Barriers to Learning and Participation in Educational Settings: Lights and Shadows towards Inclusive Education

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to explore the multifaceted challenges and opportunities within educational systems that impact inclusivity and accessibility.

Educational settings around the globe are increasingly focused on inclusivity, ensuring that all students, regardless of their individual circumstances or abilities, have access to quality education. This goal, central to global educational policies and practices, remains challenging due to various systemic, institutional and personal barriers. Understanding these barriers, alongside identifying effective strategies to overcome them, is crucial for advancing inclusive education. The importance of this research area is underscored by its potential to influence educational policy, improve pedagogical approaches and promote equitable learning environments.

This Special Issue seeks to deepen the understanding of the barriers that hinder learning and participation in educational settings, as well as the "lights" or positive interventions that promote inclusivity. By aligning with the broader journal scope of educational research and innovation, this Special Issue aims to synthesize new insights and foster discussions that can translate into actionable knowledge for educators, policymakers and researchers.

We welcome original research articles and reviews that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Systemic Barriers: Studies examining how educational policies, institutional structures and funding constraints affect inclusivity.
• Technological Advances: Exploration of how technology can both create and remove barriers in education, including the use of assistive technologies.
• Teacher Training and Resources: Research on the preparation and ongoing support of educators to meet the needs of diverse student populations.
• Cultural and Socioeconomic Influences: Investigations into how cultural backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses influence educational participation and success.
• Psychological and Social Barriers: Insights into the psychological impacts of exclusion and the social dynamics that influence educational engagement.
• Best Practices and Interventions: Evaluations of programs and strategies that have successfully improved inclusivity in educational settings.
• Cross-Cultural and International Perspectives: Comparative studies that highlight unique challenges and solutions in different educational systems worldwide.

We look forward to receiving your contributions that not only highlight the challenges faced in striving for an inclusive education, but also shed light on innovative solutions and best practices that can pave the way forward.

Prof. Dr. Antonio-Manuel Rodríguez-García
Dr. Juan Carlos de la Cruz-Campos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Education Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• inclusive education
• accessibility
• educational barriers
• pedagogical innovation
• assistive technology
• educational equity
• systemic challenges
• cultural diversity
• teacher training
• policy impact

Title: Supporting the Mental Health Needs of Neurodivergent Students: Outcomes of a Mental Health Literacy Program for Primary School Educators

Abstract: This study evaluates a mental health literacy program for primary school educators about Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing difficulties, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Queensland, Australia. The program utilised a novel co-design and collaborative teaching by educators and child mental health clinicians. A pre-test and post-test survey design was conducted with 99 primary school educators. Findings revealed an increase in knowledge and confidence. In addition, knowledge was a significant predictor of confidence, and the quality of collaborative training partially mediated this relationship. Implications of the finding for intersectoral training and collaborative delivery of mental health literacy for educators. Keywords: mental health literacy, primary school, educators, training, autism, ADHD.

Highlights:

• The co-designed and co-delivered training was found to increase knowledge, self-reported by the educators

• There were notable increases in perceived confidence amongst the educators following the training

• Perceived knowledge was a significant predictor of perceived confidence gain

• Perceptions of the collaborative training model was found to partially mediate the relationship between perceived knowledge and confidence