Social inclusive education in secondary schools. A student's perspective approach

ABSTRACT

Inclusion is one of the most important and emerging areas for school improvement. The purpose of this study was to explore the perception of high school students with the aim of determining whether there is a shared and inclusive education within their schools. An explanatory model was developed, based on the responses of 365 students from the participating high school, using a scale on inclusion that had already been used in the Spanish context. The results showed a high correlation between the perception of inclusion and factors such as the perception toward the supportive teacher, the need for help and the satisfaction perceived in the classroom. We analysed which potential factors proved to be good predictors of the results associated with the perception of educational inclusion obtained using this scale. The results showed that the students’ perceptions of inclusion evolved negatively over different grades. In contrast, it was found that their perception toward the teachers was mediated by the existence of a special need and age, and was higher in those students who had experienced the Support Teacher directly or indirectly.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusion
• regular and special education relationship
• secondary education
• structural equation models

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Conflicts of interest/competing interests

Not applicable

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Junta de Andalucía under Grant HUM642

Notes on contributors

Samuel P. León

Samuel P. León is Assistant lecturer in the Department of Pedagogy at the University of Jaén. He has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Jáen. His research interest focuses on evidence-based research, university students and educational psychology.

Sandra Barroso-Carballo

Sandra Barroso-Carballo is graduated in Social Education from the University of Jaén (Spain). Her research interests focus on Special education and Regular and Special Education Relationship.

Inmaculada García-Martínez

Inmaculada García-Martínez is Assistant lecturer at the University of Granada (Spain). She has a PhD in Education. She is currently working on Special education, professional identity and psychosocial factors related with teachers and professional development.