The paper analyzes a confusion in the special education field caused by paradigm shifts towards social model of disability and inclusive model of education of children with special needs. Theoretical considerations concern the changes in the subject of the special education field’s interests, terminology, teaching methods and methodology employed by a special education discipline. In the paper special education’s and inclusive education’s assumptions were confronted. As it turned out, in many points they are contradictory. Especially, the notion and practice of categorization rooted in traditional special education and demonstrable in special needs definition, teachers’ training or teaching methods seem to be very difficult challenges for implementation of inclusive education.

Empathic sensitivity or empathy is the basis for human interactions and communication, proper interpersonal relationships. As a process and phenomenon, it is particularly important in education and social and emotional functioning. The research, which has already been conducted, was focused on the development of empathic sensitivity of children and young, able-bodied people. The reform of education in Poland implemented in 1989 enabled students with special educational needs to access education in mainstream schools. Preliminary studies in this field are an attempt to show the empathic sensitivity of children with special educational needs who are learning together with healthy, non-disabled friends – their peers in mass education, which is inclusive. The aim of this paper is to present the research outcomes concerning inclusive education in the Podkarpackie Province, Poland.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the attitudes of teachers and school administration towards inclusion. A distinctive feature of this study is the gradual increase in the number of its members as a result of the annual increase in the number of inclusive schools that was also reflected in the qualitative composition of the sample. The study was conducted with the use of a questionnaire distributed among teachers and school administration. The article presents the results of a 3-year study, which made it possible to track changes in their attitudes towards inclusive education. Results show that in general all the participants have a positive attitude towards inclusion. However, there is a difference between the groups of teachers and administrators, as well as the groups of teachers in rural and urban schools.

Celem niniejszego opracowania jest zaprezentowanie wyników badań dotyczących rozumienia pojęcia edukacja włączająca przez nauczycieli szkół ogólnodostępnych oraz rozpatrzenie, czy edukacja włączająca jest działaniem celowym, zaplanowanym, czy działaniem intuicyjnym, pozornym. Jest to istotny problem, bowiem warunkiem skutecznego prowadzenia edukacji włączającej jest przede wszystkim rozumienie tego pojęcia przez nauczycieli szkół ogólnodostępnych. Brak rozumienia pojęcia edukacja włączająca może rodzić obawy o kształt jej realizacji. Włączanie to nie tylko przyjmowanie uczniów z niepełnosprawnościami do szkół ogólnodostępnych, ale przede wszystkim dostosowanie programu nauczania do indywidualnych możliwości każdego ucznia, to system oceniania uwzględniający możliwości psychofizyczne poszczególnych uczniów oraz organizacja procesu nauczania z wykorzystaniem odpowiednich pomocy dydaktycznych dostosowanych do specjalnych potrzeb edukacyjnych uczniów. Celem badań było poznanie i rozpatrzenie sposobów rozumienia pojęcia edukacja włączająca przez nauczycieli szkół ogólnodostępnych. W badaniach wykorzystano metodę sondażu diagnostycznego z użyciem techniki ankiety. Otrzymane wyniki badań pokazują, że edukacja włączająca nadal jest pojęciem, które wymaga doprecyzowania i propagowania wśród nauczycieli. Pomimo swojej obecności zarówno w literaturze przedmiotu, jak i w praktyce edukacyjnej nadal budzi niezrozumienie, co utrudnia pełną realizację tego modelu nauczania.

The aim of the paper is the presentation of the complex problem of a lifelong developmental disorder, known as Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), in the context of inclusive education offered to these students in general, and in teaching of English as a Foreign Language in particular. First, the theories and typical symptoms of autism will be outlined, followed by examining the behaviours that enable teachers to recognise these form of disorders during lessons at school. Next we review some strategies and teaching techniques that may prove efficient and successful in the ELT classroom for both teachers and autistic students. Finally, we concentrate on the analysis of the data collected as a result of a small-scale qualitative study conducted among a group of EL teachers involved in teaching autistic learners. The study was designed with the purpose of interviewing teachers about the efficiency and successfulness of the currently recommended teaching techniques in their classrooms with ASD students.

