Teachers and Teaching Assistants as Quality Factors in the Implementation of Inclusive Education

Odgojno-obrazovna inkluzija je prisutna u svakom odgojno-obrazovnom sustavu te je iz toga razloga treba konstantno istraživati. Ovo se istraživanje baziralo na ključnim čimbenicima kvalitete inkluzivnog odgoja i obrazovanja – pomoćnicima u nastavi i učiteljima. Analizirala su se stajališta i percepcije pomoćnika u nastavi i učitelja o odgojno-obrazovnoj inkluziji, odnos njihovog inicijalnog obrazovanja i postojećih kompetencija, njihov međusobni odnos, a navedena su se stajališta i usporedila. Rezultati ovog istraživanja su zadovoljavajući jer ukazuju kako pomoćnici u nastavi i učitelji imaju pozitivan odnos prema inkluzivnom odgoju i obrazovanju. Podupiru i promiču socijalizaciju učenika s posebnim obrazovnim potrebama, olakšavaju učeniku usvajanje i učenje gradiva te su svi ispitanici svjesni svojih uloga koje obavljaju unutar odgojno-obrazovne inkluzije. Ispitanici isto tako navode kako je njihov međusoban odnos i više nego kvalitetan. No, ovo je istraživanje također ukazalo na određene probleme koji se javljaju u inkluzivnom odgoju i obrazovanju. Prvi je nedostatak suradnje pomoćnika u nastavi i učitelja sa ostalim sudionicima odgojno-obrazovne inkluzije. Isto tako se javljaju zabrinjavajući rezultati po pitanju percepcije učitelja o njihovoj obrazovnoj spremnosti za rad s učenicima s posebnim obrazovnim potrebama iako su educirani o istome. Zaključno, ovo je istraživanje dokazalo pozitivnu i optimističnu sliku inkluzivnog odgoja i obrazovanja. Ključni čimbenici navedene inkluzije su svjesni da su upravo oni glavni faktori u njezinoj provedbi te sukladno tome ostvaruju i provode svoj odgojno-obrazovni inkluzivni rad.Inclusive education is present in every educational system and should be therefore constantly researched. This research was based on key factors of quality of inclusive education – teaching assistants and teachers. Attitudes and perceptions of teaching assistants and teachers about inclusive education, relationship between their initial education and existing competencies and their mutual relationship were analysed, and mentioned attitudes were compared. The results of this research are satisfactory as they indicate that teaching assistants and teachers have positive attitude towards inclusive education. They support and promote socialization of students with special educational needs, help them with the learning material, and all respondents are aware of the roles that they perform within inclusive education. Respondents also state that their mutual relationship is of high-quality. But this research also pointed to certain problems that arise in inclusive education. The first one is lack of cooperation between teaching assistant and teachers with other participants of inclusive education. There are also worrying results regarding teachers’ perceptions of their educational readiness to work with students with special educational needs even though they are educated about it. To conclude, this research proved positive and optimistic picture of inclusive education. The key factors are aware that they are the main factors in its implementation, and accordingly, they fulfil their roles and implement their work in inclusive education