Developing Signalong Indonesia: issues of happiness and pedagogy,training and stigmatisation

Signalong Indonesia (SI), a key word signing approach, was created to support the development of Indonesian inclusive schools. A mixed methods approach collected data about teacher’s beliefs and experiences regarding SI from the first two schools to pilot it. Thirty-two teachers completed questionnaires, followed by interviews with nine teachers. Three themes emerged: understanding the nature of SI, the stigmatisation of signers and its reporting by teachers, and the nature of happiness in inclusive pedagogy. The latter reveals, for the first time, the importance of Suka as a culturally mediated intrinsic part of Indonesian inclusive pedagogy. The findings suggest recommendations about SI materials and training, and indicate a new research area regarding inclusive pedagogies within different cultures.     

聋生手语中字词兼代现象分析与思考

聋人手语是聋人使用的一种特殊语言,在聋人手语中明显存在着大量的字词兼代现象。本文从字音、字形、字义、词语类别等方面对聋生手语中字词兼代现象进行分析,发现有同音兼代、形近字兼代、近义词兼代、名词和动词兼代、名词和形容词兼代、数词兼代数量词等现象。本文对聋生书面语中错别字多、词语运用不当、成分残缺,语序颠倒等语法错误成因进行探讨,并作出相关思考。     

例谈初中生数学语言能力的培养

数学语言是数学化了的自然语言,是数学特有的形式化的符号体系,包括文字语言、符号语言和图形语言。数学语言能力就是对文字、符号和图形语言进行相应转化并应用于解决数学问题的能力。初中是培养学生数学语言能力的关键时期,重视这一能力的培养,不仅有利于提高学生对数学概念的理解,而且有利于学生数学解题能力的提高。     

Understanding teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy in inclusive education: implications for pre-service and in-service teacher education

Although there are clear differences in national policies regarding inclusive education, the international debate has not fully considered their impact on implementation within different countries, for example on teacher education. This paper reports on results from a comparative study of in-service teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices in South Africa and Finland and its implications for teacher education in these countries. A sample of 319 South African and 822 Finnish primary and secondary education teachers completed a questionnaire containing a scale measuring sentiments, attitudes and concerns on inclusive education as well as a scale measuring teachers’ self-efficacy in implementing inclusive practices. A comparative analysis indicated that whereas the overall sentiments towards disabilities were positive in both countries, teachers had many concerns about the consequences of including children with disabilities in their classrooms. While the most positive aspect of self-efficacy among the South African teachers was their self-efficacy in managing behaviour, the Finnish teachers saw this as their weakest point. Self-efficacy, in particular efficacy in collaboration, was clearly related to overall attitudes towards inclusion. The implications of these findings for pre-service and in-service teacher education are discussed.     

Additional workload or a part of the job? Icelandic teachers' discourse on inclusive education

The aim of this article is to examine the discourse of Icelandic compulsory school teachers on inclusive education. From 1974 and onwards, the education policy in Iceland has been towards inclusion, and Iceland is considered to be an example of a highly inclusive education system with few segregated resources for students with special educational needs. In particular, the article focuses on what characterises and legitimises teachers' discourse on inclusive education, the contradictions in the discourse and how teachers have involved themselves in the process. We use the approach of historical discourse analysis to analyse the discourse as it appears in interviews with teachers and media articles on education as well as in key documents issued by the Parliament. The article provides an insight into the complexities of this topic and draws attention to underlying issues relevant to inclusive education.     

Principals' and teachers' attitudes and knowledge of inclusive education as predictors of effective teaching practices in Ghana

Surveys and observations were undertaken in selected primary schools in Ghana to determine whether principals' and teachers' attitudes towards and knowledge of inclusive education, as well as principals' expectations of teachers in implementing inclusion, were predictors of effective teaching practices in their classrooms. The sample of 128 educators (20 principals and 108 teachers) drawn from 20 primary schools in two districts, were required to respond to questionnaire measures of Attitude Towards Inclusive Education Scale (ATIES), Knowledge of Inclusive Education Scale (KIES) and Principals' Expectations Scale (PES). Of the total number of teachers ( N  = 108), 37 were observed during instructional delivery in their classrooms. The data were analysed by a variety of statistical procedures including Regression Analysis and Discriminant Function Analysis. In the context of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1985), the results showed that whilst attitudes towards inclusion (attitude element) and knowledge of inclusion (perceived behavioural control element) predicted effective teaching practices, principals' expectations (subjective norm) did not. Implications for the implementation of effective inclusive practices in Ghanaian schools and the need for future research are discussed.     

