Teachers' Perceptions of Collaboration and Partnership regarding Children with Special Educational Needs in a Mexican Bilingual Elementary School

Mexico, like many other countries in the world, has subscribed to a UNESCO policy for the inclusion of children with special educational needs in mainstream education. Thus, at least since 1994, public and private mainstream schools have included children with special educational needs. In this study, the authors intend to explore the issues in the Mexican context in order to identify teachers' attitudes, perceptions and concerns about their practice, their preparation and their skills to help children with special educational needs in their classrooms. Among the dimensions the authors are trying to investigate are those opinions and experiences expressed by classroom teachers in relation to the collaboration and support they receive from all the stakeholders in the process of educating children with special needs. The study uses the techniques and procedures of Q methodology since it is seen as a method that is particularly compatible with a social-constructionist research paradigm which allows the participants to express their own opinions and to produce an individual configuration of their own beliefs and attitudes.