Influence of teacher experience and training on their attitudes towards education of children with impaired vision in secondary schools

As a contemporary educational tendency, inclusion captures a great deal of attention from researchers, and hence there are numerous studies dealing with various aspects of this process. This paper is aimed at studying whether experience in work with children with impaired vision and training for work with children with disabilities lead to differences in teacher evaluations of: (a) the problems the children with impaired vision are facing in regular school; (b) readiness of regular school for inclusive education of this group of children. The sample comprised 63 teachers in regular secondary schools: 54% have had previous experience in working with children with impaired vision, while 42.9% attended training for work with children with disabilities. The results of two-factor analysis (ANOVA) suggest that teacher experience and training have an independent effect on their evaluations. Compared to the teachers without experience in work with visually impaired children, the teachers who have had this experience evaluate considerably lower the problems of adaptation and students’ fitting in school environment, complying with the demands of compulsory curriculum and the level of teacher education, while they evaluate much higher school readiness when it comes to the level of training of teaching staff. The teachers trained for work with children with disabilities evaluate lower than teachers without previous training the student problems in the accomplishment of the compulsory curriculum and much higher teacher training, adjustment of textbooks and teaching aids. The obtained findings indicate that teacher experience and training play a significant role in teacher readiness for inclusive education.