The article presents a study whose aim was to learn the attitudes of teachers of upper elementary grades from mainstream schools to education including students with disabilities. It was also an attempt to learn their opinions on the chances and limitations of implementing inclusive assumptions in educational practice as well as their needs and expected support in the performance of professional tasks related to teaching students with disabilities. The study involved 145 teachers of grades 4-8 of elementary schools. The following research tools were used: The Scale of Teachers’ Attitudes to Inclusive Education, developed on the basis of the Survey of Attitudes Toward the Inclusion of Students with Special Needs by M.A. Winzer (Polish adaptation by W. Pilecka & J. Kossewska), and a survey questionnaire for teachers. The obtained results show that many teachers approach skeptically the new solutions in education for students with disabilities. Their ambiguous or negative attitude to inclusive education corresponds to the sense of lack of proper preparation to teaching students with disabilities and a critical assessment of the state of readiness of mainstream schools (both in formal and social/mental terms) to the implementation of educational inclusion assumptions.

W artykule zaprezentowano główne teoretyczne i socjopolityczne argumenty tworzące tło dla inkluzji edukacyjnej. Uwypuklono w tym zakresie niektóre ważne zagadnienia związane z implementacją idei inkluzji w edukacji na gruncie humanistycznym i demokratycznym. Szczególną uwagę zwrócono na tzw. kluczowe kompetencje nauczycieli jako uczestników edukacji włączającej, a także na wymagania wobec personelu zarządzającego instytucjami oświatowymi. Artykuł prezentuje pewne sposoby rozwiązywania problemów w przyszłości, głównie poprzez edukację i szkolenie nauczycieli.

Artykuł przedstawia częściowe rezultaty projektu pt. „Szkoła otwarta dla wszystkich” realizowanego w przedszkolach i szkołach podstawowych we wszystkich okręgach Republiki Słowackiej, z wyjątkiem powiatu bratysławskiego, w okresie od 1.02.2016 r. do 30.11.2019 r. Celem projektu było wsparcie edukacji włączającej dzieci z defaworyzowanych społecznie i/ lub zmarginalizowanych społeczności romskich przed rozpoczęciem nauki w szkole. Autorka analizuje efekty realizowanego programu edukacyjnego, wskazuje mocne i słabe strony współpracy interdyscyplinarnego zespołu (pracowników pedagogicznych, specjalistów, rodziców) w zakresie wsparcia uczniów ze szkół podstawowych.

The right to education for persons with disabilities results from the constitutional principle of universal and equal access to education, however, it frequently encounters difficulties in implementation. This issue is particularly important not only from the point of view of Polish law but also due to international guarantees of universal access to education and activities aimed at the elimination of all forms of discrimination. They were included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on Human Rights. European standards in this respect are set, first of all, by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, EU regulations and directives, as well as by the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Moreover, the issue of the universal and equal right to education was also raised in the documents of the Council of Europe: the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter, judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and decisions of the European Committee of Social Rights.

The inclusiveness of education drives sustainable public relations for reliable crime statistics report is determined by power play among critical actors in the sector whose interest are dichotomized into vested and entrenched interests that shaped public opinion on education and crime rate. Access to education can only be inclusive when all stakeholders are involved in its planning, execution and delivery of knowledge in a manner that does not discriminate in access and delivery. However, there is a disconnect between what knowledge is allowed to feed public opinion using public relations by the entrenched and vested interest in the education and law enforcement sectors. While clamor for inclusive education heighten across social class, the cost component of access is not accessible to all. Therefore, the paper argues that deepening equity and inclusiveness in education and law enforcement will neither allow access discrimination nor spurious reportage within the public domain using public relations. It further posits that disparage public opinion on education and law enforcement using public relation mutilate reality and creates false impression that negatively affect planning and development. Edwin Sutherland (1947)`s Differential Association-reinforcement theory of criminal behavior provided the framework while the design was exploratory. Qualitative data was purposively gathered from National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), University of Abuja (UA), and Divisional Police Headquarters Lugbe. The preliminary fi ndings reveal that equity and inclusive education is necessary sustain objective public relation that will not misguide professional and public on crime statistics in Nigeria.

