Sense of Support in the Work of Early Education Teachers from Big Cities and Small Towns / Villages: Perspective of Inclusive Education Children with Disabilities in Poland

Abstract

Inclusive education is a challenge for educational systems around the world. The major issue affecting inclusive education is the limited support for teachers in implementing inclusive education and working with diverse students.
The primary aim of this study was to define the differences in the subjective sense of professional support (institutional and non-institutional) of early education teachers from big cities and small towns/villages in Poland via the survey research method.
There is a significantly higher reported sense of support in the workplace for early education teachers from big cities compared to small towns/villages in Poland. Regarding the investigated institutional support categories, only support from trained professionals in the education of students with special educational needs (outside the didactic process) and support from other teachers (within the didactic process) was significantly different and ranked higher in teachers from big cities. For the non-institutional support categories, only support from friends and acquaintances was significantly higher in the early education teachers from big cities. Moreover, the poor network of specialist support in small towns/villages in Poland may further exacerbate the inequalities observed in the success of implementing the inclusive education idea.