Understanding the lived classroom experience: A phenomenological analysis of opportunities and challenges in inclusive education for regular students living with exceptional students

Abstract

For mainstream students, inclusive education creates both transformative opportunities, such as developing empathy and enhancing cognitive skills, and serious challenges, such as learning disabilities and feelings of injustice. This dichotomy places their lived experience between dynamic social growth and the conflicts of the educational environment, the in-depth analysis of which is essential for optimizing the educational system. The present study is a qualitative research based on a phenomenological approach. The statistical population is elementary school students in District 2 of Sari County in the academic year 1403-1404, who were between 10 and 12 years old. They were selected using purposive sampling method and the data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the Claise method. The sample size in this study was saturated with 9 samples, and the focus group method was used to validate the research. Then, the data were collected, recorded, and coded using Max Quda 2018 software, and categorized into main and sub-themes. Analysis of the participants' lived experiences led to the identification of 179 primary codes, 50 sub-themes, and 7 main themes. Based on the results of data analysis, the main themes of this study include two categories of themes: challenges and opportunities for coexistence between ordinary and exceptional students in the inclusive classroom. The results of the research showed that positive factors as opportunities for inclusive education include (social-identity growth, cognitive competencies, moral-responsibility capacities, and facilitating mechanisms), and also challenges such as (disruption in the learning process and educational atmosphere, burden of caregiving responsibility, and burnout, and perception of injustice and deprivation) were identified by regular students in the inclusive classroom.