Research paperThe role of the Support and Attention to Diversity Teacher (SADT) from a community-based perspective: Promoting educational success and educational inclusion for all
Introduction
The impetus shown by inclusive schools represents an investment in improving the efficiency of educational institutions and assuring the participation and the success of all students, particularly student groups at risk of exclusion and academic failure (Echeita & Ainscow, 2011). These types of schools demonstrate the importance of collaboration amongst the various educational agents to generate more inclusive structures that eliminate barriers to learning and encourage the participation of all students (Ainscow, 2001, Booth and Ainscow, 2002). Currently, scientific evidence demonstrates the value of serving all students in the classroom to ensure academic success (Cole et al., 2004, Kalambouka et al., 2007) and reduce social inequalities (Hargreaves, 1979, Lucas, 2001; Rosenbaum, 1976). In an increasingly complex society, addressing diversity in mainstream schools has become a major issue not only because diversity concerns learning but also to build healthier societies (Orfield, Frankenberg, & Siegel-Hawley, 2010). In this context, it is absolutely essential to rethink the role of the traditional special education teacher, in this article designated the Support and Attention to Diversity Teacher (SADT, or Support Teacher, to simplify) because the research and our experience demonstrate that this title better represents the functions that the Support Teacher performs.
Traditionally, the concept of support has been associated with the idea of help, predominantly individually based, provided to students who, for various reasons, experience difficulties in following an educational process parallel to the process of their peers. It was assumed that these difficulties were primarily intrinsic to the student and required special education. The medical-clinical framework that extends from diagnosis to treatment permeated this model, and we mostly continue to pay for the results of this framework (Alborno and Gaad, 2014, Bines and Lei, 2011, Griffin et al., 2008).
Although we have not left this model entirely and do not have the means to understand and address learning difficulties, beginning with the inclusive school movement of the 1990s, the theory and practice of understanding the support provided and the role of the special education teacher was called into question (Ainscow, 2001). In an inclusive context, support cannot be viewed as an entity that is disconnected from the dynamics and purpose of the centre itself (Porter & Smith, 2008). Therefore, in this study, we understand educational support as a set of practices that act in two manners. On the one hand, there is the goal of eliminating the barriers to learning and participation that limit the progress of students (Booth & Ainscow, 2002), particularly students belonging to the most vulnerable groups. Conversely, there is the goal of accelerating the learning of disadvantaged students (Levin, 1998, Slavin et al., 2011) and prioritizing the most relevant content for students who cannot manage the mandatory curriculum in its entirety, as may occur with students with intellectual disabilities.
The role of the SADT becomes more complex because of socio-cultural and interactive learning perspectives and their resultant difficulties, understanding that learning occurs by interaction and dialogue (Edwards and Mercer, 1988, Mercer, 1997, Wells, 2001) situated in a particular social and cultural context (Bruner, 1996, Cazden, 1991, Lave and Wenger, 1991, Rogoff, 1993, Vygotski, 1988). Based on this premise, we understand that the role of the faculty is closely linked to the dynamics of the school and its environment. This understanding precludes considering this teacher to be an added element or a specialist foreign to the reality of the centre and the community in which the school is located, as indicated by recent research (Alborno and Gaad, 2014, Bleach, 2013).
Scientific research recognizes that developing inclusive educational practices requires a “network of standardized support” (Muntaner et al., 2006, Stainback and Stainback, 2004). In an inclusive school, assuming that educational processes are driven by interactions, we can no longer consider the SADT to be the only figure who provides support. Moreover, an increasing number of findings indicate that the coordinated action of all agents who interact with the child is the best guarantee of providing effective support (Ault et al., 2013, Russell, 2008, Ryder et al., 2014). Overcoming the barriers that limit such collaboration (Hodge & Runswick-Cole, 2008) should be one of the first objectives of this type of support, including in the field of research (O'Brien, McConkey, & Garcia-Iriarte, 2014). The network composed of these agents must comprehensively address the entire educational system, and their actions must not be focused exclusively on students with special educational needs but should seek to facilitate the participation and learning of all students.
