Inclusion In The Classroom

A teacher’s perspective can often be overlooked in terms of inclusion and the implementation in the general education classroom. There is discrepancy between the perspectives of general education teachers and special education teachers. Both sets feel like they are underrepresented in the decision-making process for inclusion. According to Buell, Hallam, Gamel-Mccormick, and Scheer in “A Survey of General and Special Education Teachers’ Perceptions and Inservice Needs Concerning Inclusion”, successful collaboration requires that both parties serve as “team members” who both need time for preparation and support (1999, p. 144). Because of the amount of people involved in this process, teachers often feel like their opinions and perspectives

Often, special educators are more comfortable with inclusion than general education teachers because of their experience and expertise in the matter. According to Cook, Semmel, and Gerber in “Attitudes of Principals and Special Education Teachers Towards the Inclusion of Students with Mild Disabilities”, teachers also often feel like they do not have enough support from the school and administration to implement inclusion (1999, p. 200). Administrators and special educators alike need to be positive and understanding throughout the inclusion process to support general educators because they hold significant influence over the subject. Special educators support the idea of providing supports for a student with mild disabilities in an inclusive classroom. From the perspective of teachers, inclusion is a good idea and will benefit the education of students with disabilities. Inclusive classrooms need to give equal opportunities to students with disabilities as given to general education students with support from both the special and general educator

After researching this topic, it is obvious that inclusive classrooms should exist within all schools. Our group members have been involved in general education classrooms, as well as special education classrooms, and we all feel that every type of learner should be included in classrooms. The more diverse, different, and various groups of students who are involved in classrooms, the better. Stephanie was involved in classrooms at LAB school that are typically special education classrooms, but includes students with different types of learning disabilities within them. Some students were more affected by a specific learning disability than others, but it created a safe and positive learning environment for all the students to be a part of, no matter how much their learning disability impacted them. This is a start for inclusive education, although it needs to be implemented in general education classrooms as well. Inclusion is starting to be implemented in a way that literature and articles says it should be, but, more steps could be taken to implement it even further, so that it becomes nationwide. After gathering information and searching through articles, our group members have decided to make more individuals who are involved in education aware of inclusive classrooms. As well as hoping to be able to be a part of an inclusive classroom once we are all certified and