| Description of good practice: |
A study has been conducted on inclusive education in Bangladesh by using group interviews on teachers. The interviewer has got a remarkable finding by conducting this research which is discussed below.
Thematic analysis of the interview data found that the teachers’ were having some dilemma in their views– they were simultaneously sceptical about the success of full inclusion, yet supportive of inclusion from social and professional perspectives. The participants candidly admitted a sense of professional inability to implement inclusive practices successfully with the currently available facilities in the school. At the same time, they supported inclusion on the basis of social responsibility and empathy towards children with disability and professional obligation to implement IE. Underpinning factors inseparable from teachers’ views towards inclusion were: the lack of support from the school community, extremely limited resources, inadequate teacher training, insufficient class time, parental non-cooperation, and disability-unfriendly school environments.
The data related to teachers’ views towards inclusion signify that teachers were cognizant of their system-related inability to address the needs of an IE classroom. Yet they were, simultaneously, emotionally motivated to support the inclusion process, to contribute to the local community and society and they held a highly professional sense of the need to carry out the order of the Education Department to ensure the agenda of enrolling all school-aged children, including those with disabilities. This finding is supported by international studies (e.g. Koutrouba, Vamvakari, & Theodoropoulos, 2008; Nilholm, 2006) which indicate that, in spite of having low levels of teaching confidence and expertise in special education needs, the majority of teachers are keen to support the principles of IE and demonstrate favourable attitudes towards inclusion of students with disabilities, from inherently humanitarian ideals. The views of the teachers in Bangladesh towards inclusion of students with disabilities in their classrooms might be interpreted from the philosophical viewpoint of Barton (1997) that ‘[inclusive] educational issues are complex and contentious often involving passionately held beliefs and values’ (p. 231).
However, findings related to the factors behind teachers’ views imply that a number of issues (i.e., lack of support from the school community, extremely limited resources, inadequate teacher training, insufficient class time, parental non-cooperation, and disability-unfriendly school infrastructure) impede teachers’ intentions towards inclusion. This finding is consistent with a study by Koutrouba, Vamvakari, and Steliou (2006), which suggests that successful implementation of IE in schools, depends mainly on the willingness of teachers and factors such as infrastructural adequacy, prejudice and skills in addressing special needs. Similar views were evident in another study (i.e., Rakap & Kaczmarek, 2010), which
suggests that ‘more conducive classroom environments and more personnel and material support’ might make teachers’ approaches more favorable toward inclusion.
In light of the findings of the study, stakeholders of IE in Bangladesh (including PEDP3) would be well advised to ensure teachers perceive they are (adequately) supported by their school community, including colleagues, school principal, parents of all students and school management committee, as such perception improves their teaching efficacy and positive attitudes towards inclusion (Ahmmed et al., 2012, 2013). Therefore, teacher-training programs for IE under PEDP3 should consider creating a culture of collaboration among members of the broader school community to secure teachers’ successful implementation of IE. International research (e.g., Deppeler, 2012; Loreman, 2007) supports such collaboration as an effective means of improving teachers’ professional skills. Teacher educators should develop ‘evidence-based inclusive pedagogies for preparing teachers to become effective inclusive educators’ (Forlin, 2010, p. 649, emphasis added). For this, further study is warranted to determine a suitable model and to assess the effectiveness of such intervention in the Bangladesh context. From these findings, it can be argued that PEDP3 needs to provide resources, both human (e.g. teacher aids, special need teachers) and material (e.g., teaching curriculum, special needs equipment, infrastructural) within Bangladesh’s logistic, cultural and economic limitations. Experience from two studies in the Asian context (i.e., Alur, 2007; Kalyanpur, 2011) provide encouragement in this regard. Alur, referring to India, argued that inclusion can be achieved with limited resources, provided that 'there is a commitment to do so and a continuum of support given in the right spirit’ . Kalyanpur also emphasized the ‘effort to identify or utilize local, low-cost resources’ to implement IE in developing countries such as Cambodia. These studies provide an optimistic response to earlier studies, which focused on teachers’ scepticism about the success of full inclusion, given their lack of resources and negative attitudes of major stakeholders.