Various studies suggest that the roles of the SADT include teaching, advising, and management (Eisenman et al., 2010, Takala et al., 2009, Vlachou, 2006). Thus, the relevant question is what type of context and from what perspective of attention to diversity are these functions developed.
Traditionally, the function of teaching was the only function considered for the special education teacher, with a focus on small groups of students, all with educational difficulties, outside the regular classroom and within school hours (Markussen, 2004, Takala et al., 2009). This practice, which separated students by levels of learning and other forms of segregation, similar to the premature selection based on tracks, negatively affects the most vulnerable students because this practice increases and accentuates existing educational inequalities (Braddock and Slavin, 1992, Oakes, 1985, OECD, 2012, Petreñas et al., 2013).
Thus, the function of the SADT may include more inclusive formats, developing itself principally within the mainstream classroom and directed at all students (Giné, Duran, Font, & Miquel, 2009), working collaboratively with the tutor in a co-teaching modality. Various studies address the effect of co-teaching (two teachers in the classroom), which, among other benefits, renders it possible to support students who have more difficulty in the mainstream classroom, advise the general teacher on how to improve his/her praxis, and monitor the progress of students with learning difficulties or some type of disability in a mainstream context, thus achieving greater educational efficiency (Austin, 2001, Gurgur and Uzuner, 2011, Huguet, 2006, Mastropieri et al., 2005, Weiss and LIoyd, 2002, Strogilos and Stefanidis, 2015). That said, shared teaching presents new challenges for teachers. According to Strogilos and Tragoulia (2013), shared planning, specific training to prepare teachers for collaboration, and a good understanding and willingness to collaborate with other teachers are necessary.
Eisenman et al. (2010) observed that advising suggests accompanying the general teacher in the improvement of learning, teaching, and assessment strategies by mutual learning and negotiating that indirectly effects the improvement of the learning processes of students.
The management function includes participation in coordinating meetings among teachers, student assessments, the design of materials, the monitoring of students with more difficulties, and coordination with other stakeholders in the educational community (Takala et al., 2009). To that end, according to the reviewed literature (Carpenter and Dyal, 2007, Knackendoffel, 2005, Wallace et al., 2002, Eisenman et al., 2010), the creation of formal structures that promote collaborative spaces between teachers are important, given that the good administration of these spaces affects student performance (Eisenman et al., 2010).
The Catalan Educational System is regulated by the Education Law of Catalonia (2009), which promotes the right to a quality education and endorses attention to diversity to achieve equal opportunities. Different modalities of schooling are provided to students with special educational needs: mainstream school, shared schooling (when the student attends a mainstream school for a period of time and a special school for another period of time), or special education schools.
Regular schools are staffed with one or more special education teachers (SADT) whose mission is to attend to students’ learning difficulties, giving preference to students with disabilities. Those schools that must attend to students with serious afflictions or extreme limitations to their autonomy have a Special Education Support Unit (USEE) with at least one special education teacher and one specialized teacher in addition to a supply of specialized materials.
The structure of the educational system in Catalonia is sectorized in such a manner that in each zone of the country (locality or neighbourhood in large cities), there is a Psychopedagogical Orientation and Advising Team (EAP) comprising psychologists, psychopedagogists and social workers. These individuals are responsible for providing diagnoses and orientation for students with special education needs (SEN) and for their families in addition to advising in the schools of their respective zones.
In this article, we analyse the distinguishing features of the role of support teachers who develop their work in inclusive schools by adopting a community-based perspective, opening up to the community and emphasizing support for the quality of the interactions. In this manner, we expect to [1] identify the role of the support teacher in the individualized attention to students with greater needs when his/her intervention is inclusive, [2] further examine the support teacher's relationship with all of the other teachers at the school, and [3] delve into the relationships created between the support teacher and the educational community.
