Variables affecting teachers’ intentions to include students with disabilities in regular primary schools in Bangladesh

This paper presents an overview of a study conducted to examine the influence of teacher attitudes, teacher efficacy and perceived school support on teachers’ intentions to include students with disabilities in government primary schools in a region of Bangladesh. All of the variables were conceptualized within the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The participants in the study were 1387 in-service teachers drawn from government primary schools located in urban, semi-urban and rural sectors of Dhaka. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that all three Theory of Planned Behaviour variables (teacher attitudes, teacher efficacy and perceived school support) explained 40% of the variance in teachers’ intentions to include students with a disability in regular classrooms. This paper describes the process for conceptualizing the variables, discusses the methodology and presents the outcomes concluding with implications for educational policy reform and practices in Bangladesh. Areas for further research are also identified.     

Interculturally trained Finnish teachers' conceptions of diversity and intercultural competence

As schools become increasingly multicultural, teachers need special sensitivity to recognize differences and intercultural competences to be able to support the personal and academic growth of diverse students. This paper introduces newly qualified teachers' conceptions of diversity and intercultural competence in a Finnish context. The teachers in the study graduated from a Masters of Education International Teacher Education Programme, which focuses on intercultural aspects of education and teachers' work. Data for this research were collected and analysed qualitatively by applying a phenomenographical research approach. On the basis of the data interpretation, three different diversity categories were formed: visible and invisible group level differences and individual differences. Conceptions of intercultural competence in educational contexts also formed three qualitatively different categories (1) an ethical orientation including values, interpersonal characteristics and basic orientation towards other people and the world; (2) efficiency orientation including organizational skills and ability to act in various roles and situations; and (3) pedagogical orientation including intercultural pedagogical competences.     

Students' dreams for the future and perspectives on resilience-building aspects of their lives: The view from East Greenland

This study explores how perspectives from students can increase knowledge of how teachers and school authority can support students in building up resilience as a response to social challenges in the community. A locally flexible methodology using structured drawings (including classroom observation), semi-structured interviews, and semantic coding and situated analyses in a case study in East Greenland provided the following results: The students' aspirations were mostly about getting an education and a job and becoming socially successful. The students' motivation for attending school and doing educational assignments often depended on the social interaction with their teachers, and the students requested more involvement in decision-making processes at school to create more meaningful educational practices. If schools are to support the processes of building resilience and motivation for education, schools should include students' perspectives and encourage students' agency by listening to what they have to say.     

Creation of culturally responsive classrooms: teachers’ conceptualization of a new rationale for cultural responsiveness and management of diversity in Hong Kong secondary schools

Presently, there are a growing number of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong schools. This article examines teachers’ views of the cross-cultural experience of ethnic minority students, their influence on the performance of these students, and how the diverse learning needs of these students are being addressed. Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 32 teachers from three secondary schools. This study shows that teachers struggle to conceptualize a new rationale for responding to cultural diversity. They develop a sense of intercultural sensitivity, promote cultural responsiveness to diversity, and strengthen the home–school connection. This article argues that, like students, teachers simultaneously engage in a cross-cultural process through which they learn the culture of ethnic minority students, relearn their own culture and reexamine the relevant rationale underlying cultural responsiveness. Finally, a framework for the creation of culturally responsive classrooms, based upon the teachers’ new rationale of cultural responsiveness, is proposed.     

You Have to Start from Scratch and You Need Someone by Your Side”: Perspectives of Parents and Teachers on Immigrant Students’ Adaptation to School

This article analyses the issue of immigrant students’ adaptation in Israeli schools, as perceived by their parents and teachers. The study integrates data from two qualitative, phenomenological studies: one explored immigrant parents’ perceptions of Israeli education and their children’s adaptation in school, while the other studied teachers’ perceptions of immigrant students’ education and their practices in the field. The data was gathered from in‐depth interviews with 17 parents and 20 teachers. The analysis yielded a list of themes related to parents’ and teachers’ views of the children’s adjustment, and their own roles in this process: their personal experiences in the field, the challenges and difficulties in interpersonal interactions between parents and teachers, and policy issues related to the educational integration of immigrant students. Findings emphasize the vital importance of parent‐teacher collaboration, clarification and better implementation of existing policy, and teachers’ qualifications for the successful educational integration of immigrant students.     

