Symposia & Conferences

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Including all: Perceptions of mainstream teachers on inclusive education in the Western Province of Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Hettiarachchi, S.; Das, A.; Ranaweera, M.; Attanayake, L.D.; Walisundara, D.
The changes made to the local constitution (Parliament of Sri Lanka, 1997), the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN, 2005) in 2016 and the first World Report on Disability (WHO, 2011) support a new era for the education of children with disabilities in Sri Lanka. The emphasis of this legislation is the inclusion and full participation of students with disabilities in regular schools. It guarantees non-discrimination and removal of barriers, both physical and psychological or attitudinal; to facilitate the inclusion of students with disabilities into regular schools. It urges policy makers, educators, parents and other service providers to consider the premise that special education should be seen not in the context of separate education but as an integral part of regular education. Arguably, the success of implementing a policy of inclusive education requires mainstream school teachers to understand, accept and be competent at supporting students with disabilities within the mainstream classroom context. To uncover perceptions of ‘inclusive education’ among mainstream teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 mainstream teachers from the Western Province using a topic guide. Thematic coding of the interview data was undertaken using the key principles of Framework Analysis (Ritchie & Spencer, 1994). The main themes to emerge were of incongruous conceptual understandings, fear of incompetence, limited training facilities and the lack of incentives. These findings will be discussed with regard to its implications for policy and practice. The results underpin the need to consider local teacher perceptions and to address these concerns within pre-service and in-service training in order to support the establishment of education reforms, which are relevant and sensitive to the cultural needs and cognizant of local realities.
Colour me…orange? : Incorporating Aspects of the Colourful Semantics Approach into English as a Second Language Lessons at Preschool
(Department of Linguistics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Hettiarachchi, S.; Walisundara, D.; Ranaweera, M.
Among the challenges faced by Sri Lankan children learning English as an additional or second language is the accuracy of word order and vocabulary knowledge. The Colourful Semantics approach (Bryan, 2008) has been used successfully in the UK and in Australia with children experiencing language-learning difficulties (Bennington, 2011; Chiat, Law, Marshall & Bryan, 1997), with many programmes devised by Speech and Language Therapists (Morrissy, 2010; Wade, 2009). It uses thematic roles and a colour-coding system to support the development of syntax through a semantic route. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using aspects of Colourful Semantics to develop vocabulary knowledge and the use of Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structures in young learners of English. Twenty preschool children in ESL classrooms were included in the study. Key aspects of Colourful Semantics were introduced as a whole-class approach using children‟s storybooks, colour-coding and signing with lessons offered once a week for 12 weeks together with supplementary activities. Pre- and post-intervention measures were undertaken on five receptive and expressive language and literacy measures of vocabulary and syntax. In this presentation we will discuss the programme offered, the pre- and post-intervention assessment scores and statistical results on vocabulary and discuss the benefits of incorporating aspects of the Colourful Semantics approach into the English language teaching classroom.
Constructing ‘disabilities’ and ‘inclusion’: An explanatory models of disability and inclusive education among teachers in Sri Lanka
(University of Kelaniya, 2015) Hettiarachchi, S.; Ranaweera, M.; Walisundara, D.
The current thrust towards implementing ‘inclusive education’, which is ‘the integration and education of most students with disabilities in general education classes’ (Field, 1998 in Eleweke & Rodda, 2002) poses many challenges in a resource poor country. Arguably, one challenge may be the perceptions, constructs and explanations of disability held by teachers, which could influence their openness to embrace inclusion. The aim of this study is to uncover the constructs, beliefs, attitudes, explanatory models of ‘disabilities’ and inclusive education among teachers. 60 teachers (30 from special schools; 30 from mainstream schools) were interviewed using an interview guide. The interview data were analyzed using the key features of Framework Analysis (Ritchie and Spencer, 1994). In the main findings, the teacher explanations of disability reflected a religio-cultural framework and to a lesser extent, a medical model. While the teachers within special educational facilities asserted the need to offer special educational support, the teachers in mainstream echoed the same view, stressing that these students are better placed within special educational rather than mainstream educational contexts within inclusive education. However, these explanations were not framed within a social model or rights-based model of disability, reflecting a limited understanding of the disability movement. The findings reveal that there is a need for pre-service and in-service training programmes for teachers to include information on the current explanatory models of disability, the need to acknowledge students with disabilities as equal and comprehensive training on mainstreaming children with disabilities within mainstream schools if inclusive education is to be successfully offered across the country.

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