Challenges of inclusion of children with disabilities in primary schools from the perspective of pedagogues

Tema rada su izazovi inkluzivnog obrazovanja učenika s teškoćama u redovitim osnovnoškolskim ustanovama. S obzirom na to da su se dosadašnja istraživanja ovom temom bavila uglavnom iz perspektive učitelja, cilj ovog istraživanja jest stjecanje uvida u izazove inkluzivnog obrazovanja iz perspektive osnovnoškolskih pedagoga. U istraživanju je korištena kvalitativna metodologija te se prikupljanje podataka vršilo putem polustrukturiranog intervjua provedenog s 10 pedagoga iz osnovnih škola Osječko-baranjske županije. Rezultati istraživanja su pokazali da pedagozi percipiraju različite izazove inkluzivnome obrazovanju djece s teškoćama u njihovim školama: prostori škola samo su djelomično prilagođeni potrebama učenika, inkluzivna kultura škole i dalje nije u potpunosti ostvarena, dok kurikulum često ne pruža dovoljno smjernica za rad s učenicima s teškoćama te ne ostavlja dovoljno vremena i prostora za osmišljavanje sadržaja i metoda rada za učenike s teškoćama. Nadalje, rezultati su pokazali kako se izazovi javljaju i prilikom pružanja specifične podrške učenicima s teškoćama, ponajviše u osiguravanju pomoćnika u nastavi, ali i da je suradnja između roditelja učenika s teškoćama te osoblja odgojno-obrazovne ustanove većinom dobra, no kao izazov se najčešće javlja roditeljsko neprihvaćanje da je njihovo dijete po nečem drugačije od vršnjaka, što može rezultirati negativnim obrazovnim ishodom za učenika. Konačno, rezultati su pokazali i kako pedagozi pridaju veliku važnost suradnji s lokalnom zajednicom u kontekstu inkluzivnog obrazovanja, jer na taj način mogu doći do nekih novih saznanja i informacija koje im mogu pomoći u osmišljavanju plana i programa za učenike s teškoćama, posebice jer ponekad samo kroz takav oblik suradnje mogu dobiti mišljenje stručnjaka edukacijsko-rehabilitacijskog profila kojeg u školi uglavnom nemaju.The topic of this thesis are the challenges of inclusive education of students with disabilities in primary schools. Given that previous research has dealt with this topic mainly from the perspective of teachers, the aim of this research is to gain insight into the challenges of inclusive education from the perspective of primary school pedagogues. The research used qualitative methodology and data was collected by semistructured interviews conducted with 10 primary school pedagogues in Osijek-Baranja County. The results of the research showed that pedagogues perceive different challenges to inclusive education of children with disabilities in their schools: school spaces are only partially adapted to the needs of students, inclusive school culture is still not fully realized, while the curriculum often does not provide sufficient guidelines for working with students with disabilities and does not leave enough time and space to design content and methods for working with students with disabilities. Furthermore, the results showed that challenges arise in providing specific support to students with disabilities, especially in providing teaching assistants, but also that cooperation between parents of students with disabilities and educational staff is mostly good, but the most common challenge is parental non-acceptance that their child is in some way different from peers, which can result in negative educational outcomes for the student. Finally, the results showed that pedagogues attach great importance to working with the local community in the context of inclusive education, because in this way they can gain new knowledge and information that can help them design curricula for students with disabilities, especially because sometimes only through such a form of cooperation they can get the opinion of experts in education and rehabilitation, which they generally do not have in schools