Section snippets
Methodology
To respond to these objectives, we conducted a qualitative study based on Communicative Methodology (Gómez, Latorre, Sánchez Aroca, & Arrow, 2006), which is based on the need to overcome the epistemological gap between researchers and the other participants, teachers, families, and students who contribute their cultural knowledge derived from their own experiences (Oliver, de Botton, Soler, & Merrill, 2011). A communicative research orientation draws on Habermas (2001) and his premise that a
Findings
In accordance with the objectives established in Point 1.4 and the information organized within the categories and subcategories (see annex), we have organized the results to consider the functions assumed by an SADT in an inclusive school related to [1] how specialized and individualized care is transformed into integrated care in the classroom, [2] how this type of inclusive support generates a new context and collaboration among all teachers, [3] how community participation in educational
Discussion
The results show us that individualized attention to students with special needs inhabits a sociocultural context that includes the students in the standardized learning process. Instead of mobilizing students with difficulties towards specialized resources, the specialized resources seek out the students. This phenomenon represents a paradigm shift in which difficulties are not attributed to the children but in fact have much to do with the students’ educational and social context. From this
Conclusions
This research has allowed us to identify the change from teacher support to the SADT, a situation that occurs within a community paradigm of participating schools. In this context, the work of the SADT includes, as a component of its core functions, being integrated into mainstream classroom teaching, counselling and collaboration with all of the teaching staff as well as the management and coordination of a job network that is focused on promoting inclusive educational support.
In this
Acknowledgements
This research would not have been possible without the contributions of colleagues from the Seminar on Educational Support: Àngela Castelló, Minerva Díaz, Conxi Escartín, Alba Illa, Montse Imbert, Maria Jornet, Marta Mateu, Rosa Montiel, Laia Muñoz, Silvia Prat, Joana Rodríguez, M. José Segura, Belinda Siles, and Aina Torroella. We must also acknowledge the support provided by the Department of Didactics and Educational Organization (DOE) and the Educational Sciences Institute (ICE) of the
Gabriela Gómez-zepeda has a BA in Psychology from the University of Guadalajara. She is a PhD candidate in Education at the University of Barcelona, where she is also part of the research group in socio-education. She is an Associate Professor in the area of inclusive education in the Department of Didactics and Educational Organization. She is researching the importance of inclusive education as a method of overcoming poverty and stimulating the inclusion of vulnerable groups.
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Gabriela Gómez-zepeda has a BA in Psychology from the University of Guadalajara. She is a PhD candidate in Education at the University of Barcelona, where she is also part of the research group in socio-education. She is an Associate Professor in the area of inclusive education in the Department of Didactics and Educational Organization. She is researching the importance of inclusive education as a method of overcoming poverty and stimulating the inclusion of vulnerable groups.
Cristina Petreñas has a PhD in Education from the University of Barcelona. She is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the Development and Educational Psychology section at the University of Lleida. She is a member of the research group “Plurilinguism and Education” and a member of a Seminar on Inclusive Education Research. Her work is concentrated on the analysis of the educative and cultural identity of students in multicultural and multilingual contexts, interaction, and inclusive education, especially concerning educative support and teacher training in the development of inclusion-related competences.
Dorys Sabando is a PhD candidate in Education at the University of Barcelona. She is conducting a study in the field of inclusive education and learning outcomes in primary schools. She is member of the Seminar on Education Research. She is a special education teacher, and she has developed her job with disabled children in contexts of high social risk and has also trained future teachers at the university education level.
Ignasi Puigdellívol holds a doctorate in Educational Sciences from the University of Barcelona, where he is a Professor in the Department of Didactics and Educational Organization. He was a Dean in the Teacher Training Faculty at this University, where he offered principal training. He is part of the Interactive Media Lab (IML), whose field of research focuses on inclusive education, particularly in special needs and minority groups.