IAFOR Journal of Education: Volume 9 – Issue 1– Inclusive Education
Editor: Tamsin Hinton-Smith
Editor-in-Chief: Yvonne Masters
Published: February 19, 2021
ISSN: 2187-0594
https://doi.org/10.22492/ije.9.1
Editor's Introduction
Welcome to the IAFOR Journal of Education: Inclusive Education. What a journey it has been. It has been an immense privilege to work with a team of international colleagues so committed to increasing the inclusivity of educational opportunities, experiences and outcomes within their diverse contexts. This issue would not have been possible without all of the wonderful contributions from submitting authors, the expertise of our team of international reviewers, and the editorial teams for the issue and wider IAFOR journal. When we got together as an editorial team for this issue, one of our priorities was that this special issue should live up to the values of its focus. We know that minority world researchers are under-represented in international journal authorship and we did not want that to happen here. We are overjoyed to have worked on bringing this collection with researchers and research contexts including Cyprus, Germany, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Spain.
The field of inclusive education encompasses a vast spread of issues and experiences globally, as testified by the array of submissions we have received for this issue. This issue addresses the inclusivity of pedagogic and curricula practices in learning contexts from mainstream and special needs from nursery through to secondary education, to university students and employability. Articles explore the inclusivity of education experiences for diverse groups that include foreign language learners; adolescent mothers; and autistic spectrum learners. Authors draw on insights from diverse intentional theorists of the social role of education, from Freire, to Bourdieu. Articles explore themes and problematise concepts including multicultural education, democracy, equality, justice, citizenship, meritocracy, human capital, inclusion as corporate social responsibility, and the potential of robotics to further special needs inclusion. Experiences of educators and educated are explored through multiple quantitative and qualitative research approaches from cross-national quantitative analysis across 52 countries, through to in-depth case study and narrative approaches utilising teacher and learner surveys, interviews, and classroom observation.
Articles
School’s Perspectives on Educational Programmes under Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives. Case Study: Malaysia
Athirah Azhar, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia
Azlinda Azman, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Understanding Cross-National Differences in Inclusive Education Coverage: An Empirical Analysis
Steve R. Entrich, University of Potsdam, Germany
Educational Experiences of Adolescent Mothers while Studying College in the Philippines
Ryan Ray G. Gatbonton, Adamson University, Philippines
African Immigrant Teachers Teaching Young EFL Learners: A Racial Discrimination Study
Chinaza Solomon Ironsi, Near East University, Turkey
Exploring the Potentials of Robotics in Supporting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Susan T. Mostajo, De La Salle University – Dasmariñas, Philippines
Olivia M. Legaspi, De La Salle University – Dasmariñas, Philippines
Manuel G. Camarse, De La Salle University – Dasmariñas, Philippines
Royce A. Salva, De La Salle University – Dasmariñas, Philippines
Exploring Implementation of National Special Needs Education Policy Guidelines in Private Secondary Schools
Gift Mbewe, University of Malawi, Malawi
Elizabeth Kamchedzera, University of Malawi, Malawi
Esthery Dembo Kunkwenzu, University of Malawi, Malawi
Engaging, Affirming, Nurturing Inclusive Environment: A Grounded Theory Study in the Philippine Context
Princess Zarla J. Raguindin, Far Eastern University, Philippines
Zhanina U. Custodio, Philippine Normal University, Philippines
Ferdinand Bulusan, Batanes State College, Philippines
Employability and Inclusion of Non-traditional University Students: Limitations and Challenges
María Aurora Tenorio Rodríguez, University of Seville, Spain
José González-Monteagudo, University of Seville, Spain
Teresa Padilla-Carmona, University of Seville, Spain
Maltese Educators’ Perceptions of Democracy, Equality and Justice in Multicultural Education
Jacqueline Żammit, University of Malta, Malta
Now more than ever, there is an imperative that we, as an international community of education experts, remain attuned to the impact on inclusivity of our ever-changing circumstances, and opportunities to maximise the equity of participation opportunities. The global pandemic has forced sweeping changes to education experiences that have posed both challenges and opportunities for inclusivity. These range from the challenges of effectively creating inclusive learner engagement and communities online; through to the impact of technology access inequalities; and the challenge of ensuring that the most socially precarious have adequate food, heat and physical space to learn effectively from home, and how bringing the online classroom into the home may expose inequalities in living conditions.
It is our hope that the contributions here will spark reflection, debate, further research and developments to practice for fellow educators around the world. We hope you will enjoy this and find it as valuable as we have.
Editorial team, IAFOR Journal of Education: Inclusive Education
Lead Editor: Dr Tamsin Hinton-Smith, University of Sussex, UK
Email: inclusive.editor.joe@iafor.org
Associate editors: Dr Leda Kamenopoulou, University of Roehampton, UK, & Dr Pearl Subban, Monash University, Australia
