0000000000326635
AUTHOR
Simone Consegnati
Teacher attitudes in Italy after 40 years of inclusion
In 1977, Italy adopted a policy to fully include students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms. This study surveyed the attitudes of Italian teachers towards inclusive education 40 years after this reform. The data were collected from 153 basic school teachers using the Teachers' Attitudes towards Inclusion Scale (TAIS). The results indicate that the Italian teachers had a high level of commitment to inclusive education. Approximately 90% of the respondents agreed that students with special educational needs should be educated in mainstream classrooms, and only 7% felt that they should be transferred to special education classrooms instead. To improve the quality of inclusive educatio…
Children with Down syndrome in Finland and Italy: comparing adaptive behavior and services
Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare a sample of Italian (n = 29) and Finnish children (n = 32) with Down syndrome for possible differences emerging from diverse educational surroundings. Besides the level of adaptive and challenging behaviors, some other issues were compared, including teacher satisfaction. Methods: We used the children’s teachers as informants. They were interviewed using standardized scales. Results: No differences in adaptive behavior or challenging behavior were observed between the samples. All children from the Italian sample were fully included in mainstream classes, while in the Finnish sample, 92% of all the school years were spent in self-contained sp…