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This study examined the initial expectations of secondary vocational educators toward hypothetical labeled handicapped students under consideration for placement in regular vocational classes. Regular secondary vocational teachers from school districts in Southern Arizona were randomly assigned to six treatment conditions, two levels of behavioral description X three levels of labeled conditions. The purpose of the research was to examine the impact of a labeled condition and varying behavioral descriptions of a tenth grade male student on the initial expectations of the teachers in the study. Teachers responded to a questionnaire concerning the child that contained four subscales: (1) academic potential, (2) behavioral qualities, (3) teacher's appraisal, and (4) stereotype. Results indicated that the labels EMR and LD and behavioral descriptions had significant impact on the initial judgments of teachers. Implications of the findings of the study are discussed.

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<p>The study aims to understand the challenges facing the Itinerant Learning Support Educators in an Inclusive Education framework. At the onset of the study there were very limited research studies and literature available on the challenges facing Itinerant Learning Support Educators hence literature in the study drew on the development and history of Special Education towards a global shift with regard to Inclusive Education policy development. As such the literature was utilized to understand how global phenomena and policies in developed countries impact on local policy transformation and contexts. The study followed a qualitative research approach to explore the challenges facing Itinerant Learning Support Educators in performing their functions. To gain an in depth understanding of their perceptions a case study method was followed and data collection techniques included focus group interviews. The sample in this study comprised of 14 Itinerant Learning Support Educators. The data was analyzed using a thematic approach. The findings of this study highlighted that despite a shift towards Inclusive Education in South Africa, Itinerant Learning Support Educators found themselves challenged by a range of contextual issues that impacted on the effective delivery of inclusive principles and practices. The study recommends that the Department of Education should take cognisance of these challenges, review the job description of Itinerant Learning Support Educators and put clear guidelines and support structures in place to support them in functioning optimally within an Inclusive Education paradigm.</p>

Over the past fifteen years the integration of students with impairments from "special schools" into regular schools has been common practice in most western countries. Here in South Africa, the policy of integration is only just beginning to be formally legislated and implemented. One such integration project is currently underway in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The initiative, organised between Clare Estate School and Dr. A. D. Lazarus Secondary, began in 1992. This study investigates the experiences of nine students with physical impairments. They form a part of a group of fourteen students presently integrated into Dr. A. D. Lazarus Secondary. The experiences of the students are examined from the perspectives of the students themselves, their teachers and their parents. All the differing viewpoints were gathered through semi-structured interviews and observation. As a framework within which to analyse the findings, a social model of disability was explored. The social model advocates that people have impairments and not disabilities. A disability arises when environmental factors exacerbate the existence of an impairment. The factors which could exacerbate impairment within the school setting range from physical inaccessibility to overdependency in an environment designed solely for able-bodied people. An environmental obstacle that hinders a person with an impairment is referred to as a 'disabling barrier.' The study revealed that unpreparedness for integration can result in many 'disabling-barriers' within the school context. These obstacles create hindrances not just for the students with impairments but for all students, teachers and parents. The researcher identified the disabling-barriers in order to highlight the many challenges that face the school. It was hoped that by gathering information, predominantly from the perspective of students with physical impairments, one is able to evaluate the experiences from their own personal perspectives. Furthermore, both the schools involved in the project are challenged into turning the identified "disabling-barriers" into more enabling environments for students with physical impairments. Finally, looking beyond integration towards an inclusive system of education is the ultimate challenge recommended for this particular context. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Durban, 1996.

The following thesis is an implementation study of an international non-governmental organization working in the field of inclusive education in Battambang, Cambodia. More specifically the study’s intent was to examine the political, economic and socio-cultural challenges experienced by the organization’s volunteers as they worked with local education partners in implementing inclusive education initiatives. Consideration was given to general education with emphasis on the implementation of gender mainstreaming initiatives at the primary level. Data was collected through participant interviews, formal observations, Follow-up questions completed by participants and various documents from the organization. The findings from the study revealed significant inconsistencies between the organization’s policy in gender equality and what was being implemented at the local level. Volunteers received little or no training in gender responsiveness, reported feelings of incapacity to engage in gender issues and failure to identify gender inequality in their development work. The volunteers and their working relationships with local education partners were a major theme in the findings; in particular the political challenges in navigating the agendas of various stakeholders. The organization’s support, information and expectations of volunteers were other issues raised by participants in the study. Among the economic challenges to implementation were working within the confines of international funding, the development of the organization’s budget, limited human resources, economic sustainability of programing and no funding for gender initiatives. Cultural challenges include volunteers’ perceptions of local views on education, the relationship between community and schools, gender equality embedded in the culture, school directors ‘losing face’ and awareness regarding gender issues.