两种不同的手语

手语的运用有不同的方式。有的手语运用与有声语言之间存在对应 关系。有的手语运用与有声语言之间没有对应关系。根据这种差异,我们可 以把手语分为两种不同的类型。这两种类型的手语具有不同的特点和价值。 明确这两种手语的异同对于手语研究和聋教育研究都是非常重要的。     

Inclusion seen by student teachers in special education: differences among Finnish,Norwegian and Swedish students

This article describes various views of special teacher students towards inclusion. In order to examine these, we analysed a series of statements made by students in Finland, Norway and Sweden. The specific aims were to see how these views can be seen as supportive or challenging for inclusion in schools. A questionnaire with one closed question and two open-ended questions was used in all countries. The results show that students in similar Nordic countries have different views about inclusion. Norwegian students mostly supported inclusion while Finnish students expressed the most reservations. The arguments about inclusion by Norwegian students were the most pupil-focused; those by Finns were teacher-focused, with Swedes being in between. The results seem to reflect the educational policy in these countries. Discussions, more information, as well as good models of inclusion seem to be needed. The implications of these findings for special and regular teacher education are also discussed.     

Beliefs of experienced and student teachers about the nature and purpose of social studies education in New Zealand elementary schools

This paper reports on an investigation carried out in New Zealand into experienced elementary and student teachers’ beliefs about the nature and purpose of social studies education. Since its inclusion in New Zealand's curriculum, social studies has been organized around the notion of citizenship education with curricula and programmes of work influenced by four overarching “traditions” – social studies as: citizenship transmission; social science; reflective inquiry; and personal, social and ethical empowerment. A 20-item scale based on these traditions was administered to 228 student teachers and 64 experienced teachers. A factor analysis indicated that participants' perceptions of the dimensions of social studies education were, with one exception, reasonably close to the four traditions. Despite the contested nature of social studies, the student and experienced teachers held similar positions on the relative importance of the traditions and dimensions. It is argued that this agreement arises, wholly or in part, from their common “apprenticeship of experience” in classrooms, the broader socio-historical context in which their beliefs were developed, the widespread influence of a prevalent educational discourse, and a shared lack of experience in formal knowledge associated with specific social science disciplines. It was concluded that the uncomfortable generational encounters often reported in the literature between novice and experienced teachers are unlikely to occur in relation to the teaching of elementary social studies in New Zealand.     

基于聋人语言认知基础的综合语言教育模式构建

课题通过系列实验研究探讨了聋人手语、唇读、中文阅读与语篇理解的认知基础:(1)手语是语言,有助于促进听觉障碍学生认知能力的发展。(2)唇读是一项复杂的视觉语言认知活动,能通过语音编码进行语音识别,与听觉语言认知具有相同的机理。(3)听觉障碍学生与正常学生尽管在中文阅读与语篇理解过程中认知加工方式的相似性大于差异性,但听觉障碍学生明显滞后于正常学生。据此,我们提出了构建聋人综合语言教育模式的思路,聋校在采用综合语言教育时不可偏废某种语言交流方式,应该根据听觉障碍学生个体的特点或者群体的特点来作出有效的选择。     

The change in epistemological beliefs and beliefs about teaching and learning: a study among pre-service teachers

This study investigated the change in Singaporean pre-service teachers' epistemological beliefs and beliefs about learning and teaching over the course of a teacher preparation program. An online survey was administered during the first week of a nine-month program and the same survey was administered after the 413 participants had completed all their course work and teaching practice. Participants exhibited significant changes in epistemological beliefs and beliefs about learning and teaching – participants indicated more relativistic epistemological outlooks and less constructivism in beliefs about teaching. At the end of the teacher preparation program, they seemed to less value effort in learning and believed more in innate ability.