ATTITUDES OF PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES TOWARDS INCLUSION

Christopoulou Foteini, Sarris Dimitrios, Papadimitropoulou Panagoula, Penelope Vlotinou

Abstract


The present research focused on investigating the attitudes of parents of children with disabilities regarding their children’s educational inclusion in general education. Also, the effect of certain demographic characteristics of the participants on their attitudes was investigated. 125 parents of children with disabilities attending primary education participated in this research, residing in Western Greece. The collection of research data was carried out using the questionnaire "Attitude Toward Inclusion/Mainstreaming Scale" (Leyser & Kirk, 2004-translated by Kokaridas et al., 2008). The statistical analysis of the data was done using the statistical package SPSS, version 26.0. A statistically significant relationship emerged between the variables parents’ attitudes, gender and parents' educational level. From the results of the research, emerged that the participants showed above-average positive attitudes regarding inclusion and that the mothers of children with disabilities had more positive attitudes towards inclusion, compared to the fathers. It also emerged that participants with a higher educational level were more positive towards the inclusion of their children with disabilities. The findings of this research are expected to contribute to the effective implementation and achievement of the concept of inclusive education.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter


Keywords


inclusive education, parents’ attitudes

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abu-Hamour, Β., & Muhaidat, Μ. (2014). Parents' attitudes towards inclusion of students with autism in Jordan. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 18(6), 567-579. DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2013.802026.

Ainscow, M. (2004). Developing Inclusive Education Systems: What Are the Levers for Change? Manchester: The University of Manchester.

Ainscow, M., & César, M. (2006). Inclusive education ten years after Salamanca: Setting the agenda. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 21(3), 231-238, DOI: 10.1007/BF03173412

Anderson, C. J. K., Klassen, R. M. & Georgiou, G. K. (2007). Inclusion in Australia, What Teachers Say They Need and What School Psychologists Can Offer. School Psychology International Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore), Vol. 28(2): 131–147.

Avramidis, E., & B. Norwich (2002). Teachers’ attitudes towards integration/inclusion: A review of the literature. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 17, 129–147.

Byrne, B. (2019). How inclusive is the right to inclusive education? An assessment of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ concluding observations. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 26, 301–318.

de Boer, A., Pijl, S. J., & Minnaert, A. (2010). Attitudes of parents towards inclusive education: A review of the literature. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 25(2), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856251003658694

de Boer, A., Pijl, S. J., Post, W., & Minnaert, A. (2012). Which variables relate to the attitudes of teachers, parents and peers towards students with special educational needs in regular education? Educational Studies, 38(4), 433–448. https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2011.643109

de Boer, A. A., & Munde, V. S. (2015). Parental Attitudes Toward the Inclusion of Children with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities in General Primary Education in the Netherlands. Journal of Special Education, 49(3), 179–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022466914554297

Dimitrova-Radojicic, D., & Chichevska-Jovanova, N. (2014). Parents attitude: Inclusive education of children with disability. International Journal of Cognitive Research in Science, Engineering and Education, 2(1), 13–18.

Elkins, J., van Kraayenoord, C. E., & Jobling, A. (2003). Parents’ attitudes to inclusion of their children with special needs. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 3(2), 122– 129. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.00005

Garner, P. (2009). Special Educational Needs. The Key Concepts. Routledge.

Gasteiger-Klicpera, B., Klicpera, C., Gebhardt, M., & Schwab, S. (2013). Attitudes and experiences of parents regarding inclusive and special school education for children with learning and intellectual disabilities. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 17(7), 663–681. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2012.706321

Greek Law 3699/2008, article 3- Special Education and Training of people with disabilities or with special educational needs. https://www.e-nomothesia.gr/kat-ekpaideuse/n-3699-2008.html

Gupta, P., & Buwade, J. (2013). Parental Attitude Towards The Inclusion Education For Their Disabled Children. Voice of Research.

Heyder, A., Südkamp, A., Steinmayr, R. (2020). How are teachers' attitudes toward inclusion related to the social-emotional school experiences of students with and without special educational needs? Learning and Individual Differences, Volume 77 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2019.101776.

Hilbert, D. (2014). Perceptions of Parents of Young Children with and without Disabilities Attending Inclusive Preschool Programs. Journal of Education and Learning. 3:4.

Jerome, S. K. (2017). An Analysis of Inclusion in the Field of Special Education. Retrieved from https://firescholars.seu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1065&context=honors

Kalyva, E., Georgiadi, M., & Tsakiris, V. (2007). Attitudes of Greek parents of primary school children without special educational needs to inclusion. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 22(3), 295–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856250701430869

Kokaridas, D., Vlachaki, G., Zournatzi, E., & Patsiaouras, A. (2008). Parental Attitudes Regarding Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Greek Education Settings, Electronic Journal for Inclusive Education, 2 (3).

Leyser, Y., & Kirk, R. (2004). Evaluating inclusion: An examination of parent views and factors influencing their perspectives. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 51(3), 271–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912042000259233

Mandell, D. S., & Salzer, M. S. (2007). Who joins support groups among parents of children with autism? Autism, 11(2), 111–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361307077506

Palmer, D. S., Fuller, K., Arora, T. & Nelson, M. (2001). “Taking Sides: Parent Views on Inclusion for Their Children with Severe Disabilities.” Exceptional Children, 67, 467– 484.

Paseka, A., & Schwab, S. (2019). Parents’ attitudes towards inclusive education and their perceptions of inclusive teaching practices and resources. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 00(00), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2019.1665232

Qvortrup, A., & Qvortrup, L. (2018). Inclusion: Dimensions of inclusion in education. International Journal of Inclusive Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2017.1412506

Rose, R., Shevlin, M., Twomey, M., & Zhao, Y. (2017). Gaining access to support for children with special educational needs in the early years in Ireland: parental perspectives. International Journal of Early Years Education, 25(4). https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2017.1321529

Ryndak D. L., Downing J. E., Jacqueline L. R., Morrison A. P. (1995). Parents' perceptions after inclusion of their children with moderate or severe disabilities. Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 20, 147–157.

Sailor, W. (1991). Special education in the restructured school. RASE: Remedial & Special Education, 12(6), 8–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/074193259101200604

Sarris, D., Riga, P, Zaragas, H. (2018). School teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education in Greece. European Journal of Special Education Research, 3(3), 182-194 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v0i0.1668.

Sarris, D. (2020). Learning Difficulties-Developmental Disorders. The role of children's planning and psychomotor skills of children with and without typical development. Athens: Pedio.

Sarris D., Christopoulou F., Zaragas H., Zakopoulou V., & Papadimitropoulou P. (2020). Self-efficacy of Special Education Teachers in Greece. European Journal of Education Studies, 7(4), 150-159. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3809401

Tafa, E., & Manolitsis, G. (2003). Attitudes of Greek parents of typically developing kindergarten children towards inclusive education. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 18(2), 155–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/0885625032000078952

Theoharis, G. (2007). Social justice educational leaders and resistance: Toward a theory of social justice leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43(2), 221-258. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161x06293717

UNESCO (1994), Final report — World conference on special needs education: Access and quality. Paris: UNESCO.

Vlachou, A., Karadimou, S., & Koutsogeorgou, E. (2016). Exploring the views and beliefs of parents of typically developing children about inclusion and inclusive education. Educational Research, 58(4), 384–399. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2016.1232918




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejse.v9i2.4749

Copyright © 2015 - 2023. European Journal of Special Education Research (ISSN 2501 - 2428) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing GroupAll rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms.

All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).