Abstract
Debilitating Conditions. Barriers of inclusive practices are rooted in certain conditions of organizational structures as well as in the manner of training teachers and administrators. These barriers are hurting the level of participation of disabled students, meaningful collaborative efforts among the specialty faculty, and compatibility of the teacher training program and inclusive practices. Therefore, neither various, fragmented forms of classroom practices nor specialized techniques can adequately respond to the needs of diversified students.
New Conceptualisation. Conditions that should be changed to foster inclusive practices may include, among others, redefining the role and function of administrators, centring the special education program curriculum in all courses of study, and leaving decision making on planning, implementing, assessing, and revising of the inclusive teacher preparation program to solely the faculty. The new conceptual framework focuses on a teacher as a decision maker with the curriculum designed to foster collaborative teaching.
Current conditions of educational organizations are far too short of expecting desirable outcomes of inclusive practices. Organizational conditions which become barriers of inclusive practices may be summed up in two major areas of concern. One major area of concern is the structural problem and the other major concern is the manner of training teachers and administrators. These barriers hurt the level of participation of disabled students, meaningful collaborative efforts among the faculty, and compatibility of the teacher and administrator training programs and inclusive practices. Therefore, neither various, fragmented forms of classroom practice nor specialized teaching techniques can adequately respond to the needs of diversified students.
Structural Problems. Certainly, restructuring organizational conditions aforementioned may be an option to take to foster the development of inclusive practices. Here are the reasons. When an administrator functions merely as a manager using a top-down approach, the fate of inclusive practices are at the mercy of the personality of the administrator. In such a situation, it is difficult to expect meaningful collaborative relationships among educators, not only from the philosophical perspective but also from organizational perspective. Although, at least in theory, administrators are supposed to play the role of instructional leaders as well as managers, there are many who do not have expertise and willingness to function as instructional leaders. Some of them hardly function as good managers, either. This is due to the lack of training for administrators. Lack of training does not necessarily indicates lack of opportunities; this means lack of participation and lack of willingness on the part of the administrators to improve the teaching and learning process for all students. In reality, it is difficult, if not impossible, to ask administrators to play dual roles-the role of a manager and the role of an instructional leader. Without well-defining the role and function of an administrator, offering training opportunities is nonsense. It is simply not realistic. If anybody has doubt about this statement, look more carefully into the schools and see what is actually going on. The organizational structure should be restructured in such a way that a student should be educated properly to become administrator who knows exactly what he/she is supposed to do. The other problem which becomes a barrier to inclusive practices is improper training of teachers in general. Without the right attitude toward inclusive practices, enough content area knowledge base, and teaching skills, a teacher can hardly teach students in a proper way.
Possible Solutions. Some basic conditions that should be altered or replaced to make inclusive practices successful and meaningful may include (1) Limiting the role of administrators to management of plans and resources along with related outcome measures in the larger context of educational practices, and coordinate the plans and efforts of specialty experts; and (2) Leaving decision making on planning, implementing, and evaluating a full cycle of instructional practices to the teacher who is educated as a decision maker with the curriculum designed to foster collaborative teaching and learning for all students. Teachers should have the ability to make their own decisions without interference and without worrying about resources to meet the needs of individual students rather than consumers of education where teachers are only interested in utilizing ready-made materials and teaching processes.
Since the restructuring the organizational structure is interwoven with education of teachers and administrators, an analogy may explain the relationship. Let us suppose a driver education teacher is going to give a student driving instruction. A mechanic must make sure that the car is in a good condition. The driver education teacher should have knowledge and experience how to help the student. The student must be ready to receive the instruction. After instruction and some practices, the student should be ready to drive the car. The student who needs to learn how to drive should have an ability to make decisions while he is driving. He/she sits in the driver seat. The teacher should know what to do when his/her student is making wrong decisions. He/she sits in the passenger seat, ready to help. If three parties-the mechanic, the student, and the teacher-do their job faithfully and competently, the education will bring desired outcomes. However, any of the three parties involved here do not do the job correctly, something undesirable might happen. The mechanic may be compared to an administrator who needs to create and prepare the environment in such a way that the teacher and the student can engage in a teaching and learning process. Administrators should mobilize their staff to get things ready for the student and the teacher. This managerial function should be their job, as shown in Figure 1.2. Anything related to instruction should be left to the faculty. Parents can function as partners of education. In order to make this happen, the teacher education programs should focus on decision making which involves process and application and reflection on outcomes, as shown in Figure 1.3.
Summary. The ultimate goal of education is to help our students to become self-sufficient, self-regulated individuals who will take care of themselves and their families and making contributions to the society and humanity. An examination of current literature will reveal that the goals of school reform and renewal efforts, effective schooling efforts, and inclusive education are strikingly similar, if not identical. This simply means that inclusive education is nothing more than good teaching for all students. In order to achieve these goals, current organizational conditions must be changed. Redefining the role and function of administrators [managerial function to provide needed conditions and resources] and educating teachers, administrators, and students as decision makers may be possible solutions to root out the important barriers of organizational conditions which hinder the progress of inclusive practices for all students. This is graphically illustrated in Figure 1.1.
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