Prague, Aug 26 (CTK) – Most teachers tend to support school classes including both healthy and disabled children, according to the results of a survey carried out within a project supporting inclusive education in the Czech Republic and released Wednesday.
But the project showed great differences between the views of teachers from standard schools and special schools for children with disabilities, its head Jan Michalik said.
Most teachers from special schools believe that special schools are better for physically disabled pupils, he said.
Generally, teachers from standard schools are not against the inclusion of children with health disabilities and, to a certain extent, children with social handicaps in their classes, provided that they received more support.
Lenka Felcmanova, from a group of experts promoting inclusive education, said the attitude towards the inclusion of children with moderate intellectual disabilities in regular classes was a pleasant surprise.
A majority of the teachers believed that their school was ready to teach such children and they had a positive view on children with autism as well, Felcmanova said.
The survey showed that over 53 percent of teachers from standard schools shared the view that their schools were ready to teach moderately intellectually disabled pupils, while 17 percent said their schools were definitely not ready for it.
The teachers said they needed more support from the school management, changes in the system of assistant teachers who work with the individual disabled pupils, and help in seeking more effective cooperation with the parents.
The survey was conducted among more than 4000 teachers and head teachers in April and May.
New inclusive measures passed as part of an amendment to the school law will take effect as of September. All children with disabilities will have the right to receive free support for their special needs.
