ATITUDES OF ISRAELI AND SLOVAK STUDENT – TEACHER TOWARDS THE INCLUSION OF STUDENTD WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN MAINSTREAM EDUCATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Tsafi TIMOR1
Jana HARTANSKA2

1The Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology &The Arts, Tel-Aviv, Israel
2Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Faculty of Arts, Slovak Republic

Recived: 16.11.2013
Accepted: 05.01.2014
Review article

Citation: Timor T, Hartanska J. Atitudes of Israeli And Slovak Student – Teacher Towards the Inclusion of Studentd with Special Needs in Mainstream Education: a Comparative Study. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(1-2):7-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/JSER-2014-0001

Abstract

The goal of this study was to explore the similarities and differences in the attitudes of two groups of student-teachers from different cultures: a group of Israelis and a group of Slovaks.The two groups were divided into pairs who carried out an e-mail correspondence on the topic The Inclusion of Students with Special Needs in Mainstream Education. The content analysis of the posts addressed three categories: Theoretical and practical knowledge of special needs, Attitudes towards special needs and inclusion, Strategies for coping with differences in heterogeneous classes. The findings yielded a similarity in the positive attitudes towards inclusion between the two groups. However, the groups differed in their theoretical and practical knowledge because the Slovak group had limited teaching experience and no academic courses on inclusive education. The findings break the existing link between academic courses/teaching experience, and positive attitudes towards inclusion, and suggest a different way of thinking. They also highlight the need to explore conceptual differences between cultures.

Keywords: inclusive education, special needs, heterogeneous classes, student-teachers, attitudes

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THE METHOD OF TEACHING AND EXAMINATION FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS: THE SYSTEM IN INDIA AND JAPAN

Ritwika LASKAR
Department of Education
Alipurduar Mahila Mahavidyalaya
West Bengal, India

Received: 30.05.2014
Accepted: 14.08.2014
Original article

Citation: Laskar R. The Method of Teaching and Examination for Individuals with Visual Impairments: The System in India and Japan. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):111-127. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/JSER-2014-0014

Abstract

Introduction: Education of children with special needs is an important field of study. Children with special needs deserve to be educated like any other human being. Over the years, several provisions have been made and laws have been passed to ensure education of children with special needs. A visually impaired child’s needs and goals for learning are not different from that of his sighted peers. Only the means of achieving those goals are different.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalent method of teaching and the system of examination for students with Visual Impairment studying in the special schools for the blind in India and Japan.
Methodology: The study was delimited to i) blind students only and ii) the special schools for the blind in Kolkata and Tokyo. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 50 teachers (25 each from the special schools for the blind in Kolkata and Tokyo). The researcher interviewed the teachers. Semi–structured information schedules were used to collect data and the data were analyzed only qualitatively.
Findings: The method of teaching the blind students was similar in both Kolkata and Tokyo. Differences were observed mainly in the type of teaching equipments used. Regarding the system of examination, differences were observed within the special schools in Kolkata. In Tokyo, however, all the special schools followed a uniform system. The study revealed that in Kolkata a strict pass/fail criterion existed. In Tokyo, on the other hand, there was no strict pass/fail criterion.
Conclusion: This study is important because not many comparative studies have been done between India and Japan. Most of the comparative research work is either between Japan and the U.S.A or between Japan and the U.K. This study was conducted mainly to find out the differences between a Developing and a Developed nation. Being a developed country, it is always assumed that there will be a lot to learn from Japan. Through this research study an attempt has been made to find out whether this assumption is true and if it is true then, to what extent the system can be implemented and practiced in the Indian scenario.

Keywords: Method of teaching, system of exa¬mi¬nation, special schools for the blind, Kolkata, Tokyo

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New citations to articles in Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation's profile

Dear readers,
There is new citation of JSER articles into: 

Animal Assisted Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

TN Davis, R Scalzo, E Butler, M Stauffer, YN Farah… - Education and Training in …, 2015

Abstract Animal assisted intervention (AAI), which has been defined as the use of an animal
to provide therapeutic benefit based on a positive relationship between the client and the
animal, is a therapy option for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); therefore, it is ...

