In the master’s thesis, the way in which primary school teachers ensure justice through the perspective of ‘4 Rs’ – redistribution, representation, recognition and reconciliation, so that (in our case) students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in regular primary schools would not be unnecessarily marginalized and excluded, was analysed.
The theoretical part of the master’s thesis was divided into two major sections. In the first section, the focus was on autism spectrum disorder, which was defined with a historical presentation of various definitions and criteria for its recognition. Then the characteristics of children with ASD were introduced. Main focus was set on the “triad of deficits” (the main troubles in communication, social interaction, and imagination) and other specificities that may accompany a child with autism spectrum disorder. Considering us being educators, greater emphasis was given to the situation of children with ASD in regular elementary schools. In this part, the staged treatment of children with ASD in education was described. Students with ASD have only been included in the Placement of Children with Special Needs Act (ZUOPP-1) as an independent group since 2011. In the paper, the adjustments that these students need in a regular elementary school, were highlighted. In the second section of the theoretical part, the inclusion from the aspect of justice was discussed. Inclusion was defined by presenting different definitions and presented in-depth in a principled and formal level. The ‘4 Rs’ concept of justice was then presented, to show that the distributive concept of justice in our school environment is not sufficient, as all educational goals cannot be achieved with it. Therefore, concepts of representation, recognition and reconciliation should also be considered, since they present an important starting point for a more coherent understanding of injustice complexity in school. The latter is reflected not only at a system level (macro level, but also in direct pedagogical practice (micro level).
In the empirical part of the master’s thesis, the way how primary school teachers understand and to what extent they respect the basic principles of justice in the school context and when working with students with ASD was explored. The issue was how the participation of students with ASD is realized or reflected in everyday school practice and what are the obstacles to it. The following question was whether positive recognition of ASD, non-recognition of ASD and incorrect recognition of ASD in primary school teachers and subject teachers can be detected, and whether the attitude of primary school teachers towards teaching and working with students with ASD depends on their assessment of competence, educational training and experience with working with students with ASD. The result was that primary school teachers and subject teachers mostly reflect to the “fair school” from the point of view of ensuring the principle of equal opportunities and the principle of difference. The concept of inclusiveness is also recognized, which puts the teacher's attitude towards diversity and acceptance of otherness, regardless of race, gender, religious affiliation, etc., in the foreground. The data obtained suggest that primary school teachers find meaningful and feasible only those adaptations for students with ASD that may have already been used in the learning process, but not necessarily in teaching and working with students with ASD.
Based on the obtained results it has been concluded that primary school teachers do not understand the term “student participation” in the true sense of the word, as participation is not provided to such an extent as to enable students with ASD to play an active role and influence the learning process itself. Barriers to participation are often present at the school, or specifically, at teacher level. It was then discovered that teachers only partially recognize the characteristics of students with ASD in a positive way.
In the last part of the empirical research it was concluded that primary school teachers and subject teachers feel partly qualified to teach students with ASD, but a large proportion of those, who do not feel qualified to teach students with ASD in regular elementary school at all, still remains. It was also discovered that professionals have more positive experiences with students with ASD than negative ones. Their participation in training and education has a significant impact on further teaching and working with this group of students.
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