Inclusive culture of kindergarten, school, college and university teachers

¹ Department of special education, Director resource educational and methodical center, Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets, Russia.
² Resource educational and methodical center, Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets, Russia
³ Cherepovets State University, Cherepovets, Russia

^* Corresponding author: denisova@inbox.ru

Abstract

Inclusive culture of teachers is one of the conditions for the successful inclusion of students with disabilities in the educational organization space. The authors identified 15 indicators characterizing the value, motivation and experience of teachers in the field of educational inclusion. Diagnostic results of inclusive culture of Vologda region are presented in the paper. The study shows that 63% of 1,100 teachers surveyed have a critical level of inclusive culture. As a result of the comparative analysis, it was determined that kindergarten and university teachers have a higher level of inclusive culture. In general, those teachers who have already had positive experience in social or educational inclusion are most interested in developing their competencies. The most active and highly motivated turned out to be those teachers who, in their personal experience, have had the opportunity to interact with the disabled and help people with disabilities to be included in society, education and life. Teachers with a developed inclusive culture, comprising 1/23 of the 1,100 respondents surveyed, are characterized by the values and norms of inclusion, willingness to interact with the disabled, awareness of the necessity to acquire new knowledge and skills, social responsibility for the results of inclusion.