Special Education Students in Regular Education Classrooms: Where Are We?

• In Event: 30.058 - Equitable Education Opportunities

Abstract

The purpose of this interpretive research was to understand the perspectives and beliefs of general education teachers in Delhi, India toward including students with disabilities (SWD) in regular education classrooms. Employing hermeneutic phenomenology this study used 15 semi-structured interviews with public school teachers in Delhi. The duration of each interview was between 30 to 45 minutes; each interview was recorded and later transcribed. Data analysis was done through constant comparative method; the data were continuously compared and contrasted for emerging codes from the interviews during the data collection process. The findings suggest that (1) Socio-cultural ideologies related to disability has affected the education of SWD, and (2) Systematic institutional barriers have led teachers to accept inclusion only “in theory”.

Authors

• Ashwini Tiwari, University of Houston - Downtown

• Ajay K. Das, Empire State College - SUNY