Edited by: Tecnológico Superior
Corporativo Edwards Deming
January - March Vol. 6 - 1 - 2023
https://revista-edwardsdeming.com/index.php/es
e-ISSN: 2576-0971
Received: November 22, 2022
Approved: December 21, 2022
Pag 67-82
Evaluation of educational inclusion of students with
disabilities in a higher education institution
Evaluación de inclusión educativa de estudiantes con
discapacidad en una institución de educación superior
Nancy Yaneth Portela Escandón
*
Leslly Paola Alvarez Enciso
*
ABSTRACT
In the last ten years, higher education institutions within
their educational policies have adopted inclusion strategies
for people with disabilities, which has generated multiple
challenges involving infrastructure and technological
adaptations, in addition to including teachers who can meet
the diversity and achieve inclusion competence. To
evaluate the current conditions related to educational
inclusion of people with disabilities in an administration
program of an educational institution of higher education.
The 27 teachers and 129 participating students highlight
the importance of strengthening the implementation of the
inclusive policy from the three substantive functions: social
projection, teaching-research, and academic-administrative
management.
Keywords: Inclusive education, higher education,
disability, inclusion.
* Profesor TC, Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales U.D.C.A
Enfermera profesional, especialista en gerencia de proyectos, Magister en
educación.
nportela@udca.edu.co
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5177-3634
* Profesor TC, Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios-UNIMINUTO.
Ingeniera Ambiental y Sanitaria, especialista en gerencia en Riesgos Laborales
y SST, Magister en Gestión y Evaluación Ambiental.
Leslly.alvarez.e@uniminuto.edu
https://orcid.org/ 0000- 0001- 5435- 9850
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RESUMEN
En los últimos diez años las instituciones de educación
superior dentro de sus políticas educativas han adoptado
estrategias de inclusión para personas con discapacidad, lo
cual ha generado múltiples retos implican adaptaciones de
infraestructura, tecnológicas además de incluir profesores
que puedan atender la diversidad y lograr la competencia
de inclusión. Evaluar las condiciones actuales relacionadas
con inclusión educativa de población con discapacidad en
un programa de administración de una institución educativa
de educación superior. Los 27 docentes y 129 estudiantes
participantes resaltan la importancia de fortalecer la
implementación de la política inclusiva desde las tres
funciones sustantivas: proyección social, docencia-
investigación, gestión académica- administrativa.
Palabras clave: Educación inclusiva, educación superior,
discapacidad, inclusión.
INTRODUCTION
In the context of Higher Education in Colombia, attention to diversity is emphasized in
"education for all", regardless of the social, economic, cultural, cultural, linguistic and
gender background and situation of the students, thus complying with the guidelines set
forth in the World Conference on Higher Education held in 2009, according to which
"higher education must simultaneously seek to achieve the objectives of equity,
relevance and quality "12. This overview allows highlighting the importance of the
Inclusion Index in the Colombian context (Inclusion Index for Higher Education
Colombia, INES, MEN, 2016, p.16).
From this retrospective, inclusive education is based on the principle that everyone has
the right to education and to receive dignified treatment regardless of any characteristic
or special educational need, therefore, inclusion requires the insertion of "technical-
technological support, and/or curricular adaptations and physical accessibility,
communication and learning spaces that allow responding to the educational needs of
each and every one of the students" (Pérez, et al., 2017, p.151). (Pérez, et al, 2017,
p.151).
In addition to the multiple strategies that have been framed in the process of inclusion
of students with disabilities "at the same time, actions have been developed that
contribute to remove barriers to promote their access and social inclusion" (Barton
2009; Sharma, Moore and Sonawane, 2009; Arana, Rodríguez and Meilán, 2008; Bausela,
2004; Center and Ward, 1987, as cited in Novo-Corti et al. 2015, p. 155). 155), thus, it
is necessary to identify the impact these strategies have had on university education and
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whether they have been sufficient to intervene and include a significant percentage of
the population with disabilities.
Based on the United Nations, UNESCO (2005): "Inclusion in the educational aspect
implies a change and an important modification of strategies and structures, with the
common objective of providing an adequate space for all children", but it is really applied
in all educational institutions, although there is an inclusion within the policies there is
still no awareness and empowerment by the authors of the process where not only
teachers but all administrative personnel involved in the process are included.
