Special educator in public kindergartens, schools and institutions - a new position of specialist in the Polish education system in the opinion of teachers

Abstract

Objectives The aim of the undertaken research was to present the role of a new specialist in the system of mainstream education, i.e. a special educator - in the perception of teachers Material and methods In order to gather empirical material, a diagnostic survey method was used, which included an author's questionnaire consisting of 20 open and closed questions. The survey covered 127 teachers of kindergartens, primary and secondary general public schools, mainly from the south of Poland. The selection of people for the study was purposive, but despite this, a distribution similar to the population structure was obtained Results The results of the study indicate that the vast majority of the surveyed teachers of mainstream schools, as many as 87%, see not only the need, but even the necessity for a special educator. He or she should play the role of coordinator in the team of specialists employed in mainstream educational institutions. The surveyed teachers indicated as the main tasks of the special educator the conduct of therapeutic classes, cooperation with the psychological-educational counselling centre, adaptation of the teaching process to the special needs of students. Conclusions Teachers of mainstream education consider the creation of a new position of special educator as a necessity in the current phase of development of inclusive education.

Keywords

• inclusive education
• special educator
• special educational needs
• disability
• mainstream education