Relations Between Situations of Educational Exclusion and Limitations of the Education System, Teaching Needs and Technological Resources: A Structural Equation Modelling Analysis

ABSTRACT From the sustainability paradigm, schools are currently committed to offering inclusive education for everyone. Nonetheless, certain forms of lack of attention to the diversity of needs in some education systems are observed, which imply situations of exclusion and barriers to providing quality education. It is precisely for this reason that the present research work aims to analyse the relations among schools' limitations to cover the diversity of needs, educational barriers or shortages, lack of technological resources and teaching needs from the family context point of view. To do so, the opinions of 1369 families from Spain were collected, and Structural Equation Modelling was applied for the data analysis. The results show that situations of educational exclusion at schools are perceived by families as having a direct and significant effect on educational barriers and shortages in relation to academic failure, demotivation, and the instability of norms and policies appearing. Likewise, these educational barriers condition both the appearance of teaching needs (linked with training, and to human/material resources) and the scarcity of resources and technological means to attend to diversity. They were analysed as a whole, and the study results evidence a certain lack of awareness of exclusion, little teacher training to put inclusive strategies into practice, and a lack of homogeneity of teaching methods.