‘Situative cognition’: barrier to teaching across cultures

In an unsettled world, the migration of significant numbers of individuals across national and even continental boundaries has changed the demographics of many nations with profound effects on their schools. Frequently, teachers are confronted with classes characterized by ethnic and cultural diversity for which they are either underprepared or totally unprepared. Despite their dedication, teachers have been shaped by their own cultural upbringing, and there may be a disconnect between their cultural values and identities and those of the children in their transformed classrooms. This disconnect has been called ‘situative cognition’. The challenge for teacher educators, particularly in western nations, is to enable prospective teachers to understand the complexity of educational dynamics in diverse classrooms, to examine their own experiences with diverse groups especially regarding culture, race, ethnicity and social class, and to develop strategies for working proactively with students in their own increasingly diverse communities.     

Self-evaluation of assessment programs: a cross-case analysis

The goal of this article is to contribute to the validation of a self-evaluation method, which can be used by schools to evaluate the quality of their Competence Assessment Program (CAP). The outcomes of the self-evaluations of two schools are systematically compared: a novice school with little experience in competence-based education and assessment, and an innovative school with extensive experience. The self-evaluation was based on 12 quality criteria for CAPs, including both validity and reliability, and criteria stressing the importance of the formative function of assessment, such as meaningfulness and educational consequences. In each school, teachers, management and examination board participated. Results show that the two schools use different approaches to assure assessment quality. The innovative school seems to be more aware of its own strengths and weaknesses, to have a more positive attitude towards teachers, students, and educational innovations, and to explicitly involve stakeholders (i.e., teachers, students, and the work field) in their assessments. This school also had a more explicit vision of the goal of competence-based education and could design its assessments in accordance with these goals.     

(Re)Conceptualising inclusive education in New Zealand: listening to the hidden voices

This article explores the experiences of 14 students with severe and complex behaviour, their caregivers, and teachers/principals as the students transition from a disestablished residential school back to mainstream schools, with support from the Intensive Wraparound Service (IWS). Interviews were the primary source of data collection. Data were collated into 14 cases, and analysed using a general inductive approach. Two broad themes are addressed in the article: education and relationships/communication. The research found that the IWS is not living up to its rhetoric. Suggestions made for improvement are based on approaches that participants found worked for them.     

Participatory design in the project of virtual learning environment of histology

This present article describes a research on the development, under the approach of participatory design, a virtual teaching-learning of Histology in which students and teachers participated actively in all stages of development of the educational environment. We postulates that the development of virtual learning environment of Histology, through the Participatory Design approach, contributes to greater acceptance and use by students and that the adoption of virtual environment for teaching and learning by teachers is a determining factor of use by students.     

Enabling children’s deliberation in deliberative systems: schools as a mediating space

In recent years, there has been a growing scholarly interest in conceptualising schools beyond their educational functions, as sites and agents of democracy. Yet this interest is often underpinned by a narrow conception of democracy, focusing solely on schools’ public and social aspects. To capture the democratic potential of schools more fully, this article suggests adopting a deliberative systems approach, which conceptualises democracy as differentiated yet linked sites of democratic communications and views schools as one such site. Using this approach as a broader framework and drawing on the fieldwork conducted in two Japanese schools, this article identifies the condition under which schools can become a meaningful part of deliberative systems. It reveals that schools contribute to deliberative systems when they serve as a bridge between children’s everyday practices and deliberative actions in the public space. In light of the findings, this article suggests conceptualising schools as a ‘mediating space’.     

