This study investigated the relationship of the elements of professional development and the attitudes of teachers and principals toward inclusion. Participants in the study were the teachers and principals in Indiana schools designated as "Inclusion Schools" by the Indiana State Legislature in the summer of 1992. Thirty-one schools of the 50 designated schools were approved for data collection. Three hundred ninety teachers and 31 principals responded to the survey instrument.The dependent variables were the attitudes of the participants toward the inclusion process and the concept of inclusion. The independent variables were six characteristics of professional development: design, presenters, location, attendance requirement, when professional development occurred, and how much professional development was received. Additional independent variables were demographic information such as: age, experience, level of education, and if special education classes had been taken at the university.The conclusions of this study for teachers found positive relationships with the dependent variables for inclusion professional development characteristics: design by building based decision making, presentations by special education administrators and staff, the location in the home school, voluntary attendance, and the more professional development the more positive the teachers' attitudes. A negative relationship was found when professional development occurred before inclusion began. The age and experience of the teachers had a negative relationship to positive attitudes toward inclusion.The only positive relationship between the principals' attitudes toward inclusion and professional development found that attitudes were more positive when more professional development was attended. They were positive when the professional development took place before inclusion began. Other findings reflected negative relationships with inclusion professional development characteristics for: location, design, presenters, and attendance requirement. The more inclusion aide support the principals had, the more positive were their attitudes toward inclusion.The teacher findings in this study were supported by literature and prior research findings by the NASBE Study (1992), Miller & Lieberman (1988), Brehm's Reactance Theory (1983-84), and Pearman et. al. (1992).The principal findings were not conclusive and further study should be made to find how inclusion professional development can develop positive principals' attitudes toward inclusion. / Department of Educational Administration and Supervision

Thesis (M.S.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1938.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Helmut-Schmidt-Universität, University der Bundeswehr, Diss., 2007.

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 1987. / Summary in English. Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-112).

Thesis (M.S.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1938.

A common critique from scholars towards gender mainstreaming (GM) strategy is that the integration of a gender perspective can sometimes be seen as too narrow in its outcome as secure discrimination protection. Sweden is a veteran when it comes to both GM strategy and equality. But as in many other places, discrimination based on other grounds than gender is present within Swedish society too. Hence, this thesis’s concern is to examine how the Swedish Gender Equality Authorities construct gender equality. This, with the intent to gain an understanding of what the joint assumptions of gender equality look like. The material was analysed by using the ‘What's the Problem Represented to Be’ method and to operationalize and deepen the understanding further the theoretical concept of intersectionality was applied. As expected when concerning GM strategy, the findings established that the construction is predominantly centred around women and men. Other dimensions of identity such as for example faith, socioeconomic belonging, ethnicity, skin colour often end up in the periphery of the construction. The findings also showed that the wording, articulation, exclusion and inclusion of certain groups of people, plays a vital role in how the construction can be perceived.

The purpose of this study was to determine what support and programmatic changes high school teachers view as necessary for the successful implementation of a mainstreaming program as described in the Regular Education Initiative (REI). The REI is a position statement from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, that calls for a new partnership between regular and special educators in addressing the needs of all children with learning problems, including those with disabling conditions. This study utilized the standardized focus group interview method to determine the opinions of high school general education and special education teachers regarding the resources, professional development, and programmatic changes which would support an increase in mainstreaming of students with learning disabilities (LD). Several unanticipated themes emerged in the interviews, giving indications of teachers' beliefs about students with LD, changes in the structure of the general education classroom with mainstreamed students, LD as a viable category of special education, and reactions to assumptions found in the REI. Teachers were largely unsupportive of changes suggested in the REI, believing that they were unprepared to deal with students with special needs, and preferring to retain the continuum of services provided by a special education department. Beliefs about LD as a special education category, and attitudes toward students with LD were largely positive. Although teachers' understanding of what constitutes a learning disability was inconsistent and vague, there was agreement in the viability of this special education category. Teachers reported positive reactions toward students with LD and appreciation for the services that accompany them into the general education classroom. In response to the research questions, teachers preferred the presence of a special education teacher in the general education classroom or access to special education personnel, over more materials or texts. There was some speculation that general education teachers, while willing to adjust some classroom practices for students with different learning styles, were less committed to the prospect of reconceptualizing the knowledge base of general education teachers, preferring to rely on the presence of special education teachers for specialized strategies and materials. Special educators and general educators were in agreement on most issues related to the research questions. Results of this study hold implications for teachers, researchers, school administrators, and particularly special education department chairs and directors.

