Estudio de las Aulas Abiertas Especializadas desde las voces de las familiasfortalezas y barreras hacia la inclusión

Resumen

One of the main purposes of the current educational system is to offer a quality education which is both inclusive and equitable for all. To achieve this goal, in the Region of Murcia there are being used different actions and resources to attend diversity affairs). This Doctoral Thesis focuses on Specialised Open Classrooms (SOC). These classrooms emerged 25 years ago with the purpose of offering an educational response to student with severe and permanent special needs within the mainstream educational system. This educational framework has been progressing since its launch in 1995/1996 academic year. However, its performance and organisation have not been studied or supervised. The intention of this thesis is to study how this educational system is being applied in the mainstream centres. In particular, to analyse whether it offers an inclusive response to the students who join these classrooms or perpetuate segregation and exclusion. To pursue this intention, it is essential to listen to the people involved in the educational process, such as students, families, professionals and others. Therefore, this vast goal defines a general objective based on the families´ declarations: to analyse the strengths and barriers of inclusion of SOP students in Region of Murcia from a family perspective. Furthermore, this goal can brake down into five more specific objectives: • Analyze the presence and participation of SOC students in the education centre and in the mainstream classroom. • Determine the degree of satisfaction of the families of SOC students regarding the information they receive about their children's progress/ educational process. • Investigate the existing resources in the SOC to promote the inclusion of the students. • Assess the most appropriate schooling approach for severe and permanent special need students. • Establish improvement proposals in relation to SOC. In relation to the methodological aspects, this study falls into the descriptive and non-experimental paradigm). The design is a dominant and sequential mixed method (QUANTITATIVE→qualitative), since qualitative data is used to complement the quantitative information. In the quantitative stage, a total of 296 families participated from 54 education centres with SOC around Region of Murcia. Six families participated in the qualitative stage; these were 6 mothers and 1 father. Five of these families have their children enrolled in SOC within state schools and one family has their children in a private school An ad hoc questionnaire has been used to collect the quantitative data from the families regarding different aspects of the SOC. This questionnaire includes 48 items which are divided in five dimensions. The qualitatively information has been collected via both the Dimension E of the questionnaire and the observations and comments made by the families. The results of this study show different barriers in the operation and organisation of the SOC to provide an inclusive response to the students who attend this program. Families perceive obstacles when it comes to materialise both the presence of their children in SOC and their participation in activities with the rest of their classmates and in the regular classrooms. The information provided to families about certain aspects (activities carried out in the regular classroom, work carried out by different professionals, etc.) is seen as aspects to improve. In particular, although it can be highlighted the extension of the families´ satisfaction in respect to the work carried out by the diversity-focused professionals, the families´ satisfaction regarding the work of the rest of the professionals could be greater). In relation to the availability of material and personal resources, it is considered as an obstacle to the proper functioning of these classes. However, despite of the limitations perceived by the families, they consider SOC as the most suitable schooling program for their children. Ultimately, the results of this study suggest the need for changes at all levels to continue progressing and improving the functioning of these classes, facilitating the presence, participation and learning of all student in an inclusive and standardised environment).