Examples of best practice: ‘All together we are the city’: a workshop developed by the Muslim Minority Education Project in Greece

There is a significant population of Muslim citizens in Greece, sometimes referred to as the Muslim minority, who live in the geographical region of Thrace. For many years, little attention was devoted to the educational needs of this group, and there was consequently a high percentage of school failure and early school leaving. The poorly functioning collaboration between the teachers of the majority and the teachers of the minority, weak communication between minority schools and mainstream schools and the lack of teacher‐training in intercultural education were key reasons for this. Recently, significant educational initiatives have taken place in the field of Muslim minority education within the framework of a broad educational project, entitled ‘The Muslim Minority Education Project’. The aims of the project are to improve the educational provision for students from this Muslim minority and to promote the principles and philosophy of intercultural education.     

Physically disabled pupils in mainstream schools

SUMMARY. In this article the author suggests that the most appropriate way to integrate physically disabled pupils into mainstream schools is on an individual basis as opposed to designating particular schools to take ail disabled pupils, or by building special units attached to mainstream schools. Several reasons are presented and discussed to support this point of view. It is suggested that there is a clear need in this field of ‘special education’ for adequate resourcing and advice to be made available to schools and teachers working with the disabled. This resourcing must be made available at local authority level. Some of the many problems encountered in mainstreaming on an individual basis are then highlighted. The author concludes that there are risks to be taken and that these must be accepted within the educational system     

The Social Studies—a Slogan or a Service

This article discusses the role that teacher educators can play in helping their students develop a fuller understanding of world history. Trends such as globalization have led to calls for increased teaching about the diverse cultures and peoples of the world. However, prospective teachers’ educational backgrounds have in most cases not adequately prepared them to teach world history effectively. The article begins with a discussion of the historical evolution of the course in world history; it then defines different approaches to this field, and concludes by providing suggestions for how teacher educators can help their students bring a true version of world history to their classrooms.     

Reconceptualising refugee education: exploring the diverse learning contexts of unaccompanied young refugees upon resettlement

Abstract

This article explores unaccompanied young refugees’ participation in various learning contexts beyond school. Drawing from a qualitative study based on interviews with unaccompanied young refugees, educators and social workers in Norway, the findings emphasise the need for a holistic approach to refugee education in and across contexts of learning. The refugees originate from countries where access to formal schooling was difficult or disrupted. Many of them have been exposed to traumatic events prior to arrival. As the educational and psychosocial needs of resettled refugees are diverse and complex, it is unlikely that schools are able to meet them all. Participation in diverse settings, activities and practices beyond school may expand young refugees’ opportunities for meaningful learning as well as promote their social inclusion. Facilitating access to adequate learning contexts, along with supporting their own commitment to succeed, is decisive for young refugees’ educational achievement, psychosocial adjustment and inclusion in society. The paper emphasises the need for reconceptualising refugee education as inclusive of diverse learning contexts in and outside of school. Enhanced collaboration between schools, local community organisations and wider society will facilitate and support resettling young refugees’ opportunities to achieve their fullest potential.     

Developing elementary school students’ intercultural competence through teacher-led tutoring action plans on intercultural education

The increasing cultural diversity in the current Spanish educational system has had dramatic consequences for school population demography and relationships between students in culturally diverse classrooms. In this context, the development of students’ intercultural competence can contribute to strengthening communication, as well as preventing misunderstandings and coexistence problems. In this study, the effects of a teacher-led intercultural tutoring action programme (TAP) on elementary students’ intercultural competence (IC) were assessed as a function of treatment condition and grade level. Participants were 187 third- to sixth-grade pupils (84% Spaniards and 16% immigrants) who were assigned randomly to treatment conditions (TAP versus comparison). After 20 weeks of programme implementation, the findings revealed that the TAP was successful. Conceptual intercultural competence was better achieved by fifth- to sixth-grade students, while IC skills and attitudes were significantly better developed by third- to fourth-grade students. Implications for teachers and counsellors/schools psychologists are discussed.     

