4. Chapter Four. Findings
One of the participants disagreed with the idea that shared leadership is possible and said there is no way that leadership for inclusion may exist. According to Participant 3, words are only manipulated when we use the terms teachers or middle management leaders who influence each other. For example: “leader is a leader, that is, one going ahead is the one who leads by the very word of his definitions does not mean collectivity. There is no leadership if there is a collectivity; they are friends.”
4.3 The Attitude Towards Children with Special Educational Needs
There were several topics that participants discussed related to children with SEN.
After analysis, the topics were grouped into categories: the attitudes of parents, teachers, and children.
4.3.1 Parents’ Attitudes Towards Students with SEN
Participants reported that parents' attitudes towards children with SEN could vary from highly negative to neutral. They explained that this depended on whether a parent's child was placed in a classroom with another student with SEN. According to the words of Participant 1, there is a negative attitude from parents toward "healthy" students when there are one or several students with SEN in the classroom. This attitude was centered on equity concerning students (their child) without SEN and related to perceptions of the additional time students with SEN require from a teacher in a regular classroom. As an example, Participant 1 said:
"parents think that when there are children with SEN in the classroom, their child will get less attention from the teacher and will feel excluded"; Participant 2 stated the following: "When parents know that there is a child with SEN in the classroom, they would require the equal potion of attention from the teacher."
4.3.2 Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Students with SEN
The data indicated that participants believed that other teachers' attitudes toward students with SEN were more negative than parents' attitudes toward students with SEN.
Almost all participants are practitioners and currently work at schools with diverse students.
Five out of six interviewees confirmed they would not be happy working in the classroom with children with SEN. For instance, Participant 4 claimed: "Working with such children is very difficult in the sense that they, firstly, are in a small class, and when a small class, they are interested, they cannot compete with others, they feel that they are different and being a teacher in such a class is challenging." Conversely, participant 2 agreed that working with such children has nothing to worry about. He stated: "You are standing on the attitude of others; they are sharpened for this purpose, they have a different load, but a load of children is different." He believed everything starts with teachers willing to contribute and be part of an inclusive society.
4.3.3 Students’ Attitudes Towards Students with SEN
Students' attitudes toward children with SEN sometimes differ from parents or teachers.
Half of the participants in this study believed that the student's attitudes were more negative than positive. However, there are still some points that may be aligned. For example,
Participant 3 said, "Some students claim that I work more with children with SEN during the lesson," and "Other students notice that I give them differentiated tasks and ask about it."
One participant with a long career experience in education mentioned that children's attitude towards SEN children is favorable compared to their parents or grandparents.
Participant 4 said: "Some children are more conscious about the inclusion in society rather than others," "They read more, and with the development of social media, it becomes easier to share and gain information," "During whole class discussion, they talked about cases when their adult relatives pointed fingers when they see the person with a disability."
4.4 Policy in the Sphere of Inclusive Education
All interview participants stated that inclusive education implementation starts from the policy as a core document that states all rules and conditions for it. At the same time, some participants believed that the policy needed to be more transparent for teachers who work with children with SEN. Half of the participants explained that society's mentality might negatively influence the successful implementation of inclusive education. That takes its roots from the fear of parents of children with SEN about the level of support their children may not get attending mainstream school (Human Rights Watch [HRW], 2019).
According to Participant 2, the mentality of society is related to the notion of disability as a medical model and deficit based (Makoelle, 2020), making creating an inclusive society more difficult. Two participants out of six stated that the policy is too artificial. Participant 5 said: "people who create the policy do not know what is happening in the schools, especially local or rural schools," Participant 4 claims: "teachers are too busy to read and fully
implement policy; it should be written in a more practical way aiming to help teachers."
Participant 2, who has experience working in different educational institutions and higher educational institutions, highlighted positive changes in the policy of inclusive education. For example, he states: "There is such a course in HEI that is obligatory for all cohorts, and it is about inclusive education basics."
4.5 The Role of a Teacher who Works with Children with SEN
All participants stated that the teacher is a key figure in the educational process, and the interviewees themselves worked at school. Almost all went on to explain that they believe the teacher is the one who can create an inclusive environment in the classroom and, as a result, in the whole school itself. Participant 1 indicated that: “a teacher is the one who makes the mood in the classroom” and “the teachers are the agents of any changes in the classroom and the society.” Participant 3 said that: “from teachers’ status and his role, there may or may not
happen changes in the policy,” “teacher can influence not only the students but also colleagues.”
4.6 Summary
Chapter four has reported the results of data analysis concerning the issue of inclusive education practices in schools and teachers and middle management leaders' understanding.
The respondents explained their understanding and perspectives on the phenomenon,
supporting the idea of equity in education; however, they indicated some issues related to the difference in policy and practice. In general, participants identified the lack of knowledge about the topic, a lack of training in the area, and other barriers they face, such as workload and parental involvement, as factors that affect the successful implementation of inclusion in their school. Some participants were completely unsupportive in class and later went so far as to express that they had very few hopes for the future of the children with additional
educational needs in mainstream educational contexts. Meanwhile, some others believe that teachers can initiate change through their small actions, which inevitably lead to progress that is subsequently reflected in the personal stories of the children in their school. More broadly, these findings suggest that participants see leadership as more about influencing rather than responsibility (Connolly et al., 2019).
The following chapter will discuss and align the study's findings with research
questions. The data collection results will be analyzed through a theoretical framework in the range of four themes connected with leadership perception, attitudes/culture, policy
implementation, and practices.
5. Chapter Five. Discussion