Regular education teachers’ concerns on inclusive education in China from the perspective of concerns-based adoption model

ABSTRACT

Teachers’ concerns have been regarded as one of the key variables closely associated with successful implementation of innovative educational changes. China has initiated educational reform toward inclusive education since 1980s. Research related to inclusive education is very limited and teachers’ concerns remain unclear and are seldom investigated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the levels of Chinese regular education teachers’ concerns towards inclusive education by utilising Concerns-Based Adoption Model as a framework. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire was refined to conform to the Chinese educational context and administered for data collection in Beijing from a sample of 425 regular education teachers. The result indicates that regular education teachers make decisions on whether or not to implement inclusive education based on what they know about inclusive education and how effective it is to be. Regular education teachers demonstrate a ‘Multiple Peak User Profile’ in the Stages of Concern model, and that their concerns vary according to a few demographic factors. The results inform educational leaders’ decision making in improving programmes for teachers’ professional development for inclusion.

KEYWORDS:

• Regular education teachers
• concerns
• inclusive education
• concerns-based adoption model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Tingrui Yan is a Ph.D. candidate at Institute of Special Education of Beijing Normal University, Peoples’ Republic of China. His research interests include curriculum design for children with special educational needs, and inclusive education.

Meng Deng is currently a professor and deputy head at Institute of Special Education of Beijing Normal University, Peoples’ Republic of China. His research interests include inclusive education, special education policy, and education for students with developmental disabilities. He is the vice president of the Chinese Association for Special Higher Education.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by ‘The National Medium and Long-Term Reform on Special Education’ [grant no AHA 160010] funded by Ministry of Education in China.