A Pilot Study of Factors Affecting the Process of Integration in Greek Nursery Schools

Autor/inn/en	Barbas, Giorgos; Birbili, Maria; Stagiopoulos, Petros; Tzivinikou, Sotiria
Titel	A Pilot Study of Factors Affecting the Process of Integration in Greek Nursery Schools
Quelle	In: European Journal of Special Needs Education, 21 (2006) 2, S.217-226 (10 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0885-6257
Schlagwörter	Educational Policy; Foreign Countries; Nursery Schools; Special Needs Students; Inclusive Schools; Learning Processes; Hypothesis Testing; Teacher Attitudes; Teaching Methods; Student Attitudes; Greece + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Ausland; Nursery school; Kindertagesstätte; Kindergarten; Vorschule; Sonderpädagogischer Förderbedarf; Inclusive school; Integrative Schule; Learning process; Lernprozess; Hypothesenprüfung; Hypothesentest; Lehrerverhalten; Teaching method; Lehrmethode; Unterrichtsmethode; Schülerverhalten; Griechenland
Abstract	In the past ten years, the issue of inclusion has proved one of the biggest challenges facing special needs education planners and policy-makers in developed countries. Greek educational policy has given emphasis on two points: (a) the development of new organizational structures (i.e. resource rooms, support teachers), and (b) the implementation of administrative regulations that enable mainstreaming special and ordinary education into a unified educational system (inclusion). In doing so, the content of the curriculum and the pedagogical characteristics of the educational environment were ignored. This paper reports the results of a pilot study that aimed to explore the pedagogical aspects of inclusion and integration as implemented in Greek nursery schools. More specifically, the study investigated the way special needs children participate in the learning process and their relationship with the other members of the classroom. The following hypothesis guided the study: the process of school integration of a special needs child is regulated by (a) the degree and the quality of his/her participation in the learning process, and (b) the pupil's ability to comply with the main rules of the classroom. Data were gathered from two special needs children, their teachers and their parents through observations and interviews. Research findings seemed to reinforce the two criteria of the research hypothesis. As observation revealed, children's actions diverged from the desired joint activity. According to research in social groups, this diversion influences the meaning classroom members attribute to "differences" and causes a negative effect on children's membership of the group. At the same time, the study points out crucial dimensions of the above criteria, particularly as regards the attitude of nursery teachers and of the other pupils towards children with special needs, an issue that needs to be further explored. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10