Identifying stressors and coping strategies among Junior Lyceum teachers in the implementation of inclusive education

Abstract

Providing a quality education for all students in inclusive settings has been identified as perhaps the most challenging, yet most important, current issue in education. The greatest impact on diversity is the movement towards the inclusion of students with disabilities in the mainstream. During the last decade, inclusive education in Malta has been going through several developments and more and more teachers are being called upon to teach students with a wide range of abilities and needs. The aim of this research was to investigate the potential stressors for secondary school teachers during inclusion and how they best cope with them. The study, undertaken during 2005, reports findings from a sample of 52 Maltese and Gozitan Junior Lyceum teachers who, during academic year 2003-2004, were responsible for the education of a student with physical or intellectual disability. The instrument used was a self-administered questionnaire adopted from the Teacher Stress and Coping Questionnaire and adapted to the Maltese context. Results indicated that overall teachers experienced relatively low stress as a result of inclusion. Administrative and professional competency issues were the most stressful while parental issues were reported as the least stressful. Teachers of learners with an intellectual disability experienced significantly more stress than teachers of learners with a physical disability mainly in regard to student behaviour and classroom issues. Coping strategies which involved taking direct action were found to be the most useful and most widely used by teachers. This study has revealed the need for pre-service and in-service training, stress management techniques and problem solving sessions for teachers to alleviate stress during inclusive education.