A greater awareness and a respect for different needs of all children included in the primary education are important characteristics of a modern education system. Teachers of the first and second educational cycles are faced with difficult challenges, how to differentiate and individualise lessons according to learners’ competence, ability and interests. Therefore, strategies of good teaching practice are applied. Yet, there are some situations where such strategies are not sufficient. In such instances, teachers use a 5-step model of learning support, where the last step calls for the procedure of learner placement in an adequate education programme, i.e. an adapted programme and additional professional assistance (hereafter APA). When this is the case, an individualised programme (hereafter IP) needs to be developed by a team of teachers and professionals.
In the theoretical part of my thesis, I have described changes which have occurred in the field of differentiation, individualisation, inclusion and integration. Additionally, different forms of learning assistance (strategies of good teaching practice and a 5-step model of learning support), groups of special education needs (hereafter SEN) children, legal requirements for placement in an adequate education programme and APA as well as an individualised programme and its constituent parts are presented. Finally, the roles of different professionals within the teams which deal with SEN children are defined.
The purpose of my research was to find out how well teachers know the process of developing the IP, their knowledge of the IP, the extent they actually use it, and how they view the influence of the IP on the efficiency of their work and the impact of experience dealing with SEN children. I was mainly interested in whether anything had changed compared to years before. I created a questionnaire for teachers of the first and second educational cycles.
The research showed that most of the teachers know a lot about the IP, rely on it and mostly have a positive attitude towards SEN children and the IP. Compared to other research, it can be said that there is headway in the field of education of SEN children and their integration in the primary education.
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