圖書館

ABSTRACT

THIS STUDY INVESTIGATES THE AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES OF PARENTS OF CHILDCARE CENTERS IN MACAU TOWARDS INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AND EARLY INTERVENTION. IT AIMS TO UNDERSTAND PARENTS' UNDERSTANDING OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION PRINCIPLES, THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES, AND THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES. IN LINE WITH MACAU'S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ""EARLY DETECTION, EARLY DIAGNOSIS, EARLY INTERVENTION"" POLICY SINCE 2019, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF TWO INCLUSIVE CHILDCARE CENTERS IN 2023 HIGHLIGHTS THE GROWING EMPHASIS ON EARLY CHILDHOOD INTERVENTION. THIS RESEARCH FOCUSES ON THREE KEY DIMENSIONS: (1) PARENTAL AWARENESS OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION, (2) PARENTAL KNOWLEDGE OF EARLY INTERVENTION, AND (3) PARENTAL ACCEPTANCE OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION. FURTHERMORE, IT EXAMINES WHETHER DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES (E.G., AGE, EDUCATION LEVEL, OCCUPATION) OF CHILDCARE CENTER PARENTS CORRELATE WITH DIFFERENCES IN THEIR AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE, OR ACCEPTANCE LEVELS. THE STUDY ALSO EXPLORES POTENTIAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARENTS' UNDERSTANDING OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AND EARLY INTERVENTION, AND HOW THESE FACTORS MIGHT INFLUENCE THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARD INCLUSION. THE RESEARCH POPULATION CONSISTED OF PARENTS OF CHILDCARE CENTERS IN MACAU, WITH DATA COLLECTED THROUGH A SELF-DEVELOPED QUESTIONNAIRE DISTRIBUTED VIA SNOWBALL SAMPLING. A TOTAL OF 140 VALID RESPONSES WERE ANALYZED USING STATISTICAL METHODS, INCLUDING ONE-SAMPLE T-TESTS, INDEPENDENT T-TESTS, ONE-WAY ANOVA, PEARSON CORRELATION ANALYSIS, AND STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING (SEM). FINDINGS REVEALED OVERALL POSITIVE AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES AMONG PARENTS TOWARDS INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AND EARLY INTERVENTION. SPECIFICALLY, PARENTS DEMONSTRATED MODERATE LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION, WHILE THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF EARLY INTERVENTION WAS RELATIVELY HIGHER. HOWEVER, STATISTICAL ANALYSES INDICATED NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN AWARENESS OR ACCEPTANCE LEVELS ACROSS DIFFERENT DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES. THIS STUDY AIMS TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE-BASED INSIGHTS FOR MACAU EDUCATION AND YOUTH DEVELPMENT BUREAU AND SOCIAL WELFARE BUREAU GOVERNMENT OF THE MSAR TO ENHANCE POLICY IMPLEMENTATION. FUTURE RESEARCH RECOMMENDED DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN PARENTS OF MAINSTREAM AND INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS, INCORPORATING QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWS ALONGSIDE QUANTITATIVE SURVEYS TO GAIN DEEPER INSIGHTS INTO PARENTAL PERSPECTIVES AND CONCERNS REGARDING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION.