Student Perspectives on Inclusive Education: A Survey of Grade 3-6 Children in Rural Alberta, Canada
, Donna McGhie-Richmond 2, Jennifer Barber 3, Judy Lupart 31 Concordia University College of Alberta
2 University of Victoria
3 University of Alberta
Editorial Note: As this article is written by two of the editors of the International Journal of Whole Schooling, Dr. Michael Peterson (Professor at Wayne State University and Director of the Whole Schooling Consortium) acted as editor in place of the authors. This article underwent the same rigorous double peer-review and revision process as all articles submitted to the IJWS, and the decision to publish was made independently by Dr. Peterson.
Abstract
This paper, one of a series, reports the results of a survey of 413 children in Grades Three to Six on inclusive education in a school district in rural Alberta, Canada. The aims of the study were to examine the views of children regarding their experience in schools claiming to be inclusive, situated within a jurisdiction which also claims to be inclusive, and to try and identify any demographic differences in responses. The study found that the school district under examination was generally doing a good job of inclusion in the eyes of the students, and that there were little differences in this view between groups of children identified with exceptionality, and those who were not. Future areas of study include the addition of a qualitative aspect to the examination of student views.
Keywords
- inclusive education
- student perspectives
- rural education
- Alberta
- Canada
- special education
- school climate
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