They cited this one JSER article:
The effects of equine-assisted therapy in improving the psycho-social functioning of children with autism
H MEMISEVIC, S HODZIC - Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation, 2010.

JSER editor-in-chief

THE ROLE OF SUPPORT GROUPS IN THE COOPERATION BETWEEN PARENTS OF PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND PROFESSIONAL STAFF

Metka NOVAK
Majda KONCAR
University of Ljubljana,
Faculty of Education
Slovenia

Received: 30.01.2014
Accepted: 30.06.2014
Original article

Citation: Novak M, Koncar M. The Role of Support Groups in the Cooperation Between Parents of People with Intellectual Disabilities and Professional Staff. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):95-110. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/JSER-2014-0013

Abstract

Introduction: One of the ways of building and developing a better cooperative relationship between parents of people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities and professional staff is the inclusion of parents in support groups for parents and staff in support groups for staff.

Goal: To examine the correlation of the level of cooperative relationship between the parents of people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities and professional staff with the inclusion of parents in support groups for parents and staff in support groups for staff.
Methodology: Respondents: parents (296) of people with severe and profound learning disabilities and staff (298) in five centres across Slovenia; Methods: descriptive statistics, test of homogeneity, the rankit method, one-way analysis of variance; Procedures: survey questionnaires for parents and staff. The data was processed using SPSS software for personal computers.
Results: The difference between the variances of the groups (parent) found is statistically significant (F = 6.16; p = 0.01). Staff included in support groups have a significantly lower level of cooperative relationship with parents (f = 10; M = - 0.12) than staff not included in these groups (f = 191; M = 0.04).
Conclusion: In contrast to theoretical findings the results indicated less successful cooperation for professional staff included in support groups. The results furthermore did not confirm any differences in the cooperative relationship of parents included in support groups and those who are not. We suggest an in-depth analysis of the workings of support groups.

 Keywords: parents of people with severe and profound intellectual disabilities, professional staff, support groups, cooperative relationship
  
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THE IMPORTANCE OF STRUCTURED TEXT TALKS FOR STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AN INTERVENTION STUDY IN SPECIAL SCHOOLS

Monica REICHENBERG
Department of Education and Special Education,
University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Received: 21.06.2014
Accepted: 09.08.2014
Original article

Citation: Reichenberg M. The Importance of Structured Text Talks for Students’ Reading Comprehension. J Spec Educ Rehab 2014; 15(3-4):77-94. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/JSER-2014-0012

Abstract

The present intervention study reveals that students diagnosed with an intellectual disability (ID) are able to construct meaning from written expository text through guided social interaction. There were 31 students recruited from four special schools participating in this intervention study.The study involves a pre-test phase and a post-test phase. The students were divided into two intervention conditions: (a) reciprocal teaching (RT), which involved practice in four reading strategies—prediction, question generating, clarification, and summarisation—and (b) inference training (IT), which involved practice in answering inference questions, i.e., where you have to read between the lines to find the answer. The training included 16 sessions over 8 weeks. Pre- testing and post-testing included seven tests. Improvement of test results was obtained in both conditions to about the same extent, indicating that both conditions were beneficial. 

Keywords: structured text talk, reciprocal teaching, inference training, reading comprehension, intellectual disability

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JSER cited in The Japanese Journal of Personality

Dear readers,
Here is new citation of JSER papers into The Japanese Journal of Personality.

社交不安症状と対人的自己効力感が大学生のひきこもり親和性に与える影響

新井博達， 弘中由麻， 近藤清美 - パーソナリティ研究, 2015

抄録 本研究では, 社交不安の認知モデル (Clark & Wells, 1995) に基づき, ひきこもり親和性と社交
不安症状と対人的自己効力感の関連について検討を行った. 大学生 246 名 (男性 101 名, 女性
145 名) を対象として, ひきこもり親和性を測定する尺度, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale の日本 ...

 

Please click on the following link to get Full Text Article

They cited JSER paper:

Chong, S. S., & Chan, K.(2012). A case study of a Chinese ‘hikikomorian ’ in Canada —theorizing the process of hikikomorization. Journal of Special Education and Rehabilitation, 13, 99–114.

JSER editor-in-chief