Including Pupils With Special Educational Needs in Second-Level Schools

• In Event: 25.080 - Education for All: International Perspectives on Inclusive and Special Education

Abstract

This paper is based on a study that investigated the challenges and opportunities arising in relation to the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN) in second-level mainstream schools, in the Republic of Ireland. It employed a Case Study approach, working closely with personnel from four second-level schools. It involved the conducting of interviews with the principals and the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators, the distribution of survey questionnaires to all teachers in the schools, and the conducting of focus-group interviews with the teachers of one class group in each school. This paper presents findings from the study related to the essential characteristics of an inclusive classroom, operating within an inclusive school, and an inclusive system of SEN provision.

Author

• William Patrick Kinsella, University College Dublin