Challenges around Inclusive Classroom according to Supporting Teachers: Ethnographic Report from School Cultures

Abstract

The following article is an excerpt from the entire qualitative, ethnographic research report on the challenges existing at work of 9 supporting teachers in inclusive classrooms of 2 public schools in Poland. The research project was carried out as part of the master's thesis of the first author of the article under the supervision of the second author. The main research question analyzed in this article is: what challenges do supporting teachers have while working in the inclusive classrooms? In addition, the data was focused to obtain the answers for three detailed research questions. Data analysis was conducted using thematic coding and categorization techniques according to Gibbs1. The study results identified 8 main categories related to the challenges indicated by 9 supporting teachers working in inclusive classrooms. These are (a) an institutional support, (b) lack of institutional support, (c) educational barriers, (d) dealing with educational barriers, (e) conflicts, (f) difficulties of supporting teachers, (g) difficulties of leading teachers, and (h) space.