Emotional school engagement among minority youth: the relevance of cultural identity,perceived discrimination,and perceived support

ABSTRACT

Minority student school dropout represents a challenging issue for educational systems in many countries. Notwithstanding minority families' overall high academic aspirations, there is a stable achievement gap between majority and minority students. Minority students who are emotionally engaged with their school tend to be psychologically and socioculturally better adapted to their country of residence and, as a result, report higher academic success. Therefore, emotional school engagement represents a relevant factor for integration into the host society. The goal of this paper is to investigate the interrelation between ethnic and national identity, perceived discrimination, and perceived support from parents, peers, and teachers with emotional school engagement. Results indicate that cultural capital within the family, cultural self-identification, and perceived support from peers and teachers play an important role for students’ emotional school engagement.     

Calling forth disability in the classroom

Disability theory discusses the interplay between impairment and disability as though they can be identified separately. More recently, scholars in the field have sought to move beyond the dichotomy to an interactional model. This article uses evidence from a longitudinal ethnographic case study to demonstrate how notions of interaction and relation need to be understood within context. Socio-cultural theory makes explicit a situated understanding of participation and experience and demonstrates how classroom environments ‘call forth’ disability. Findings reveal how classrooms as educational contexts mediate the experience of a student with a learning impairment. The evidence shows how a classroom draws on the wider regimes of competence at the institutional level to create particular experiences for students. The challenge for teachers and other support staff in schools is to reflect on and influence the dynamic of impairment/disability within their classroom and school context in order to support appropriate participation and learning.     

Le travail enseignant en lycée professionnel et ses paradoxes

The paradoxes in the work of teaching in French vocational education stem from the “symbolic closure” of these secondary schools. The latter, given the mass enrollment in general secondary schools, receive students marked by their failure in middle school. This has created a distance with the students' social and family environment and with firms, even though the latter are supposed to be the destination where these students are bound. The work of these teachers is strongly marked by “subjective ordeals” related to their subordinate position in the school system, to a concern for keeping peace in the schools and to doubts about integrating students in the world of work. Might the work of these teachers not lead paradoxically to reasserting the “weight of the educational form” by including therein actions that are supposed to help students “mature” and develop an “appropriate school identity”? In this case, the purpose of this work is the academic socialization and rehabilitation of young people as much as their vocational training as such.     

Intercultural policies and the contradictory views of teachers: the Roma in Catalonian schools

In this article, we examine the contradictions and lack of consistency between various levels of discourse relating to Roma educational policies. Policy-makers have claimed that political interventions would positively impact the progress of Roma. However, the results have been mixed. We argue here that teachers need to re-evaluate their roles as politically aware and culturally informed agents in order to guarantee social justice to a historically disadvantaged ethnic minority. Based on ethnographical fieldwork carried out over a two-year period with Spanish Roma children, both in schools and in their families, this study shows how intercultural policies have failed to impact the educational realities of Roma children.     

Making sense in conversations about learning disabilities

This article describes an integrative, multisystem clinical approach to the psychological and relational problems that develop around learning disabilities. Positioned in relationships with children, families, and schools, the therapist addresses the emotions, interpersonal conflicts, and problematic beliefs that contribute to problems. Using clinical skills to contain and relieve painful emotions, the therapist soothes "inflammation at the boundaries" of relationships among children, families, and schools, depolarizing conflicts within and between systems. Familiar with developmental and educational psychology and developmental neurobiology, the therapist makes this specialized knowledge intelligible to children, families, and teachers. This article describes two specific methods, the chart of strengths and weaknesses and the map of learning functions, which facilitate communication of specialized knowledge about children with learning disabilities. The therapist uses expert knowledge to help members of the treatment system transform blaming, helpless, or hopeless interpretations of the problem into more hopeful constructions, which support healthy development.