Mapping Jordanian Students’ Understanding of Disability

• In Event: Global commitment and policies to inclusive education

Proposal

The canon of inclusive education research is growing exponentially and filled with intervention studies and surveys to determine teacher knowledge and skills, attitudes, and beliefs. Frequently left out of the academic conversation is the impact of non-disabled peers' construction of disability about their peers, which affects classroom teaching and learning. Attitudinal survey research reflects generally neutral or positive responses to disability from all students; yet a limited number of qualitative studies contradict these findings, exposing exclusion in peer groups. Research themes in student-focused research are most often determinate or intervention-based. This is problematic because, as Freer (2023) finds in their systematic literature review, most determinate studies were completed using quantitative scales, primarily the Chedoke-McMaster Attitudes Towards Children with Handicaps (CATCH). It is noted in social sciences research that no one factor can be identified as a determinant and that further exploration through multiple means of investigation must be employed to understand phenomena (Della Porta 2008). This demonstrates a need for more varied research methods to fill gaps around peer knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about disability. In this paper, we offer an alternative to determinate studies using the CATCH tool and demonstrate how incorporating a more spontaneous production of knowledge, attitudes and beliefs based on student voice provides better and more robust insight into the construction of disability in specific cultures and contexts.

This study aims to address the gap in academic knowledge between the positive attitudes reported by surveys and the enacted exclusion of students with disabilities. Using novel methodological approaches drawn from outside academic disciplines, this study reveals how non-disabled youth are constructing disability and the impact this has on inclusive environments.

The data collected for this study was gathered as a part of a larger project framed by a critical disability lens that recognises the social construction of disability; thus, the need to understand non-disabled peer group knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. Given the complexity of attitude and behaviour that has resulted in the previously documented contradictory responses, we believe that the innovative qualitative methods described below provide a more comprehensive approach to understanding the construction of disability within peer groups. Students in both public and private institutions spent forty-five minutes with the researchers participating in three activities. Students were given a pre-printed mind map with the word disability in the centre; they filled this web out individually and worked with partners to answer questions based on a short vignette.

A total of 67 students participated in the school-based workshops: 36 girls and 30 boys aged 12 to 17. Most participants were enrolled in public, single-sex schools (n=51), and the remaining students (n=16) were enrolled in a mixed-sex private school. Initial demographic data was gathered to assess background information and students' exposure to disability. The overwhelming response to the mind-mapping activity was associated with helping; 52 students used the word ‘help’ in their responses, varying from simple ‘help him [her]’ to ‘he needs help with everything’ and ‘I want to help the person with disabilities’. The responses to the vignette exposed basic issues with the public system in Jordan but also demonstrated that students are were aware of issues of bullying students with disabilities.

The data from Jordanian students demonstrates the need to incorporate a capabilities-based approach to intervention. This would mean not only an introduction to the social model of disability but also providing a positive representation of people with disabilities accomplishing goals. Projects such as that by Save the Children in the Philippines (Sagun-Ongtangco, Medallon, and Tan 2021) accomplish these wider objectives and provide a model for future interventions. This intervention shifted student thinking from what those with disabilities cannot do to their capabilities. Future intervention models should shift from a focus on simply increasing knowledge to creating respect based in capabilities. This would support the move away from the deeply embedded charity model towards disability seen in Jordan. A new framework should focus on providing help and support by dismantling societal barriers and capitalising on strong community resilience.

Author

• Sarah Benson, University of Birmingham