The aim of the study was to identify how education actors of two historically and culturally different countries - Slovakia and England - thought about the concept ’inclusive school’. The Q-methodology was used for this purpose, yielding 7 descriptions of inclusive school. The results indicated two facts: 1) there is a jointly shared semantic field that can be interpreted as a consequence of globalization trends in education, and 2) perceptions of inclusive education are influenced by the history of educational systems in the countries studied. Research findings confirm that despite a certain convergence trend, a local discourse still remains the crucial determining factor of the conceptual grasp of this issue.

The article presents a study aimed at increasing the competence of teachers in the formation of social-emotional skills of inclusive classes pupils. Preliminary study showed a low level of teachers’ awareness of strategies to influence the social-emotional sphere of pupils and the lack of purposeful and consistent action in this direction. The proposed program of increasing the competence of teachers was based on the stages of consistent development of social-emotional skills. The conducted training program demonstrated a significant improvement in the ability of teachers to meaningfully develop social-emotional skills of inclusive classes pupils, which is an important factor for their success in social interaction and life in general.

Social and political transformations inevitably cause changes in people’s mindsets and result in conversion of a national educational system. Ukraine, as a post soviet country, is still trying to put away its totalitarian past and adopt the latest human rights policies that have been successfully functioning in the “developed” world for several decades. This study evaluates the quality of inclusive education in Ukraine, specifically focusing on services provided to families of students with disabilities whose views and opinions are often neglected by governmental officials responsible for creating inclusive environments.

Analysis of the opportunities, constraints and prospects of pre-primary education of children from marginalized Roma communities was, is and will be the subject of many studies and constructive solutions at different levels of responsibility entities. All positive solutions and results in this area are a step closer to the inclusive education in kindergarten. Theoretical considerations, research findings and practical experiences of teachers are used to formulate key actions for successful pre-primary education for children from marginalized Roma communities in the process of inclusive education. Musing on inclusive education of the study was replaced by pragmatic solutions in the form of concrete measures for the reality and for the vision of an inclusive education of children from marginalized Roma communities in kindergartens.

Since the Declaration of Salamanca and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we have moved to an inclusive paradigm with regard to school. Mainstream schooling has become the rule. Thus, teachers in regular classes must work with all students, including those with special educational needs. It is not easy; many teachers face dilemmas in accommodating all types of students in the same classroom. This conceptual paper proposes a framework based on Mezirow’s transformative learning for understanding the transformations in teacher pedagogy needed to work in an inclusive school. It can be used as a basis for developing training mechanisms to support teachers in their transformation to work in an inclusive school.

The values teachers recognise are an important factor in their actions towards a diverse group of learners. Teacher education must systematically develop a conceptual and contextual understanding of inclusive education, and the assessment of teachers’ competencies in this area supports the building of knowledge regarding the direction of their professional development. The results of the research aimed at identifying the beliefs of teachers and students of pedagogical faculties on the values and competencies of teachers that are important in the context of inclusive education. The four core values and areas of competence of an inclusive education teacher are: differences between learners are considered a resource and an asset to education, supporting all learners, working with others, and personal and professional development of teachers. The research results show that in basic teacher education and professional development, attention should be paid to the development of competencies in the concepts of inclusive education and promoting the academic, practical, social and emotional learning of all learners.

The paper presents the results of research on the opinions of students of preschool and early childhood education (PECE) and special education (SE) on the importance of having various specific professional competencies by a teacher of inclusive education. The study used the diagnostic survey method and involved 202 students from both fields of study. Five categories of professional competencies were analysed: evaluative, psychological, innovative, communicative, and substantive-methodical. Both groups state that a high level of professional competence is especially expected when working with a pupil with an intellectual disability (ID).