Executive Summary

This research investigated private school teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards three aspects of inclusive education in Macao: (l) the inclusion of students with SEN in their classrooms; (2) their perceived self-efficacy to deal with the challenges presented by inclusive education; and (3) their responses to the proposed changes to the Macao Decree Law about inclusive education. It was undertaken by the University of Saint Joseph with funding from the Macao Foundation during the school year of 2015-2016, under the consultancy support of Professor Chris Forlin. From the results of the study 11 recommendations are made to support the projected development of inclusive schools in line with the proposed amendments to the Decree Law of 1996 (Decreto-Lei n.0 33/96/M, Governo de Macao 1996).
The Macao government is currently in the midst of revising legislation concerning the education of students with Special Education Needs (SEN) in regular settings. In 2015, a consultation document was released for public discussion, which was decisive about moving inclusive education into the public arena. The implementation of an inclusive education system is, however, a highly complex process that requires positive attitudes, expertise, education in Macao is the large number of private schools operating with substantial levels of autonomy.
To investigate the teachers’ perceptions and attitude towards inclusive education, the researchers collected data from 508 full-time teachers in private schools that had identified themselves as providing inclusive education. Of the teachers, 91 were teaching in kindergarten, 198 were teaching in primary, 249 were teaching in secondary, three were teaching in special education and some were teaching across sectors. Although working at schools identified themselves as providing inclusive education, 71% of the teachers who participated in this research stated that they did not have direct experience teaching students with SEN.

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