TORONTO, August 22, 1997 -- A national study, led by York University education professor Gary Bunch, has found for the first time ever that a majority of educators support integrating exceptional children into regular classrooms.

"Up to now, most studies have concentrated on the concerns teachers and school administrators have with including children with disabilities in regular classrooms," said Bunch, who has studied this issue for 30 years, both as a professor and as a teacher in residential schools for the deaf. "This study breaks new ground by discovering that in spite of these concerns, most teachers and educators believe that inclusion is an educational good -- that both exceptional kids and their `regular' peers benefit from inclusion."

Bunch conducted the study, entitled "Resistance and Acceptance: Educator Attitudes to Inclusion of Students with Disabilities," with colleagues Margaret Brown of Acadia University and Judy Lupart of the University of Calgary. They looked at the attitudes of elementary and secondary school educators from a range of schools: fully inclusive, where exceptional children spend all day in regular classrooms; integrated or mainstreamed, where some exceptional students spend their day in regular classrooms, while others move between the regular classroom and a special classroom; and segregated, where special education structures exist completely outside of the regular curriculum.

Bunch, Brown and Lupart found that more than two-thirds of the people they interviewed believed that inclusion was academically beneficial for both exceptional children and their peers in a regular classroom. Approximately 90 per cent believed that inclusion produced social benefits for both groups. And almost all educators in the study expressed concerns that support and proper training for teachers were necessary to make inclusion practical and successful.

Government policies toward educating children with disabilities vary from province to province. In Ontario, official government policy favours integration into regular classrooms, but there are currently only six school boards out of 168 with fully inclusive systems.

"Above all else, teachers believe that students of all abilities need to interact with each other. School is an ideal place for kids to learn that our society is diverse, and that we all bring different qualities to the world," said Bunch.

"Teachers want inclusion to work because they recognize that it is best for the included kids and their classmates. And the policy and practice implications that arise out of this study don't necessarily mean more money. We just need to make some choices about how we allocate resources: do we pay for two parallel systems, one for mainstream kids and one for exceptional kids, or do we figure out a way to integrate those systems?" asked Bunch.

The results of this study, conducted from 1994 to 1997, come from three sources. Some 2,250 educators received questionnaires, and 67 per cent (or 1,492) responded. The authors also analyzed respondents' spontaneous written comments. And finally, the research team conducted in-depth interviews with 133 educators.

The authors also explored how changes to educational policies and practices can make inclusion work more effectively. They consulted research partners -- organizations such as the Canadian Council for Exceptional Children, the Canadian Association for Community Living, ministries of education, school systems cooperating in the study, and the Canadian Teachers' Federation -- to get their input on the implications of this study for government, school systems, support/advocacy organizations, and faculties of education.

"The policy and practice implications that came out of the meetings with our research partners were far-reaching, but, I believe, very workable," said Bunch. "One of our primary conclusions is that past solutions to the challenge of educating exceptional children will not work. We can't just keep current structures in place, continuing to throw money at the problem by, for example, hiring more teaching assistants, without dealing with teachers' concerns: that they aren't trained properly to deal with inclusion, and that their administrators and school boards often aren't giving them the kind of support they need to make inclusion work."

Participants in this study developed a number of alternatives to the status quo. First, they recommended that governments develop a Ministry of the Child, in order to deal with children's health, education and social service needs more coherently. Other implications for government included a need for adequate funding when students are included, a need for governments to stimulate school-family collaboration, and a need to clarify governmental policies on inclusion.

Participants wanted to see school boards clarify their policies toward inclusion, prepare their systems for an influx of students with challenges into regular classrooms, demonstrate greater leadership, and better prepare teachers and administrators for the challenges of inclusion.

"Our research partners also saw an important role for support and advocacy organizations. These organizations need to develop collaborative relationships with educators, provide resources for educators and families, and do research into the nature and effect of inclusion," said Bunch.

Finally, the study concluded that faculties of education should better prepare their graduates for integration. The study also concluded that student teachers should have the chance to practice teach in inclusive settings. Faculties of education should also collaborate with school systems to develop inservice training that would train practicing teachers in how to deal with exceptional children.

The final phase of Bunch, Brown and Lupart's study begins this fall, when they will publish the first of five booklets about inclusion. The first booklet will be a review of the current research on inclusion, and the other four will be manuals for elementary and secondary teachers and principals on how to make inclusion work.

This study was completed with the assistance of six graduate research assistants, four of whom have disabilities themselves. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, which funded the majority of the $100,000 four-year study, cooperated with the Status of Disabled Persons Secretariat, part of Human Resources Development Canada, to make this possible.

For more information, please contact:

Gary Bunch
Faculty of Education
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22810
home: (416) 244-1215

Sine MacKinnon
Senior Advisor for Media Relations
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087
email: sinem@yorku.ca

Alison Masemann
Media Relations Officer
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22086
email: masemann@yorku.ca
YU/067/97

ON THE CHILD'S RIGHT TO INCLUSION:

"Experience has shown that the ghettoization of children, in any capacity...does not help children blend in society...It's not good for the dominant group...because it gives them such a limited perspective on the world."

ON THE ACADEMIC VALUE OF INCLUSION:

"Inclusion talks to [the fact] that we are all learners. We are together in this society. We have different things to contribute and learn from each other."

"It would allow [regular children] to become peer helpers, peer coaches, and, therefore strengthen their academic skills."

"With special education classes...there's a kind of mentality that's built it. Kids start to think they're dummies because they're in the dummy class."

ON THE SOCIAL VALUE OF INCLUSION:

"There's a lot of learning in the classroom besides what applies strictly to the curriculum. There's a lot of social attitudes that are fostered in the classroom. It's important for us to relate to all types of people. That all people are special."

"Students begin to accept exceptional students as people rather than just looking at their disabilities first."

"[Your] peers can be the ones that hurt you the most. There can't be the protection as much from...teasing and name calling."

ON THE TEACHER'S ABILITY TO DEAL WITH INCLUSION:

"A lot of teachers are afraid that they don't have the training to follow up with the children."

"With the proper support you can do it confidently...I wasn't confident at first, but then I learned to be more confident."

"I think the major concern at this point is how will I deal with the rest of the kids? How will it affect them?"

ON SUPPORT FROM ADMINISTRATORS AND SCHOOL SYSTEMS:

"The subject teacher needs to know the administration is fully supportive of [inclusion/integration], prepared to provide resources where possible."

"Administrators that I've worked with have done their best to offer the support that's necessary."

"[Teachers] want to know that their administrators recognize the stresses, the anguish they feel, the fears they feel."