{"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":"2 1","pages":"5 - 29"},"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.
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.