As stated by Calderón (2007) "Society must be prepared to integrate people with
disabilities and they, in turn, must be prepared to adapt to society" (p. 13).), where not
only the student is prepared but the teacher becomes the main author of the
sensitization process and as mentioned by Álvarez, Alegre de la-Rosa, López & Aguilar
(2012): "One of the keys for inclusion in the university to be possible, is that university
faculty develop the ability to deal with diversity and achieve intercultural and inclusive
competence"(Alegre & Villar, 2006).(p.3), is where it is necessary to evaluate the
pedagogical and technological conditions and the conditions of accessibility to the
physical environment of students with disabilities; supported by the following premise
Alvarez et al. (2012, p. 2) "The construction of an innovative training system for social
inclusion is possible, but for this it is essential that the various actors have a systemic
attitude and vision of approaching the problems to be solved (Alzugaray et al, 2011)",
would be different when everyone is actively and positively involved to intervene in the
teaching-learning process of students with disabilities .
The definition of quality higher education "consists of preparing students through the
use of words, numbers and abstract concepts to understand, solve and positively
influence the environment in which they find themselves" (Bogue and Saunders, 1992 as
cited in Bondarenko, 2007: 615).
On the other hand, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO, 2015: 9) in the area of Relevant and quality teaching and learning argues:
"Achieving relevant and quality teaching and learning in terms of inputs, contents,
processes and learning environments to foster the comprehensive development of
children, youth and adults deserves to be at the center of the education agenda.
But if we analyze the quality of inclusive education, which has also generated an
important impact on society, where efforts have been made to ensure that more people
with disabilities have the same educational opportunities, "inclusive education aims to
provide quality education for all, responding to the diversity of educational needs of
students" (Blanco, 2006: 9).
Quality education is a tool that implies empowerment for each of the authors in the
teaching-learning process in order to achieve students with comprehensive training, with
equal pedagogical, technological and accessibility opportunities, this involves the diverse
population that should impact inclusive education; likewise inclusive education must have
an interaction between the counselor and the student, since it allows fulfilling the role
of counselor and mediators in the learning and teaching process (Guerrero, et al. 2022).
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Each educational system has established objectives and policies to achieve quality
education, but it must be based on "a quality educational system must be concerned with
identifying future scenarios that allow imagining requirements and demands that the
environment will impose on this child when he/she reaches higher levels of the
educational system or enters the labor market" (Schmelkes, 2002: 127), the learning
scenarios must be modified according to the individual needs of students, society and
the labor market, providing opportunities for education.
"The international classification of functioning, disability and health establishes that
disability is the result of the interaction of the person who presents an impairment
before the physical and attitudinal barriers of his or her environment" (WHO, 2001, as
cited Polo and Lopez, 2012: 88), within the disabilities are physical, cognitive, sensory
and mental.
"Disability is the restriction or lack (due to an impairment) of the ability to perform an
activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being, it
encompasses functional limitations or restrictions to perform an activity resulting from
an impairment" (Padilla, 2010: 399), to give more clarity disability is a concept that
encompasses impairment, limitation in activity and restriction in participation (WHO,
2001).
"Intellectual disability is characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual
functioning and adaptive behavior, which are expressed in conceptual, social and
practical adaptive skills" (Schalock, 2009: 24), unlike previous definitions this author
makes specific reference to how cognitive difficulties can affect proper human
development.
It is important to highlight the definition given by the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities, "as those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or
sensory impairments, which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and
effective participation in society on an equal basis with others" (As cited in Novo-Corti
et al., 2011: 5).
To expand on the physical disabilities is when people have limitations in the
musculoskeletal system that hinder movement and displacement, intellectual disabilities
imply that the different processes are slower and require greater dedication and effort,
such as learning, sensory disabilities that affect the sense organs with greater incidence
of hearing and vision.
In accordance with the above, it is necessary to mention that functioning is a global term
that refers to all bodily functions, activities and participation, the concept of disability
encompasses impairments, limitations in activity, or restrictions in participation, where
environmental factors that describe the context in which a person lives and that interact
with all these constructs must also be taken into account (Crespo et al., 2003. p.24).
