Challenges Facing Implementation of Inclusive Education in Ukraine

Abstract

The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that implementation of inclusive education in Ukraine has been gaining paramount importance with the aim of ensuring equal opportunities for all children for quality education and development of an inclusive society. Considerable progress has been made in implementing inclusive education in Ukraine as evidenced by the introduced amendments to the law of Ukraine on peculiarities of education accessibility for people with special educational needs (SEN) and issuing other legal and regulatory instruments. Nevertheless, it is obvious that putting all these into action is quite a highly complicated task. The purpose of this research is to reveal challenges which stand in the way of successful implementation of inclusion in Ukraine. To reach the set goal, along with theoretical methods, empirical (questionnaires designed by the authors and individual interviews) and statistical ones (for quantitative and qualitative processing and graphical representation of the received data) were used. Based on the carried out investigation, it was revealed that there are the following obstacles on the way of inclusive education implementation in Ukraine: skills of teachers; attitudes towards inclusion and disability among teachers, trainee teachers, parents, and peers; self-perception of children with SEN; school environment including difficulties in physical access; and expenses involved.