Factors Related to Parents’ Perceptions on Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities who hadbeen Integrated into General Education Classes

Bang, Myong-Ye; Kim, Keun-A

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 2002;7(3): 298-313.

Myong-Ye Bang^` , and Keun-A Kim^`

방명애(Myong-Ye Bang)| 김근아(Keun-A Kim)

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were (a) to investigate factors related to parents’ perceptions of the inclusive education for children with disabilities who had been integrated into general education classes and (b) to investigate parents’ recommendations for inclusive education. One hundred and forty-nine parents who had children with disabilities participated in this study. For the first research purpose, four independent variables such as family income, age of the child with disability, the degree of child’s disability, and the duration of inclusion were selected. Parents’ perceptions of inclusive education were the dependent variable measured by ‘The Parental Attitudes Scale Toward Mainstreaming’ developed by Green and Stoneman(1989). The scale is composed of 32 items. Data were analyzed by multiple regression. The results of this study were as follows: First, family income and child’s age were statistically meaningful independent variables related to parents’ perceptions of inclusive education. That is, as family income was higher, the more positive parents’ perceptions of inclusive education expressed. And, as a child was younger, the more positive parents’ perceptions of inclusive education expressed. But, the degree of child’s disability and the duration of inclusion experiences were not statistically meaningful independent variables related to parents’ perceptions of inclusive education. Second, as recommendations for improving inclusive education, parents suggested that general education teachers and nondisabled children should be more concerned with special education and inclusive education, and that the attitudes of general education teachers and nondisabled children toward children with disabilities should be improved.