One of the latest measurements made by the National Administrative Department of
Statistics (DANE) in the 2012 Quality of Life Survey was used as a reference, where the
following was found:
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"Eighty percent of the total number of persons between five and nine years of age with
a disability had not attained any level of education; while 13.2% had only attended
preschool. In the 10 to 17 age group, 47.1% of persons with disabilities had not passed
any level of education and 33.9% had passed elementary school. According to the same
source, in the group between 18 and 39 years old, 24.7% of respondents had not reached
any educational level, while the proportion of people who reached higher education was
9.7%; it was also found that in people with disabilities the percentage of illiteracy was
24.1%, while in the population without disabilities it was 6.9%" (DANE 2012, as cited in
Martínez et al., 2014: 52).
According to the above it can be concluded that the impact of inclusive education has
not achieved the proposed objectives and is where it is necessary to reflect on what are
the difficulties to establish strategies to strengthen the teaching-learning process in
people with disabilities; In Colombia from Law 1618 of 2013 guidelines focused on
guaranteeing the rights of people with disabilities are established, among the most
relevant is identified the inclusion in programs and educational plans involving children
and adolescents with disabilities (Leal et al, 2021). (Leal et al, 2021.), likewise, the policy
guidelines establish as special population those persons with disabilities or limitations
and those with exceptional abilities or talents (Romero, 2018.).
According to Fernandez "Inclusive education is conceived as a human right with both an
educational and social sense while rejecting that educational systems are entitled only to
certain types of children" (Fernandez, 2003: 3), in Colombia educational institutions in
their policy and curriculum design in recent years have made an immersion of strategies
for the population with special educational needs.
As described "in a study conducted by the Presidency of the Republic in nine cities of
the country, it was found that 9.6% of people with disabilities have unsatisfied basic
needs" (Moreno et al., 2006: 79), among which is the opportunity for access to
education.
The university integration from the mission perspective and the constant concern to
ensure that students with special educational needs are able to articulate with the
community and prepare them to face society, including the world of work.
University integration requires articulation in the following aspects: in the availability and
use of technologies to overcome the difficulties encountered in training, for example:
physical barriers, geographical location, schedules, learning pace, etc., another aspect is
the pedagogical conditions that include flexible assessment tools described in an
interdisciplinary curriculum that facilitates learning and the development of skills,
potential and/or competencies of student diversity, and a final aspect is accessibility to
the physical environment that refers to facilities and infrastructure.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO: 2008)
"defines inclusive education as the right of all people to receive a quality education that
meets their basic learning needs and enriches their lives" framed in a comprehensive
teaching-learning process that allows opportunities, labor, social, economic among
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others, to ensure a better quality of life, but it requires the empowerment of institutions
to ensure a true practice of inclusive education.
It is important to review inclusive education policies in Latin America in order to
establish what evolution has taken place because "inclusive education is generally
associated with 'attention to diversity', although in several countries this is understood
as the one related to students with exceptional characteristics or special educational
needs" (Paya, 2010: 129). When we venture into inclusive education, it must be clear
that the teaching-learning process of the population with diversity implies ensuring equal
opportunities and fighting against discrimination in the promotion of equity (Paya, 2010).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This is a quantitative research with a descriptive, cross-sectional, cross-sectional
approach to evaluate the current conditions related to educational inclusion of the
population with disabilities in an administration program of an institution of higher
education.
The sampling of the present research for the teaching population was carried out
through a census study that includes the 27 professors who have taught classes in the
A, B and C branches of the administration program of the higher education institution.
The participation of the students was done intentionally, having as a selection
requirement the student population that has been at the university for the longest time
at the A, B and C campuses, who were currently in their ninth and tenth semesters of
the administration program.
Instrument A (Categorization of Diverse Population).
It is to have an approach to the student population and its diverse characteristics, seeking
in this way to identify and characterize students with some type of vulnerability, for this
research the item disability is taken into account; it is a questionnaire that includes 6
questions that include the type of disability, time in years of the disability condition, what
is the cause of the disability, uses aids for the displacement, type of rehabilitation that
has been ordered and the facilities are adequate to the health condition; the above in
order to characterize the students of the administration program.
Three factors were taken into account in the instrument: Technological conditions: they
constitute the didactic means that can propitiate the learning of the educational process
of students with disabilities, where the integration to the educational community is
facilitated; it corresponds to 8 questions with five response options on a scale of 1 to 5,
1 totally disagree, 2. disagree, 3. neutral, 4. agree, 5 totally agree. Pedagogical conditions:
includes the existence and implementation of policies, strategies, research processes and
flexible curriculum in inclusive education, (15 items), with five response options: exists
and is implemented, exists and is partially implemented, exists and is not implemented,
does not exist, does not know. Accessibility conditions to the physical environment:
facilities have adequate accessibility for the entire educational population (4 items) with
three response options, yes, no, don't know. The instrument was designed by the
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researcher and validated by two experts who gave the feasibility on the relevance of the
instrument in the research.