Studien syftar till att studera jämställdhetsarbetet och synen på jämställdhet i en kommunal förvaltning. Ambitionen är att ur ett jämställdhetsperspektiv identifiera förbättringsområden och komma med förslag på strategiskt jämställdhetsarbete och hållbar jämställdhetsutveckling inom förvaltningens olika enheter. I vår studie har vi använt en kvalitativ ansats i syfte att nå en djupare förståelse för hur respondenterna upplever och ser på jämställdhet och jämställdhetsarbetet i förvaltningen. För att nå en sådan förståelse har vi sammanlagt gjort tio semistrukturerade intervjuer varav en dessa tio var en informantintervju. Vi använde oss av Kvales meningskoncentrering där de större meningarna som intervjupersonerna uttalade formulerades mer koncentrerat för att underlätta analysen av vår empiri. Resultatet i denna studie tyder på att respondenterna har olika föreställningar om vad jämställdhet är och innebär. Medarbetarna och arbetsgivarna får inte tillräckligt med information vad gäller jämställdhetsarbetet och de flesta känner inte till förvaltningens jämställdhetsplan. I och med detta kan de inte heller tillämpa eller arbeta utifrån jämställdhetsplanen i förvaltningens dagliga arbete. / The study aims to examine gender equality and the perception of equality in a municipal administration. The ambition is that from a gender perspective to identify areas for improvement and make suggestions on strategic gender equality and sustainable gender development in the administrations different units. In our study we have used a qualitative approach in order to reach a deeper understanding of how respondents perceive and look at gender and gender equality in the administration. In order to achieve such understanding we have made a total of ten semistructured interviews which one of these ten was an informant interview. We used Kvale's sentence concentrator where the larger sentences that respondents stated were formulated more concentrated in order to facilitate the analysis of our empirical data. The result of this study indicates that respondents have different perceptions of what equality is and means. Employees and employers may not get enough information in terms of gender equality, and most are not aware of administration's equality plan. In doing so, they cannot apply or work from gender perspective in the administration's daily work.

The purposes of this study were to determine if the following factors pertaining to elementary school principals; amount of undergraduate/graduate training in special education, previous experience with disabled students, and professional development training, had a relationship to their attitudes regarding the education of students with disabilities in the regular classroom. The study also sought to determine if differences existed between principals' attitudes toward the inclusion of different categories of disabled students into the regular classroom.The population of the study consisted of 230 randomly selected elementary school principals. Principals selected for the study were sent the data-collection instrument, The Building Administrator Survey, which was developed by the researcher. The survey instrument consisted of demographic questions which addressed the study's independent variables and 12 statements which were designed to ascertain the study's dependent variable, attitude toward the education disabled students in the regular classroom. Respondents were asked to rate each statement on a five-point Likerttype scale reflecting perceived attitudes toward each of five different categories of disability: emotional handicap, learning disability, mild mental handicap, moderate mental handicap, and severe mental handicap. A multivariate analysis of variance procedure was used to determine the of significance of relationships between the study's independent variables and principals' attitudes toward inclusion. A post hoc procedure was used to identify significant differences in principals' attitudes toward inclusionary practices relative to the study's five categories of disabled students.The following conclusions were drawn from the findings of the study:1. There is a statistically significant relationship between attitudes toward the inclusion of different categories of disabled students. Attitudes toward inclusion become less positive as the level of student disability increases.2. Principals receiving minimal amounts of professional development training tend to have more negative attitudes toward inclusion than principals receiving more extensive training.3. There is not a statistically significant relationship between principals' attitudes toward inclusion and the type of professional development training they have received, the amount of professional training in special education they have received, or their previous experience with students with disabilities in teaching and administrative settings. / Department of Educational Leadership