Educational inclusion of students with disabilities: an analysis of teachers' perception

Attending to and responding to diversity is one of the fundamental axes of inclusive education to guarantee the principle of educational equity. Despite the presence of students with special educational needs in classrooms, there currently exist barriers that need to be dismantled for these students to benefit from everything they need to learn. This study focuses on the Early Childhood and Primary Education stages, with a specific interest in determining the extent to which successful educational inclusion is guaranteed. To this end, it is intended to analyze the sufficiency and adequacy of the resources, materials and personnel available, while also exploring the demands and needs of teachers to attend, specifically, to students with special educational needs derived from their disabilities. Methodologically, a mixed approach is developed, involving the analysis of open responses from 32 semi-structured interviews con-ducted with teachers from schools in Extremadura. The results show that the majority of teachers affirm that the center in which they carry out their functions attends students with special educational needs and that curricular adaptations are the means by which these students receive regular educational support. In the same way, difficulties are observed in the development of the educational processes after the impact of COVID-19, as well as a shortage of personal resources in the face of a wide availability of material resources. It is noteworthy that teachers report limited collaborations between the educational center and external agents, but that when they are carried out, they are positive to contribute to a more efficient educational response.