For this research corresponds to the review of the index of inclusion of higher education
in Colombia, Ministry of National Education (INES, 2016) and institutional documents
such as the institutional educational plan and the educational plan of the program
specifically of the higher education institution, to analyze its articulation with inclusive
education.
The educational inclusion assessment of students with disabilities was developed in a
three-phase management program:
First phase: The characterization of the diverse population is carried out, specifically of
the students of the A, B and C branches of the administration program, taking as a
reference the characterization of the student population of the educational institution
carried out by the university welfare area.
Second phase: In two sessions with a duration of 2 hours, the 27 professors who have
taught at the A, B and C sites of the administration program were approached, where a
presentation of the research project was made, followed by the signing of the informed
consent form and the application of the inclusive education questionnaire.
Third Phase: In six sessions during two months, a total of 129 students from the
headquarters A, B and C were approached, the researcher in each session explained the
objective of the research and guided the completion of the questionnaire of inclusive
education with prior acceptance of informed consent.
It should be noted that the participants in the research, both teachers and students,
were assured that the data would be treated anonymously and that the information
provided would be kept confidential.
RESULTS
After the review of the characterization of diverse population surveyed applied by the
welfare area to the students of the higher education institution in the academic period
2017-II, where 924 surveys were conducted of which 348 students of the Administration
program of the headquarters A, B and C participated, 1.7% have some type of disability,
where 50% of this population has physical limitations, 33.The main causes are associated
with traffic accidents and congenital diseases, where they state that they have generated
various difficulties among which are: in learning, behavior, mobility and communication;
66.7% of the student population with disabilities is female and 50% is in the age range
between 25 to 30 years and only 33.3% has a permanent job, the other 67% is only
dedicated to study. According to these results it is important to mention: "the
professional who works in educational environments with this population should strive
for the promotion of autonomous, effective and proactive human beings and also
generate research strategies to consolidate pedagogical strategies that favor learning"
(Martínez et al., 2014: 53).
In the documentary analysis specifically in the review of the index of inclusion in higher
education in Colombia which is a tool that, in the framework of inclusive education
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allows Colombian higher education institutions (HEIs) to explore the extent of their
progress in addressing diversity and thinking about the importance of an education for
all (Ministry of National Education, 2016: 9), in the same document the characteristics
of inclusive education are mentioned as explained in Table No 1, it is where it becomes
necessary to articulate all the factors involved in inclusive education and make active
participants to all actors, the above includes administrative staff, teachers and students,
where the main objective is to raise awareness and work as a team for the population
in condition of vulnerability; additional requires a disciplined implementation of
educational inclusion policies and thus achieve inclusive educational institutions.
Table 1: Source: Guidelines. Inclusive Higher Education Policy. Ministry of National Education.
Bogotá, Colombia, 2013.
Characteristics of inclusive education
Participation
The role of education in society
Diversity
Understood as an inherent characteristic of the human being.
Interculturality
Set of relationships between different cultural groups that leads
to a dialectical process of constant transformation.
Equity
It means thinking in terms of recognition of student diversity.
Relevance
It is related to the capacity to respond to the specific needs of
an environment and its impact on the community.
Quality
It refers generally to the optimal conditions that allow for the
continuous improvement of education at all levels".
Comprehensiveness
It refers to the broad dimension of strategies and lines of action
that must be identified for the inclusion of all students in the
system.
Flexibility
It is related to the adaptability to respond to cultural and social
diversity.
The main results of the questionnaire of inclusive education applied to 27 professors
and 129 students; regarding the professors in the question of seniority in the position,
41% have between 1 to 3 years, 37% have more than 3 years of seniority and 22% have
less than one year in the institution. Thus, the percentage of participation of professors
with more time in the institution contributes 41%, being this a representative value to
fill out the questionnaire since they have more experience within the university and
know more deeply the methodology of the university and the impact of the management
of inclusive education.
For the type of linkage, we sought to identify the type of hiring of teachers in order to
analyze and correlate the possible high turnover of teachers with their seniority at the
university, since teachers with little time working in the institution do not manage to
have sufficient context of the methodologies and strategies adopted by the institution in
relation to inclusive education.
