Examining the legislative and institutional framework for special units in Cyprus

Q3 Social Sciences

Journal of Pedagogy Pub Date : 2021-12-01 DOI:10.2478/jped-2021-0008

Charalampous Constantia, Papademetriou Christos

{"title":"Examining the legislative and institutional framework for special units in Cyprus","authors":"Charalampous Constantia, Papademetriou Christos","doi":"10.2478/jped-2021-0008","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper aims at examining the institutional framework within which Special Units (SUs) in Cypriot secondary education operate. The establishment of SU targets to facilitate the education of pupils defined as having special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools, and their operation is governed by the 1999 law and subsequent amending acts and circulars. Neither the operation of the SUs and the institutional framework that guides their operation have yet been investigated. The main aim of our research was to investigate teachers’ and parents’ views of the way in which SUs function, as well as their opinions of the legislative sections relating to the special units. This process led to the creation of a critical approach called the Institutional Framework for Special Units in Cyprus. Lastly, the participants were asked to propose ways in which the SUs could operate an inclusive environment. This paper presents qualitative research conducted in three secondary schools in Cyprus. Our sample consisted of 52 participants (heads, special education associate administrators, assistant heads, teachers, parents) over a five month timespan (September 2017-February 2018). The results lead to the conclusion that immediate action for further improvement and change is imperative, primarily for the benefit of pupils defined as having SEN.","PeriodicalId":38002,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Pedagogy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Pedagogy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jped-2021-0008","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 2

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims at examining the institutional framework within which Special Units (SUs) in Cypriot secondary education operate. The establishment of SU targets to facilitate the education of pupils defined as having special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools, and their operation is governed by the 1999 law and subsequent amending acts and circulars. Neither the operation of the SUs and the institutional framework that guides their operation have yet been investigated. The main aim of our research was to investigate teachers’ and parents’ views of the way in which SUs function, as well as their opinions of the legislative sections relating to the special units. This process led to the creation of a critical approach called the Institutional Framework for Special Units in Cyprus. Lastly, the participants were asked to propose ways in which the SUs could operate an inclusive environment. This paper presents qualitative research conducted in three secondary schools in Cyprus. Our sample consisted of 52 participants (heads, special education associate administrators, assistant heads, teachers, parents) over a five month timespan (September 2017-February 2018). The results lead to the conclusion that immediate action for further improvement and change is imperative, primarily for the benefit of pupils defined as having SEN.

查看原文本刊更多论文

审查塞浦路斯特别单位的立法和体制框架

摘要本文旨在研究塞浦路斯中等教育中特殊单位(SUs)运作的制度框架。设立特殊学校的目标是促进在主流学校中被定义为有特殊教育需要的学生的教育，其运作受1999年法律及其后修订法案和通告的管辖。对单一系统的运作和指导其运作的体制框架都尚未进行调查。我们研究的主要目的是调查教师和家长对特殊单位运作方式的看法，以及他们对与特殊单位有关的立法部分的看法。这一进程导致制定了一项称为塞浦路斯特别单位体制框架的关键办法。最后，与会者被要求就如何在包容的环境下运作单一系统提出建议。本文介绍了在塞浦路斯的三所中学进行的定性研究。我们的样本包括52名参与者(校长、特殊教育副管理员、助理校长、教师、家长)，时间跨度为5个月(2017年9月至2018年2月)。结果得出的结论是，立即采取进一步改善和改变的行动是必要的，主要是为了特殊教育学生的利益。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Pedagogy Social Sciences-Education

CiteScore

1.10

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

20 weeks

期刊介绍： The Journal of Pedagogy (JoP) publishes outstanding educational research from a wide range of conceptual, theoretical, and empirical traditions. Diverse perspectives, critiques, and theories related to pedagogy – broadly conceptualized as intentional and political teaching and learning across many spaces, disciplines, and discourses – are welcome, from authors seeking a critical, international audience for their work. All manuscripts of sufficient complexity and rigor will be given full review. In particular, JoP seeks to publish scholarship that is critical of oppressive systems and the ways in which traditional and/or “commonsensical” pedagogical practices function to reproduce oppressive conditions and outcomes. Scholarship focused on macro, micro and meso level educational phenomena are welcome. JoP encourages authors to analyse and create alternative spaces within which such phenomena impact on and influence pedagogical practice in many different ways, from classrooms to forms of public pedagogy, and the myriad spaces in between. Manuscripts should be written for a broad, diverse, international audience of either researchers and/or practitioners. Accepted manuscripts will be available free to the public through JoP’s open-access policies, as well as featured in Elsevier''s Scopus indexing service, ERIC, and others.