Teachers' perception about their competencies to attend students with special educational needs

Abstract

The objectives of the study were to describe the knowledge and competences of teachers for the integral educational attention of students with special educational needs in conditions of inclusion and to establish comparisons based on the sex of the participants. A non-experimental cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative study was performed. 21 teachers (11 boys and 10 women) who had the social task of serving students with Special Educational Needs in a public sector high school in the Maule Region, Chile, were selected in a non-probabilistic way for convenience. The survey technique was handled and the instrument used was a questionnaire validated through expert judgment. The results show that the competences that teachers have that assume an educational challenge of this nature are insufficient, which hinders the possibility of offering students with special educational needs the opportunities of adequate learning to favor their cognitive, affective and social development. It is concluded that it is urgent to empower teachers with the necessary tools, so that in future times they can successfully face the onslaught of education in conditions of inclusion.