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When asked if the teacher identifies himself/herself as a person with a disability, one
responded yes, which compared to the total number of teachers makes a contribution
of 4%, while the remaining 96% did not state any type of disability.
The instrument was applied to ninth and tenth semester students seeking to collect as
much information as possible according to the academic trajectory they have had; in the
application of the survey 78 students belong to tenth semester or 60%, while ninth
semester students are 51 students with 40%; of the total of this student population
3.87% report having some type of disability and 6% indicate having among their peers
people with disabilities.
To the question of the impact of technologies to help overcome the difficulties of
physical barriers and displacement, 49% agree that technology helps to overcome this
condition, a second group with 23.1% totally agree, while there is an important group of
12.2% disagree with this statement, and it is articulated with the following: digital
competence facilitates in university students the academic development and the
possibility of participating in alternative forms of education and learning. (Barnard-Brak
and Sulak, 2010 & Enjelvin, 2009; Howe, 2011 as cited by Zuñiga et al., 2016: 5).
Technologies make it easier to adapt the schedule and pace of learning of students with
disabilities in the program, 87% agree and totally agree that technologies make it easier
to adapt and pace of learning of students with disabilities, while 13.5% of respondents
are in a neutral position to the statement, The above is related to the fact that not only
strategies applied to the teaching-learning process of university students with disabilities
are required, but additionally the curriculum needs to have an approach to educational
inclusion, where technological tools can provide a more favorable learning environment.
Technologies facilitate access to didactic materials. It is noteworthy that 80.8% of those
surveyed agree and totally agree, a result that supports technological advances as
vehicles for accessing didactic resources and the different tools available in the
institution.
In the question whether the didactic materials in electronic media allow choosing the
presentation format according to the skills and abilities of the student, both teachers
and students agree with a significant percentage of 49.4%, but there is an important
percentage in the answer totally disagree and disagree with 15.4% and neutral 14.1%,
which requires intensifying training in the management of didactic materials to increase
the percentage of appropriation of the academic community.
Technologies offer the possibility of carrying out practical activities that are complex in
face-to-face environments (due to barriers related to disability), teachers and students
respond favorably with 72.5% in the answers of agreement and total agreement, which
affirms that technological advances strengthen the inclusion of people with disabilities in
university education.
The program has an inclusive education policy that allows recognizing and minimizing
barriers to learning and participation, teachers and students respond not knowing with
49.4%, the second response with the highest percentage is 25% and corresponds to that
it exists and is partially implemented; articulating this question with the documentary
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analysis to the PEI of the institution it was found that there is a specific line of inclusive
education, because as mentioned by the index of educational inclusion in Colombia
(2016) "by being inclusive education is provided is opportunities for change that revolve
around characteristics that have human rights as an essential basis; but the results in this
question is that 51.3% of the surveyed population does not know the policy, which makes
it necessary to strengthen the mechanisms of dissemination of the same.
The program has strategies and processes that allow and facilitate the access and
permanence of students, teachers and students respond that it exists and is implemented
with a significant percentage of 43.6%, followed by exists and is partially implemented
with 26.9% and 18.6% do not know, if we analyze the time of permanence in the
institution of students and teachers is in an average of 3 and 4 years which would be
enough to identify each of the processes of the institution.
The program has systems of scholarships, loans and incentives that promote the entry
and retention of academically valuable students in vulnerable conditions, to ensure
graduation with quality, teachers and students say that it exists and is implemented with
a significant percentage of 64.7%, it is a favorable aspect for the institution that ensures
permanence, considering that the main causes of desertion is the socio-economic part
and the conditions of accessibility to higher education.
The program has an available, reliable and accessible information system, which guides
the formulation of institutional policies that promote inclusive higher education the
student population responds that it exists and is implemented with a percentage of 36.4%
compared to the teacher with 25.9% and being leveled in the response exists and is
partially implemented teachers 22.2% and students 22.5%, but there is a significant
percentage in the answer do not know in teachers 33.3% and 31% in students, and
according to the above it is required to enhance and value diversity from the recognition
and visibility, as a condition inherent to the human being (Index of higher inclusion in
Colombia).
The institution identifies the student diversity of the program by characterizing their
particularities (social, economic, political, cultural, linguistic, sexual, physical, geographic
and related to the armed conflict) and emphasizes those who are more likely to be
excluded from the system. The result in this question shows a significant percentage of
29.5% of ignorance of the institution's strategies to characterize the student population
and it is a level percentage between teachers and students.
