Inclusive education of children with disabilities in the online environment

Abstract

The study aims to determine the circumstances and usefulness of online learning and teaching that have been organized for students with disabilities during the COVID 19 virus pandemic and the closure of schools in Serbia and Montenegro. Online teaching in this case includes all measures taken with the aim of education and upbringing of children and students with disabilities, which were applied in the online environment, through the Internet. Education regulations mention distance education but education systems do not have elaborate procedures for implementing this form of education. During the pandemic, states have organized classes in two segments: the transmission of video lessons on national TV stations, and the preparation, production, distribution, and evaluation of assignments for students, have done by their teachers. There have been no special procedures and methods implemented for educating students with disabilities. The research on the education of children with disabilities in the online environment included parents and teachers of students with disabilities (N = 286) from Serbia and Montenegro. The respondents were surveyed electronically, using specially created questionnaires for both groups of respondents. The data were systematized and analyzed. The results show that the majority of respondents, with a significant difference between groups of teachers and parents (p = .05), think that online learning was not a good replacement for real learning but that in some sense it was useful for children with disabilities; also, most respondents claim that children with disabilities cannot learn online or cannot learn in that way without significant support. The level in organizing online learning for children with disabilities is visible from the results which show that teachers were in contact with students mostly indirectly, through parents to whom they sent materials for learning and practicing. Online learning for children with disabilities has yet to be developed and established as an additional form of real learning and teaching (p= .008). Such learning in special conditions (such as the one brought by the COVID 19 virus pandemic) can be a temporary substitution for real teaching, but with the application of specially adapted approaches and procedures that are suitable for children with disabilities. States should develop appropriate guidelines and establish the necessary conditions to implement the learning of children and students with disabilities in the online environment.