@article {963,
	title = {COLLABORATION BETWEEN GENERAL AND SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS: DEVELOPING CO-TEACHING SKILLS IN HETEROGENEOUS CLASSES},
	journal = {Problems of Education in the 21st Century},
	volume = {64},
	year = {2015},
	month = {April/2015},
	pages = {Discontinuous},
	type = {Original article},
	chapter = {108-119},
	abstract = {A considerable amount of research evidence suggests that collaboration between general and special education teachers is a pillar of the effective teaching for all students, including those with learning difficulties. Adopting the above position the present study aimed to present and discuss fifteen cases regarding co-teaching in the context of {\textquotedblleft}parallel support{\textquotedblright}, where a special education teacher supports a learning disabled student in a mainstream classroom. Particularly, after an in-service training for promoting effective instructional skills, fifteen pairs of general and special teachers were asked to record the co-teaching procedures in their classrooms. Data collection was carried out through the participants{\textquoteright} self-evaluation rubrics. The quantitative analysis showed that in almost all cases, the collaboration between the pairs of educators was improved, they applied the in-service training knowledge in order to meet the different needs of all students, using the most effective strategies and procedures. The most interesting finding was that in most cases the initially adopted model of co-teaching was replaced by the parallel co-teaching where each teacher provides instruction to different students to the {\textquoteleft}team teaching{\textquoteright}, where both teachers are responsible for planning and they share the instruction of all students. Thus, it seems that it is achievable to build an effective co-teaching model for heterogeneous classrooms.},
	keywords = {co-teaching, parallel co-teaching, self-evaluation rubric, team-teaching},
	issn = {1822-7864},
	doi = {https://doi.org/10.33225/pec/15.64.108},
	url = {http://oaji.net/articles/2015/457-1432232591.pdf},
	author = {Sotiria Tzivinikou}
}
@article {962,
	title = {THE IMPACT OF AN IN-SERVICE TRAINING PROGRAM ON THE SELF-EFFICACY OF SPECIAL AND GENERAL EDUCATION TEACHERS},
	journal = {Problems of Education in the 21st Century},
	volume = {64},
	year = {2015},
	month = {April/2015},
	pages = {Discontinuous},
	type = {Original article},
	chapter = {95-107},
	abstract = {Teachers{\textquoteright} professional development is the key to education improvement. On that basis, the present study aimed to investigate the impact of a 6-month in-service training program in the context of the continuing professional development for educators on educational practice. The main objective of the training program was to improve the educators{\textquoteright} teaching skills, to enrich their practices with the most effective strategies and with the newest findings from research evidence in order to increase the quality of their educational interventions for students with special educational needs. An innovation of that program was the simultaneous training of both general and special education teachers in pairs, smoothing the dividing lines between general and special education in their daily instructional practice. The participants were 30 educators, divided into 15 pairs. Each pair was working in the same inclusive school sharing the responsibility of the educational support of a student with learning problems. The estimation of the impact of the program was investigated by measuring the educators{\textquoteright} increasing sense of self-efficacy in relation to their instructional skills and overall effectiveness of their educational interventions for their students with learning difficulties. A pre and post evaluation research design was employed and the findings showed that the training program had a positive impact on the educators{\textquoteright} self-efficacy and their effectiveness regarding collaborative educational interventions for their students. },
	keywords = {continuing professional development, in-service training, self-efficacy},
	issn = {1822-7864},
	doi = {https://doi.org/10.33225/pec/15.64.95},
	url = {http://oaji.net/articles/2015/457-1432232539.pdf},
	author = {Sotiria Tzivinikou}
}
@article {911,
	title = {UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING - APPLICATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A GREEK PARADIGM},
	journal = {Problems of Education in the 21st Century},
	volume = {60},
	year = {2014},
	month = {July/2014},
	pages = {Discontinuous},
	type = {Original article},
	chapter = {156-166},
	abstract = {Universal Design supported by literature as an appropriate and effective procedure can help all students including the learning disabled ones to improve their accessibility to written materials (Evans et al., 2010; Rose \& Meyer, 2002). The present study reports a UDL application in higher education. More specifically, it aimed to investigate if the revision of the study guide of a Pedagogical Department according to the UDL principles helped the students to improve their access to crucial information regarding their studies. A quantitative method based on pre and post evaluation of the UDL revision of the study guide was employed. The results showed that this revision was regarded by the students as helpful and efficient as they could be well-informed about their studies and ready for making decisions related to their future careers. These findings could have an important impact on higher education course design, instruction and the produced academic written stuff, and finally, the university could become more accessible for all students.},
	keywords = {higher education, learning disabilities, universal design for learning},
	issn = {1822-7864},
	doi = {https://doi.org/10.33225/pec/14.60.156},
	url = {http://oaji.net/articles/2015/457-1421876950.pdf},
	author = {Sotiria Tzivinikou}
}
