Scholarly record

RUSSIAN SCHOOL TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE TOWADS INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: REGIONAL ASPECT

E. Grunt

Abstract

The practice of inclusive education gets increasingly obvious in gains more support and interest in education system in Russia as well as all the world over. There is a distinctly declared agreement in the world that all children have the right to education regardless of their race, gender, nationality, disability, etc. In this regard, the emergence of a system of inclusive education is, on the one hand, an important step towards the elimination of discrimination against healthy children and children with disabilities, and on the other hand, entails numerous issues for teachers, children and their parents. Meanwhile, inclusive education is recognized by the entire international community as the most humane and effective. The trend of developing inclusive education is also becoming one of the main directions in Russian educational policy. The major research objectives were to study the attitude of teachers towards inclusive education, to identify the advantages, disadvantages and issues of its realization. Methodology: The research methodology combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The primary data was collected using questionnaires and focus-groups. 1800 teachers of schools in the Sverdlovsk region were questioned on the basis of quota sampling. Focus-groups (5) were organized for the teachers engaged in the system of inclusive education on a regular basis. The focus-groups were conducted in order to identify key issues of inclusive education. Findings and discussion: The study has revealed that all the advantages of the inclusive education are mainly related to the education of children with disabilities. As for children without HIA (Health Impact Assessment), inclusive education is likely to have a negative impact on their education. Only 6.7% of teachers noted that it positively affects the education of children without abnormalities in health. The research has investigated that the realization of inclusive education in the majority of educational organizations of the region is rather difficult for the following reasons. Firstly, inadequate fulfilment of teachers’ functions for its realization and development of children with HIA (Health Impact Assessment) and disabled children due to a lack of experience, knowledge, skills. Secondly, a lack of conditions for its realization in a number of schools in the region. Thirdly, a lack of proper interaction between teachers and parents. Fourthly, a lack of teachers and narrow-profile specialists. The study has elucidated that the majority of teachers are in need of further training in inclusive education. This is one of the issues of its successful realization.

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