Inclusive Education: Public Opinion and Insiders' Experience

Inclusion is the principle of social policy, a topic of scholarly and public debate, and a social value fully or partly shared at different levels: in family, school, among colleagues, in society as a whole. Therefore, the study of school inclusion is carried out in the context of social reforms, taking into account public opinion and the attitudes of participants in the educational process at the micro level of everyday life. The use of quantitative and qualitative data allow integrating important perspectives to understand the new and interesting phenomenon of the inclusive school. A survey among the participants of the educational process showed that the attitude to the inclusive education of children with disabilities with other children differs between teachers and parents. For the most part, both teachers and parents speak positively, but this assessment is still more common among parents. Teachers talk about the negative sides of co-education twice as often as parents, and the majority of respondents (both teachers and parents) point out the positive sides. The majority of the surveyed seventh-graders express positive attitudes towards inclusive education, but still there is a significant proportion of those who point out that not all children can and should study in a regular school. At the same time, the students note that schools, for the most part, are not suitable for children with various disabilities. The organizational culture of the school acts as a system of interrelated value-symbolic and behavioral elements; these are visible evidence, espoused values and basic assumptions. According to the analysis of qualitative interviews, the organizational culture of inclusive schools is evident not only in the availability of schools for children with various characteristics, but mainly in the fact that the participants are in solidarity and share the values of inclusion. At the same time, kids are included in extra-curricular activities, and mutual support and participation by default become characteristics of everyday life of individuals and groups. The values of cohesion in an inclusive school also extend to interactions between teachers and parents (guardians). Partnership relations themselves are a value in the system of inclusive culture and act as a bridge that unites and allows reaching a consensus among the educational process participants on the inclusion of different children. The authors conclude that inclusive processes in education today must be supported not only by technological development, but also by the formation of positive attitudes in the culture of society as a whole.

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