The institution generates mechanisms for professors to participate in the teaching,
research and extension processes, transform pedagogical practices and value the
diversity of its students as part of the educational process, teachers and students affirm
with a significant percentage of 66% between always and almost always; followed by an
equal percentage between the answers sometimes and do not know of 16.7%, based on
what is supported by the United Nations (UNESCO: 2005) "Inclusion in the educational
aspect implies a change and an important modification of strategies and structures, with
the common objective of providing an adequate space for all", to which it is important
that the teaching-learning process is articulated with research on educational inclusion.
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The program's curriculum is flexible and interdisciplinary and contains elements that
facilitate learning and the development of capabilities, potentialities and/or competencies
of the students' diversity, the professors and students respond with a significant
percentage always and almost always in 60.9%, followed by 25.6 corresponding to
sometimes, being a positive aspect for the institution because "one of the most
important contexts for the integration of these students is the educational environment,
in which support measures are highlighted that encompass from increased material
resources and curricular adaptations to teacher training" (Surià et al., 2017: 64).
The program develops, in the research processes, topics related to inclusive education,
and promotes strategies framed in its principles, the professors and students respond
with a significant percentage always and almost always in 61.6%, which makes visible the
management that the institution has carried out in the inclusive education process.
The program implements self-evaluation and self-regulation processes that allow
identifying institutional compliance with the inclusive education approach and its
characteristics, teachers and students respond with a significant percentage always and
almost always in 59.6%, followed by 17.9% with an equal percentage of responses for
sometimes and do not know.
The program has centers, groups and/or research projects on issues related to inclusive
education, teachers and students in the answer do not know obtained a significant
percentage with 53.2%, followed by the answer Yes with 37.8%, in which the
participation of the educational community in general should be generated.
Accessibility conditions to the physical environment
According to the conditions of accessibility to the physical environment of the
institution, it is evident in the responses of the educational population surveyed that the
institution partially complies in this aspect as established by the Colombian technical
standard 6047 of 2013 which states "accessibility includes ease of approach, entry,
evacuation by all users of the building, with safety for health, protection and individual
welfare"(NTC, 2013:49), it should be noted that the main difficulties are in the signage
and availability of equipment for the care of eventualities that arise in the educational
community.
DISCUSSION
To generate an answer to the research question posed: how does the administration
program respond to the current conditions related to educational inclusion, including
pedagogical, infrastructure and technological conditions of the population with
disabilities? In the development of the research evaluation of current conditions related
to educational inclusion of the population with disabilities, statistical data are obtained
that support the justification and lead to the analysis of the main barriers that a student
with some type of disability must face when accessing higher education, where the
purpose is to recognize and thus minimize and/or eradicate educational exclusion.
56% of the teachers are under part-time contract, where their training in the policies
and benefits of the university are reduced, some of them do not get to know all the sites
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before the end of their contract. Regarding training or training by the university in the
management of inclusion, in the identification of students with some type of mental or
cognitive disability is not performed, the induction given is focused on the management
of classrooms, platform and registration of academic reports.
33.3% of those surveyed say that the main consequence of their disability is directly
related to the difficulty in learning, that is, they are aware that their learning is difficult
in relation to other students, and that it can be even more difficult if the teacher does
not realize that among their students there is someone with a cognitive disability who
has difficulty learning, This is an important warning since it could be said that the
purpose of university is to strengthen students' knowledge and abilities, and while it is
true that in the survey 33% stated that they have learning problems, this suggests that
many of them will not be able to graduate or could graduate, maintaining academic gaps
and not being prepared to perform in the workplace. If either of these two situations
were to occur, it would trigger frustration in the student, it would be very likely that
their self-esteem, motivation, and life project would be affected. It is for this reason
that university teachers should identify these students and have them as a focus of
differentiated work, always seeking to maintain their learning capacity at a high level, to
ensure that they have solid academic training bases to perform satisfactorily in the labor
field.
In the question "Do you have people with disabilities among your classmates?", according
to the analysis of the answers, the students do not recognize the students who have
some type of disability other than physical, since being evident the physical disability
among the population, the cognitive or mental disability goes unnoticed even for the
teachers. Here we could open a debate with the results of the survey, since, as the
application of the instrument has shown, there is a tendency of closeness between
people with physical disability and students who do not have it, while students with an
evident cognitive disability tend to be isolated or isolate themselves due to the lack of
acceptability in an academic group.
