STUDYING THE FORMATION OF TEACHERS' PERSONAL READINESS TO WORK IN AN INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL SPACE

Abstract

At the same time, with the rapid development of inclusive education in Ukraine and the desire to create conditions for ensuring the right to education of children with special educational needs, unresolved issues of the educational system are becoming more relevant, the presence and consequences of which directly affect and determine the effectiveness of inclusive education. In this study, it was decided to focus on such an important aspect of ensuring the effectiveness of inclusive education as the readiness of teachers to work in the conditions of an inclusive educational space. In particular, the field of scientific interests is the phenomenon of personal readiness of teachers, which we consider to be the fundamental basis of the pedagogical skill of a modern teacher. Given the small number of available works and the continuing attempts of modern scientists to study the phenomenon in more detail – to determine its features and prerequisites of a high level of formation, we are convinced that our own research is appropriate. Considering the above-mentioned relevance of scientific research, the proposed article presents the results of an empirical study of the formation of personal readiness of existing teachers, which was conducted in December 2021-February 2022 with 598 participants from 24 regions of Ukraine. In addition, the article outlines the conceptual foundations of the phenomenon of teachers’ personal readiness to work in an inclusive educational space based on the study of existing results of scientific research, and outlines the characteristics of the studied phenomenon. The research was conducted using the author's questionnaire. The content of the questionnaire, namely the blocks by which the questions are divided, allows us to assess the formation of teachers’ personal readiness to work in an inclusive educational space through its specific manifestations, including readiness for activity, development, and self-development. According to the results of processing the data, it was found that, according to the respondents' own beliefs, they are aware of inclusive education and are personally ready to work in an inclusive educational space. At the same time, we have found a certain contradiction between the data obtained for the multiple-choice questions and the assessment based on scales and open-ended questions. For example, the theoretical knowledge of the respondents on some basic categories of inclusive education needs to be improved. Understanding and deep awareness of theoretical foundations is a basic component on the way to forming a teacher’s personal readiness. Based on the described results of the empirical research, the conclusions and prospects for further research are formed, which we see in the development and implementation of a training program for current and future teachers, the essence and content of which is directly related to the formation of their personal readiness and pedagogical skills in general in the context of an inclusive education space.