Non-inclusive teaching of students with special educational needs in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhood

Despite inclusive educational policies, inclusive teaching of diverse students with special educational needs (SEN) presents a professional challenge for many teachers and schools. To better understand how and why educators sometimes teach students with SEN non-inclusively, this study mapped non-inclusive teaching along with justifications for these practices in a primary school in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhood. Within this qualitative study, a one-month ethnographic observation of teacher-student and student-student interactions in a single second-grade classroom (with 22 students) was conducted. Additionally, eight teachers from the school and the principal were interviewed on teaching students with SEN. A stepwise-deductive inductive analysis of observations and a thematic analysis of interviews documented how some teachers excluded students with SEN from learning activities and groups by inappropriate space arrangements, reduced teacher-student interactions, and negative expectations. Paradoxically, teachers justified these non-inclusive teaching practices by efforts to address the special educational needs. The findings also documented that the socioeconomically disadvantaged context increased demands on teachers in the school, which possibly contributed to the limited inclusive teaching. The findings underscore the need to increase structural support for socioeconomically disadvantaged schools and show the necessity to systematically foster inclusive attitudes and teaching skills in teacher education.