The impact of teacher training for educational inclusion: it is important to carry out a
study of the qualification that teachers have or receive for the attention of student
diversity in higher education in the inclusion process, based on the following: the teacher
becomes a mediator of processes, hence his profile is characterized by participating in
cooperative work networks and by the transformation of his practice, turning the
classroom into a space to foster respect, recognition of differences, capabilities and
shared work among students (Arias, Bedoya, Benítez, Carmona, Castaño, Castro, Pérez
& Villa, 2009, p.156).
Innovative pedagogical strategies for the inclusion of students in circumstances of
vulnerability, based on the findings of this study, the main difficulty of students with
disabilities, with a significant percentage, are learning difficulties with 33.3%, and
behavioral, mobility and language difficulties with 16.7%. According to these results, it is
important to mention what Martínez, Uribe & Velázquez (2014) state: "the professional
who works in educational settings with this population should strive for the promotion
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of autonomous, effective and proactive human beings and likewise generate research
strategies to consolidate pedagogical strategies that favor learning" (p. 53).
The administration program is a profession where it is evident that its majority
population is female; of the 100% of the student population with disabilities, 66.7% of
the respondents are female while 33.3% are male, a figure that is very consistent with
the statistics of the student population of the university welfare database and that does
not indicate anything different from what this database shows and that, on the contrary,
corroborates the university's indicator.
Physical disability is an easily identifiable pathology, it has an impact of 50% among the
number of students surveyed with some type of disability, their adaptation and
acceptance with other students is much more supportive and cooperative, they are
students who in one way or another give an example of overcoming the physical
adversity of their body to other classmates, being more visible among the educational
community and more retentive among teachers. This group of students are
characterized by sharing their stories of life and improvement, they are people who with
their academic training and national policies of inclusion are opening a field in the
workplace.
In the analysis of the instrument, despite being anonymous, there is evidence of the lack
of acceptance or recognition of the disability by the student who suffers from it, this is
concluded because the figures handled by Bienestar Universitario of ninth and tenth
semester students with some type of disability do not coincide with the number of
students who responded to the survey stating that they do suffer from the disability.
In the question of consideration about the impact of technologies to help overcome the
difficulties of physical barriers, with a contribution of 72.5% is between agree and totally
agree, a result that is in accordance with the distance academic modality of the university
that seeks among other factors to facilitate access to higher education. Within the
development of the survey it is clear for the respondents that between agreeing and
totally agreeing they assure that technologies make it easier to adapt the schedule and
learning pace of students with disabilities in the program, that technologies help to
overcome attitudinal barriers in the teaching/learning process, facilitate access to
teaching materials allowing them to choose the presentation format according to the
skills and abilities of the student, facilitating communication with teachers and classmates.
Respondents also agree that technologies offer the possibility of carrying out practical
activities that are complex in face-to-face environments, and that technology-supported
learning presents fewer barriers than face-to-face classes.
49.4% of respondents acknowledge that they do not know if the program has an inclusive
education policy that allows recognizing and minimizing barriers to learning and
participation. This result may be related to the seniority of teachers in the position,
since due to the high turnover of teachers, very soft training and inductions are
conducted that do not favor the deployment and publication of the inclusive policy.
Similarly, for students there is no clear strategy for the deployment of this inclusive
policy, which is why many of them do not know about the existence of an available,
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reliable and accessible information system that guides the formulation of institutional
policies that promote inclusive higher education.
Between 25.9% of teachers and 30.2% of students do not know about the identification
of the student diversity of the program by characterizing its particularities (social,
economic, political, cultural, linguistic, sexual, physical, geographical and related to the
armed conflict), this may be information that is within the reach of university welfare
and is not informative for students or teachers.
Within the surveyed population, 35.9% of those surveyed stated that the facilities and
infrastructure of the institution do not meet the requirements of current regulations,
given that the university does not currently have its own facilities that guarantee these
infrastructure conditions for people with some type of disability or special condition.
Regarding these conditions of accessibility to the physical environment, 40.4% of the
respondents say that the facilities do not have equipment to meet any eventuality in the
educational population and people with disabilities, being consistent with the current
situation where the university, not having its own headquarters, is subordinated to the
management carried out by the administrators of these provisional headquarters.
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