools in the Eastern Seaboard

Region of Thailand during the school year 2013-2014. The data gathering tool used was

an adapted questionnaire from the Modified Opinion Relative to integration of students

with Disabilities or MORID by Dapudong (2013). Based on the data results it reveals that

teachers have a moderate knowledge on inclusive education as a way of reducing

social discrimination and as integration of Special Educational needs students in

mainstream classroom while exhibited partial knowledge on inclusive education as a

system of education for all where there is a need to educate everyone irrespective of

race, creed, gender, and socio economic status. Over all the international school

teachers exhibited a moderate knowledge on the concept of inclusive education at the

international level.

CRITIQUE

Special education has received much positive attention in recent years and

continues to enjoy an examination of delivery models. While the issue of inclusion

continues to provide food for thought in the midst of this reflective process, it appears

that there is little debate as to whether it will survive as a core principle and preferred

goal in the continuum of programming options (Putnam, Spiegel, & Bruininks, 1995). What

is debatable is whether or not it is indeed in the best interest of all students, especially

those with emotional/behavioural problems and severe developmental delays. Also

questionable are the type and degree of supports required. Special education is not a

place but a process of individualizing service based on the needs of the student
(Hockenbury, Kauffman, & Hallahan, 2000). It can guide us well in ensuring that future

practice is made more effective. Teacher training, teacher support, appropriate

resources and additional research are required to assist with special education in

general. An additional challenge here appears to be the diversity in what is in the best

interests of the child and the growing demand for more services in a system that reports

to be generous as is. Perhaps this reflects more on the planning process for these children

and whether it truly is participatory in nature, resulting in mutual decisions. Besides what

is needed is the application of what has already been learned from research that special

educators do best by teaching and that energies should return to quality instruction and

move away from the system management that has dominated the special education

agenda in recent years (Kaufman, 1994; Zigmond, Jenkins, Fuchs, Deno, & Fuchs, 1995).

One area that may well provide direction with this process is planning for students with

severe emotional/behavioural needs. As recommended in Supporting Learning (2000),

that placement requires a careful planning of the needs of the child as well as the other

children and the ability of the regular classroom to balance this. Special education

introduces the difference between alternate programs and alternate sites. From the

experience of this writer, having established an alternate school and administered it for

three years, alternate sites is a complex way to meet a child's needs. At the same time,

programming for children with severe emotional/behavioural needs in the regular

classroom is also complex and not possible for all. Perhaps, the answer is in finding a

middle ground between the two extremes by focusing on diverse strategies, improved

instructional planning, and alternate programs based on individual needs. In examining

the gap between research and practice, Heward (2000) underscores this focus on

classroom approaches by stating, "While there is a significant gap between what is

relatively understood and what is poorly understood or not understood at all, the more

distressing gap may be between what research has discovered about teaching and

learning and what is practiced in the classroom" (p.38). An increased focus on what is

needed to prepare all teachers, special and general education, to enter the classroom

and support them appropriately once there might well be the true reform that is needed.
Conclusion

As we begin to understand the pragmatics of educational reform, it is clear that we are

as far from solutions as we have ever been. We must find a way to balance the values of

inclusion with the commitment to teaching individual students what they need to learn.

Future reform efforts that combine inclusive schooling with the additional resources and

specially trained personnel needed to achieve the individual educational goals of

students in whatever service option is appropriate, might achieve that elusive equilibrium.

Recommendation

Inclusive Education for those who have special learning needs are very ideal to eliminate

discrimination but there are still factors that need to be consider. To improve the existing

trends and practice of teaching, students with special needs and to address the special

educational needs of those children, it requires the efforts of parents, community

members, teachers, school principals, governmental agencies.

RERENCES

Andrews, J., & Lupart, J. (2000). The Inclusive Classroom. 2nd ed. Nelson Thomson

Learning, Scarborough, ON.

Kauffman, J.M. (1994). Places of Change: Special Education's power and identity in an

era of educational reform. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27(10). 610-618.

Heward, W.L. (2000). Exceptional Children. An Introduction to Special Education.

Prentice-Hall Inc. New Jersey.

Zigmond, N. P. (1996). Educating students with disabilities: The future of special

education. In J.W. Lloyd, E.J. Kameenui, & Chard, D. (Eds), Issues in Educating Students

with Disabilities. Mahwah, NJ: Lawerence Erlbaum.

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