The Effects of Different Disability Labels on Life - Research Proposal Example

The Inclusion of Disabled Children in the Traditional School System in the United KIngdom Introduction In the United Kingdom, the Disability Discrimination Act was established to implement strategies in order to help abolish discrimination faced by disabled people. Such an Act aims to provide the disabled with statutory rights in the field of employment, as well as provide them access to goods, services and facilities. In addition, under this Act, disabled people also have the opportunity to make the choice of buying and renting land and property (DDA, 1995). However, in this study, the researcher would like to focus on the fate of disabled children in schools, and the effects of including them in the traditional school system. The BBC News (1999) has mentioned the controversy surrounding the issue of including the disabled in mainstream classrooms. Most of the critics, it has been mentioned, have been the teachers themselves and the administrators of these mainstream schools. Another government initiative that has been established in recent years is the ECM or Every Child Matters which was established in the United Kingdom in 2003. According to the ECM, every child, regardless of his/her background, interests, capabilities and physical attributes, all have the right to gain access to medical and security facilities and amenities, as well as the entry into any educational institution that they wish to be part of. Such a movement was done in order to promote the children’s trust in the government and the nation as a whole, given that once they voice out their opinions, the government can do something about it, for the benefit of all the children in the country. Among one of the main issues being tackled by Every Child Matters would be the concern towards the inclusion of disabled children in mainstream schools in the United Kingdom (Every Child Matters, 2005). Most people seem to misunderstand the concept of disability, and even worse, the disabled themselves are faced with the difficulty of being able to fit in with their peers because they are being seen in a different light. This makes it difficult, or in some cases impossible to mingle with other people. These children may also be labelled by their peers which may scar them for life. As a result, some individuals believe that if a disabled person is allowed to interact with non-disabled people on a more regular basis, then this may encourage them to engage in peer interaction. It may also encourage the non-disabled to form a different view of the disabled as people just like them, except that they experience a bit of difficulty at one point or another. According to the Center for Studies on Inclusive Education (2008), every child has the right to gain access to the same type of education provided to other children who do not have disabilities. Based on the United Nations Draft Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it was stated in Article 24: Education that all people should not be excluded from being a part of the educational system due to their respective disabilities (United Nations Enable, 2006). The reason why some teachers and school administrators do not agree to including disabled children in their classrooms is not because they discriminate upon such students, but rather because such students are not easy to handle. News reports have also reported that the National Union of Teachers in the United Kingdom, have decided to relay their opinions and complaints with regards to the inclusion of disabled children in mainstream schools. At the same time, these teachers and school administrators also urge their government to carefully review these policies. This is because disabled children are not being attended to since teachers are unable to cope with their medical and behavioural needs. Teachers thus end up being exhausted due to paying more attention to their disabled students and paying less attention to the other students. Thus, it appears then that including disabled children has resulted in a poor quality of education, especially for the other students who are still very much part of the learning environment. This has not been the only result. Since teachers assume the role of parents in the academic institution, they are required to attend to the special needs of their students. This includes making sure that the student is able to take his/medication on time, and should the child need diapers, the teachers have to be able how to change those too, if needed. Teachers have decided to quit their jobs since they are unable to cope with the pressures brought about by teaching both disabled children and non-disabled children (Halpin, 2006). Other critics of the inclusion system in educational institutions in the country include the parents of the children of both disabled students and those who are not disabled have not been satisfied with the quality of education that their children have been receiving. Since the teacher cannot possibly pay the same amount of attention to all her students, the parents feel that the quality of education is being sacrificed. Disabled children being part of the classroom naturally means that there are frequent disruptions during the class session, and there is time being wasted as well (Halpin, 2006). Alexander et al (1992) believe that in order to address the problems experienced by teachers and felt by the parents, it is necessary for school administrations to simply reassess their teaching strategies. This entails requiring the teachers to go through training sessions in order to improve their teaching techniques. However, according to Bailey et al. (1998), implementing quality teaching techniques in classrooms do help disabled children, the same cannot be said for all the children being taught, especially those who are not disabled. According to Hadadian & Hargrove (2001), teachers appear to behave differently towards disabled children as compared to non-disabled children. This shifts the quality of education provided in schools, thereby requiring teachers to undergo training sessions and further education to learn more about how they can handle both disabled children and the non-disabled. Aim