Graduate Students’ Perception on their Competence and the Benefits of Inclusive Education

Inclusive education has gained significant attention as a means to foster equitable and accessible learning environments for students with diverse backgrounds abilities. This study adopted a descriptive-correlational approach to assessed the perceived competence of the Graduate Students’ and the advantages of inclusion for Learners with and without Special Educational Needs to provide equal opportunities for all regardless of their abilities or disabilities. There were 102 respondents in the Graduate Students’ Education for Masters in Special Education responded to the survey questionnaires that evaluated their perceptions of their own competency and the advantages of inclusive education. The results aim to explore graduate students' perceptions regarding their competence in inclusive education and the perceived advantages associated with this educational approach. It can be concluded that the both Graduate Students’ Competence and Benefits of Inclusion to Learners without Special Educational Needs, and Graduate Students’ Competence and Benefits of Inclusion to Learners with Special Educational Needs (LSENs) is highly beneficial to both type of learners. They believed they were very competent and asserted in handling both Learners with Special Educational Needs and Learners without Special Educational Needs. Additionally, the advantages of inclusive education for Learners with Special Educational Needs and Learners without Special Educational Needs are strongly correlated with their perceived competence.

Special Education, Inclusive Education, Descriptive-Correlational Design, Cebu City, Philippines

1. UNESCO. (2017). A guide for ensuring inclusion and equity in education. UNESCO Publishing. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. United Nations. (2018). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. United Nations. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Department of Education. (2017). Policy guidelines on inclusive education for learners with disabilities. Department of Education. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Byrd, D. R., & Alexander, M. (2020). Investigating special education teachers’ knowledge and skills: Preparing general teacher preparation for professional development. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 4(2), 72–82. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Florian, L. (2019). On the necessary co-existence of special and inclusive education. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23(7–8), 691–704. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Goldan, J., Hoffmann, L., & Schwab, S. (2021). A matter of resources? – Students’ academic self-concept, social inclusion and school well-being in inclusive education. In Resourcing Inclusive Education (Vol. 15, pp. 89–100). Emerald Publishing Limited. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Heyder, A., Südkamp, A., & Steinmayr, R. (2020). How are teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion related to the social-emotional school experiences of students with and without special educational needs? Learning and Individual Differences, 77, 101776. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Lautenbach, F., & Heyder, A. (2019). Changing attitudes to inclusion in preservice teacher education: A systematic review. Educational Research, 61(2), 231–253. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2019.1596035 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Moberg, S., Muta, E., Korenaga, K., Kuorelahti, M., & Savolainen, H. (2020). Struggling for inclusive education in Japan and Finland: Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 35(1), 100–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2019.1615800 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Nilsen, S. (2020). Inside but still on the outside? Teachers’ experiences with the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in general education. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 24(9), 980–996. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Rasmitadila, R., Rachmadtullah, R., Samsudin, A., Tambunan, A., Khairas, E., & Nurtanto, M. (2020). The benefits of implementation of an instructional strategy model based on the brain’s natural learning systems in inclusive classrooms in higher education. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 15(18), 53–72. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Saloviita, T. (2020). Teacher attitudes towards the inclusion of students with support needs. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 20(1), 64–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-3802.12466 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Vantieghem, W., Roose, I., Gheyssens, E., Griful-Freixenet, J., Keppens, K., Vanderlinde, R., Struyven, K., & Van Avermaet, P. (2020). Professional vision of inclusive classrooms: A validation of teachers’ reasoning on differentiated instruction and teacher-student interactions. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 67, 100912. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

• Assessment of the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Repositioning TVET for Economic Development in Nigeria
• Teachers’ Use of Assure Model Instructional Design on Learners’ Problem Solving Efficacy in Secondary Schools in Bungoma County, Kenya
• “E-Booksan Ang Kaalaman”: Development, Validation, and Utilization of Electronic Book in Academic Performance of Grade 9 Students in Social Studies
• Analyzing EFL University Students’ Academic Speaking Skills Through Self-Recorded Video Presentation
• Major Findings of The Study on Total Quality Management in Teachers’ Education Institutions (TEIs) In Assam – An Evaluative Study