This study’s findings showed that one of the significant issues that concerned the participants was that the school management committee (SMC) did not stand behind teachers when a request for support involved local funding. In order to ensure support from the school community, PEDP3 should empower schools’ leadership by delegation of authority. Ainscow and Sandill (2010) advise sanctioning school level leadership to ensure effective community involvement for IE enactment. However, to fully understand the (non-supportive) attitudes of SMCs and consequences of jurisdictions of school leadership, further in-depth study is required.
Findings about the uncooperative attitude of some parents from poor backgrounds who have children with disabilities need attention from educational policy makers and development partners (e.g., World Bank, ADP, and UNESCO). Poverty and education of children with disabilities in developing countries is a chronic issue discussed in many studies (e.g., Elwan, 1999; Miles, Fefoame, Mulligan, & Haque, 2012; Rousso, 2003). However, the recent success story of a ‘food for education’ program in Bangladesh that increased student’s enrolment in primary schools (Sukontamarn, 2013) indicates that a reasonable incentive, both for the family and the school, might encourage attendance by children with disabilities. This issue needs further investigation to understand the actual causes of the lack of cooperation from parents with a child/children with disabilities.
The results show that noticeable variations among issues raised at the differently located GIs were mainly the cooperation of the parents with child/children with a disability and class duration. Specifically, participants from the urban and one rural sub-district perceived that the majority of the parents of children with disabilities with disadvantaged economic backgrounds did not support the education for their children. Participants of one rural sub-district expressed that some parents of a child/ children without a disability showed concern about their children sitting next to a student with a disability in a classroom. The study also found that almost half of the participants across the GIs, except the urban sub-district, considered their current class duration of insufficient length for adequate employment of IE practices.
Given the findings of this study and the other studies discussed above, the stakeholders of PEDP3 are recommended to undertake effective measures to:
• ensure adequate support from the school community for classroom teachers,
• provide needs-based instructional and human resources,
• provide appropriate and needs-based teacher training,
• revise the teaching curriculum,
• extend class time, and
• make the school and classroom environment IE friendly.
In doing the above, it is essential ‘to contextualise models of support’, considering the children’s and teachers’ needs and the availability of resources, and to follow a well-informed plan (Rose & Coles, 2002). Since Bangladesh is a developing country with limited resources, it must maximize the utility of available resources. For example, it might be economically viable, sustainable and useful if parents of students with a disability undertake the role of teacher aide and schools recruit at least one special needs specialist/ coordinator in each sub-district to ‘provide professional guidance and support for
the regular class teacher’. Despite the effectiveness of this kind of professional support in many countries, it requires considerable investigation for contextual applicability (Rose & Forlin, 2010). Therefore, a longitudinal study is warranted to determine the ingredients, events and causes that might positively impact on teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, involving both teachers and students as participants.
There are a number of limitations to this study. The findings were drawn only from group interviews which might not give a complete or factual reflection of the situation. Moreover, the participants were selected only from four sub-districts in Dhaka Division which did not cover the full diversity of the country, such as the tribal population, hill districts, or coastal and islands regions. Readers are, therefore, advised to consider these limitations when drawing on the findings of this study. To understand the differences of the views towards inclusion and the underpinning factors, further study with larger samples across more divisions of Bangladesh is required.
To conclude, certainly IE can be an effective approach if implemented efficiently. Harvesting benefit from this approach needs a steady vision, a pragmatic mission, a context based approach and remedial measures, otherwise it is easy to ‘lose’ and ‘give up in the face of adversity and opposition’. It is a great advantage that Bangladeshi teachers are emotionally motivated and professionally committed to support inclusive education, despite adversity in the form of scarcity of support and unfavourable circumstances. |
