Dissertation committee:
Ντεροπούλου-Ντέρου Ευδοξία, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τ.Ε.Α.Π.Η., Ε.Κ.Π.Α., Επιβλέπουσα
Σφυρόερα Μαρία, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τ. Ε. Α. Π.Η., Ε.Κ.Π.Α., μέλος
Τσάφος βασίλειος, Aναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τ. Ε. Α. Π.Η., Ε.Κ.Π.Α., μέλος
Παπαδοπούλου Καλλιρόη, Επίκουρη καθηγήτρια Τ.Ε.Α.Π.Η.-Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Βλάχου Αναστασία, Καθηγήτρια, Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα Ειδικής Αγωγής,
Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας
Φύσσα Αριστέα, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Επιστημών της Εκπαίδευσης και Αγωγής στην Προσχολική Ηλικία, Πανεπιστήμιο Πατρών
Μπονώτη Φωτεινή, Καθηγήτρια, Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα Προσχολικής
Εκπαίδευσης, Σχολή Ανθρωπιστικών και Κοινωνικών Επιστημών Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας
Summary:
The institutional texts and international declarations of the United Nations (UNESCO, 2007) and the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 (European Commission, 2013) aim at defining an educational policy that promotes social justice and the creation of equal opportunities for the participation, learning and education for all students, including those with disabilities as inalienable right and fundamental principle of human rights. According to international bibliography, the implementation of Individualised Educational Programme (IEP), closely related to the education of children with disability, includes all those processes and practices that can provide the appropriate education within the school context and the necessary support services in and out of school that are delivered by the state. More and more countries, recognising the importance of its employment for the development of those students, have authorised its implementation. However, the current institutional arrangements, the way the student is approached and taught during (IEP) implementation, raise questions as it can lead to segregation and exclusion of these students rather than act as a means of promoting inclusive practices. Therefore, the present study, recognising the importance of implementing (IEP), in the light of inclusive education, adopts the principles and practices of inclusive philosophy, of differentiated educational approach and personalised learning, which all place students in the centre of the educational process and approach them holistically in order to examine the way (IEP) can be implemented and its role in the promotion of inclusion.
The aim of the research is, on the one hand, to capture the present situation concerning the context in which (IEP) is implemented in the education of nursery school students with disabilities in Greece, through investigating the institutional framework and the adopted educational practices and processes, and on the other, to use action research to bring forth the resulting challenges from implementing (IEP) and the ensuing prospects for promoting inclusion and social justice. The questions of the research that answer these objectives concern the following: a) all the research participants comprehend the meaning of (IEP) equally, b) the adopted practices (interdisciplinary/multileveled cooperation, teaching differentiation, evaluation processes, the various roles of everyone involved, nursery school students and parents) during the design and implementation of (IEP), c) the evaluation of the education policy concerning IEP and d) the emerging challenges and prospects.
It is a descriptive education research into the existing views and practices that uses mixed methods in its methodology (mixed method designs), as it adopts methods and research tools from both qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches in order to holistically attempt the subject, the triangulation of the data and the production of valid and reliable findings. However, emphasis is placed on a qualitative methodological approach.
The research was carried out in two stages. In the first stage (01.05.2016-30.06.2017) the survey research was conducted, and in the second stage (01.07.2017- 30.10 2018) the action research, which was implemented in an inclusion classroom during the previously mentioned academic year.
The combinational data that were used came from a) a research into views and practices (1st stage) through semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation in order to identify topics relevant to the research objective which are further examined in more detail from a larger sample, b) a survey research (1st stage) through electronic questionnaires that combine closed and open kind of questions and Likert rating scales for collecting nationwide data from a large sample, and c) educational action research (2nd stage) of cooperative and participatory character that combines theory and practice and promotes reflection in order to implement new and enhanced practices and processes for the implementation of IEP, aiming at changing identified problematical situations. The research tools used in the action research were semi-structured interviews, questionnaires of open-ended and closed-ended questions, audio-visual material, such as photographs, visualised sheets containing predefined topics and fields for adding new data, videotaping, observation under certain protocols and log books, evaluation tools of educational intervention from critical friends, personal visualised sheets for self-evaluation and hetero-evaluation and weekly plans of educational planning for nursery school students, and evaluation forms for the activities and the way nursery school students worked.
The research follows processes of qualitative data analysis for all its findings, such as codification, classification, content analysis and thematic analysis, moreover, in order to analyse the collected data from the questionnaires descriptive statistics were used. The research complied with all matters concerning the research code of ethics, whereas the validity and reliability of the research were also ensured.
The people who participated in the researches were: a) in the opinion research, interviews were taken from a representative of the Hellenic ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, from all personnel of the diagnostic centres of K.E.D.D.Y. in Greece, the School Counsellors of pre-school Special Education in Greece, special education teachers from the schools where the observations were conducted, special education schools and T.E. in Greece where the observations were conducted, b) in the survey research, questionnaires were used with the personnel of all diagnostic centres of K.E.D.D.Y., in Greece, from School Counsellors of pre-school Special Education, in Greece, c) In the action research, nursery school teachers of general and special education from the school where the intervention was realised, the researcher, five critical friends, nursery school students with and without special needs from the chosen school, parents of students with and without special needs, diagnostic centres of KE.D.D.Y. from the area the nursery school students come from and where the action research was conducted.
The findings of the research illustrate, on the one hand, that there is a distinct difference in the number of IEP designed for nursery school students with disability and ranges from total absence to a limited number intended for cases of nursery school students with serious disabilities, and on the other, the implemented practices, which often acquire fragmented and segregating character that contrasts with the statements of the participants, and demonstrates an unclear interpretation of inclusion philosophies and what constitutes personalised, differentiated learning. IEP seems to have become a statutory administrative document of an institutionalised declarative necessitated by the law for the provision of special education that contradicts the interdisciplinary, co-operative and student-centred character of IEP.
The roles of the people involved are more distinct and segregating than equal and cooperative, while the valuation processes during the implementation of IEP contrast with its interdisciplinary and holistic character, as well as with the validity of the assessment process of nursery school students with disability.
The findings show multileveled challenges that concern the organisation and operation of schools and special schools nowadays, the educational policies and legislation, the educational practices, the family and its communication with the school, and the cooperative practices and the nature of the disability, demonstrating as such the complexity of implementing IEP practices within an inclusive education philosophy and its existing structure and operation. However, what emerge are prospects for changes and reformations in the school resulting from a shared objective of everyone involved, the politicians, the educational community and the society.
