Training of Teachers for the Implementation of Universal Design in Educational Activities

Abstract

The relevance of the research implies the need to clarify the priority methods and their components in order to train teachers for the implementation of a universal design in educational activities at secondary education institutions based on an understanding of the inclusive needs of students and the effectiveness of the educational process. The purpose of the research is to determine ways in order to train teachers for the implementation of a universal design in educational activities at secondary education institutions. 378 teachers (Ukraine) on the Google-forms platform took part in the survey. It has been highlighted that the basic differences between the theory and practice of the implementation of inclusion and universal design are as follows: inclusion is more difficult to apply in practice; design needs clarification of some practical concepts. It has been determined that the most common methods of involving into the implementation of universal design are manifestation of enthusiasm, providing examples and feedback to students; representation through class discussions, laboratory experience and images; group discussions in the classroom, projects, workshops and tests. It has been noted that UD can be used to create educational applications in order to adapt the learning space to the needs of the student (elements of physical spaces and instructions in order to make them more accessible, useful, and comprehensive). It has been revealed that universal design should be manifested in the context of massification; digitization; transdisciplinarity; deformalization. The system of barriers that prevent the implementation of UD has been outlined, namely: state support of teachers; the need for administrative support, the need to improve the general knowledge components; additional on-site training on universal design; additional advanced training on the implementation of universal design. It has been noted that teachers analyze the system of implementation of universal design through information about the participants, courses and mode of conducting, independent and dependent variables, strategies for introducing the effectiveness of implementation. Recommendations have been given on the involvement of computer communication, web-based classroom management systems, and links with technologies. The practical significance of the research was the presentation of the system of teachers’ training for the implementation of universal design in educational activities through the basic semantic and structural elements of UD in the environment of SEI.