Page 173 - RUICHSS 2023 Proceeding

University of Ruhuna ISSN: 2706-0063
Matara, Sri Lanka

affected by past academic performance. Students with high levels of academic

self-concept are those students that feel they can do well in their schoolwork.
In the context of inclusive education, a positive connection was established

between academic self-concept and the assessment of teachers’ differentiated

instruction practice (Alnahdi et al., 2022, Pozas et al., 2021). Research also
shows that students with SEN have a lower academic self-concept compared

to students without SEN (Alnahdi et al., 2022; Pozas et al., 2021).

5. Research Methodology

To gain insight into the inclusion of students with disabilities in their inclusive
classes, the teachers assessed the social inclusion, emotional well-being, and

academic self-concept of their students with and without disabilities.

The criteria for the teacher's participation in the research are that he/she

teaches in an inclusive class within a mainstream school in the three mentioned

counties, that the parents have given their consent for the teacher to assess
their children with and without disabilities, and that the teacher agrees to

participate in the research. The definition of the inclusive class concept holds
that there is at least one student with a diagnosed developmental disability in

the class. The sample consists of teachers (N=53) who met the stated criteria.

There are 50 female teachers and 3 male teachers in the sample. The sample
includes classroom teachers (N=24) and subject teachers (N=29). Teachers

report that they receive support in their work from the professionals of the
school, or from the local community; pedagogues (68.5%), speech and

114