No description available.

In celebrating 10 years of democracy, South Africa has among other things placed even greater emphasis on human rights. The education of those experiencing barriers to learning, where it has been offered, has historically been separate from general education. The right to inclusive education is currently an international concern and can be viewed as one of the many initiatives that could steer this country into the future. However, other demands also highlighted in this research, make it difficult for ordinary schools to take up the challenge. The primary aim of this research was to investigate current conditions in one typical South African classroom in a disadvantaged area, with reference to inclusion. The study took place at a primary school and attempts to provide a rich description of the school, classroom, educator and learners. The context described is one likely to be familiar to many educators. The study identifies and portrays in detail the range of barriers to learning present in a particular classroom and describes the educator and methods used to accommodate learners. <br /> <br /> The findings indicate that this educator&rsquo / s classroom can to a certain extent be described as an inclusive classroom and some of the strategies used to accommodate learners are in line with inclusive practices. The final discussion raises a number of important issues with respect to barriers to learning, curriculum, educator training and school support. It is hoped that this study will highlight key issues and possible solutions that could facilitate the implementation of inclusion in South Africa.

Rapidly spreading in popularity over the past fifteen years, gender mainstreaming has been adopted worldwide by state, supra state and international organizations as the "most modern‟ policy for ensuring gender equality. Yet, there is general agreement that it has not succeeded in achieving its radical potential. In this thesis, I bring together policy literature on bureaucracies, the civil service, and gender mainstreaming with work done on gender, work and organizations as a way to better understand the partial success and uneven implementation and institutionalization of what is supposedly a transformational agenda. To date, gender scholars have underplayed the "stickiness‟ of gender and its effects upon actors and everyday practices in political and state organizations. I argue that the "stickiness‟ of gender in organisations presents a formidable obstacle to the implementation and institutionalization of gender mainstreaming. I also argue that insufficient attention has been paid to the "embodied costs‟ of actors who act as internal gender mainstreaming advocates both in terms of the costs to the individuals and the impact of these costs on the prospects for the successful implementation and institutionalisation of a radical change agenda. Through an ethnographic examination of the Scottish Executive from 2006-2007, I probe the analytic question framing this thesis: what happens to the radical potential of gender mainstreaming during its implementation and institutionalisation in governmental bureaucracies? Using the sociological method of institutional ethnography, I provide evidence of ways that continued reliance on highly committed individuals and everyday bureaucratic practices continue to limit the radical success of gender mainstreaming at the Scottish Executive. I contend that the radical promise of gender mainstreaming is hindered because it is a strategy which must work within the confines of fossilised norms manifested in masculinist bureaucracies and because it is paradoxically predicated on changing bureaucratic norms through the use of the same bureaucratic practices it attempts to transform. By examining the everyday experience of "doing‟ gender mainstreaming in the case of a sub-state government in the UK, the Scottish Executive, I trace the ways that the radical promises of the gender mainstreaming agenda become diluted. The thesis examines challenges to the gender mainstreaming agenda and adds to wider discussions about the plausibility of gender mainstreaming‟s radical potential. In addition, my thesis moves forward methodological discussions in feminist politics by demonstrating the possibility of using institutional ethnography in political science as an effective way to operationalise, analyze and link multiple levels of politics from a gendered perspective. My analysis of local experiences of gender mainstreaming provides insight into the international trend of gender mainstreaming because it takes seriously the experiences of individuals who work within organizations, the role of organizations in limiting change agendas, and the international context within which the mainstreaming strategy unfolds.