of the Study This study aims to find out the difficulties experienced by disabled children from the viewpoint of both the parents of the disabled children and their teachers. Since the Inclusion of Disabled Children in mainstream schools has both negative and positive results, the researcher would like to determine the factors that can contribute to providing a good learning experience for the disabled students, and a good teaching environment and experience for the teachers themselves. The research questions to be asked later on in this study as well as the objectives shall be presented below. Research Questions The researcher would like ascertain the following: 1) Determine agreement of teachers with the Inclusion of Disabled Children in mainstream schools; 2) Ascertain if the learning environment in the school conducive for disabled students; 3) Determine the factors that make teaching disabled children a challenge. Objectives of the Study Through this study, the researcher would like to address the following: 1) Determine whether the majority of teachers/ parents agree that including disabled children in the mainstream educational system is a good decision. 2) Determine whether the learning environment of British schools are conducive for disabled children. 3) Determine the teaching strategies that could help teachers handle both disabled children and the non-disabled in a better manner. 4) Provide recommendations through which mainstream schools can benefit from by implementing an improved learning system and learning environment for both disabled and non-disabled children. Justification The researcher agrees that children, regardless of their mental and physical difficulties have the right to gain access to the same opportunities provided to their peers. History and the status quo still remains closed to the idea that disabled students should be able to be in the same classroom as the other non-disabled children. Although special schools means that the disabled children will be able to gain more attention from their teachers and that their needs will be met, they are limited to only interacting with other disabled students, and may not know how to interact with different types of people once they reach adulthood. Such special schools also do not give non-disabled children the chance to interact with other children who are ‘different’ from them, and hence, they inevitably form a concept that disabled children cannot do the same things that they can. This leads to a form of discrimination, meaning that these children learn to discriminate against the disabled at an early age. The very fact that the Disability Discrimination Act was established shows a lot about the mentalities of the non-disabled people towards their disabled peers. Clearly, there is an inequality between both parties, with the disabled party not gaining appropriate access to basic human needs, one of them being education. The researcher feels that if children who are disabled are excluded from the mainstream education system because of their differences, this could lead to a number of negative behavioural problems that could manifest in the future, and could pose to be a threat to society at large. According to Cooper & McIntyre (1996), disabled individuals have a tendency to lack confidence in themselves and their capabilities, and they may end up being extroverts, pushed to believe that they are of no benefit to their community. The researcher feels that the efforts of the school administration and the parents of disabled children are needed in making sure that such future problems are not experienced, and that the issue is addressed as early as possible. Methodology The researcher would like to adopt a quantitative and positivist approach that aims to find out how schools can adopt a better learning environment for all the students, disabled and non-disabled alike. Clearly, teachers and school administrators are having a tough time dealing with both parties, and their difficulties is what the researcher aims to primarily address. In addition, the researcher would also like to find out how the needs and wants of the parents of disabled children can be addressed as well, especially since they are the ones primarily in charge of making decisions for their children and are therefore responsible for providing their child with the best quality of education possible. The researcher has decided to implement the survey administration method, where both teachers and parents shall be requested to accomplish surveys for the research study’s purpose. The questions shall consist of multiple questions, with pre-determined answers for each, in order to increase the rate of responses. In addition, the construction of such a survey means that the researcher would not have a hard time analyzing the responses and forming a conclusion towards the end of the study. References Alexander, R., Rose, J., and Woodhead, C. 1992. Curriculum organisation and classroom practice in primary schools: A discussion paper. London: DES. BBC News, 1999. More disabled children in mainstream schools. [Online] (Updated September 17 1999) Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/449408.stm [Accessed January 8 2010] Center for Studies on Inclusive Education, 2008. Including disabled children in mainstream schools. [Online] (Updated April 30 2008) Available at: http://www.csie.org.uk/inclusion/disabled-children.shtml [Accessed January 8 2010 ] Cooper, P. and McIntyre, D. 1996. Effective teaching and learning: Teachers’ and students’ perspectives, Buckingham: Open University Press. Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) (1995). Available at: www.anro.org/html/theact.html.html [Accessed January 7 2010] Every Child Matters (2003) Available at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/about/ [Accessed January 8 2010] Haddadian, A. & Hargrove, Linda, 2003. Infant-toddler intervention: The Transdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 49-58. Halpin, T. 2006, Mainstream schools failing special needs pupils. Times Online. [Online] (Updated January 7 2006) Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1574621/Mainstream- schools-failing-special-needs-pupils.html [Accessed January 7 2010] Read More