Analysis of year one-to-three curriculum, workbooks and textbooks inclusiveness

摘要

Inclusion can be defined in various ways. However, it is most frequently connected with the education of people with special needs. The thesis highlights the meaning of a broader view of inclusion as integrating in society and describes in more detail the inclusion in the area of education. Awareness of diversity is a highly important factor in today’s politics of education worldwide. Among the factors having significant influence on the success of inclusion are teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and values. The success of inclusion depends mainly on the teachers – the curriculum, textbooks and workbooks form the basis for their work. These materials serve them to present also the contents regarding people with special needs and other groups that may have difficulties with social integration. By providing positive descriptions of all social groups, the education system stimulates equality in the society. The contents described in this thesis are defined as inclusive contents.udThe analysis of the curriculum, textbooks and workbooks inclusiveness for year one to three of primary education shows that the explicit inclusive contents prevail on the implicit ones. Participation, gender, the need for help and frequency of individual and group portraiture were also analyzed. The content analysis of the interviews with teachers who are successful at practical application of inclusion shows that they more frequently transmit the inclusive contents implicitly than explicitly. As a summary of the findings, key guidelines for dealing with inclusive contents in primary education were proposed. These guidelines have shown that systematic, as well as spontaneous transmission of inclusive contents are equally relevant. However, there are features of particular environments to be taken into account, and active participation to be included in the courses.ud