www.jsser.org Journal of Social Studies Education Research Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi 2017:8 (3),93-113 93 Readiness of Educational Activity Subjects for Results-oriented Cooperation in the Inclusive Educational Practice of Higher School Vladimir Ts. Tsyrenov1, Klavdiya G. Erdyneeva2, Tuyana Ts. Tudupova3, Pavel G. Boronoyev4, Nataliya N. Popova5 Abstract The relevance of the research is due to the necessity of integration of persons with health limitations and disabilities into the educational space of higher education institutions. With regard to this, the paper is aimed at finding out the extent of readiness of the educational activity subjects for results-oriented cooperation in inclusive educational practice of the higher school. The leading approach to studying this problem is the retrospective interdisciplinary analysis that allows an integrated consideration of the universities' readiness for full-fledged integration of people with health limitations and disabilities into the educational process. In the paper, the results of research into students' attitude toward the disabled and HL people and their readiness for results-oriented cooperation are presented, and the specific problems of psychological and social support rendering are described. The value references system of students with health limitations and disabilities has been found out, and grounds have been provided for having to include the subjects that form a tolerant attitude to special needs people into the student-training content. It has also been proven that qualified professional training has to be ensured for the academic teaching staff, infrastructure has to be provided, and an integrated program has to be developed that would allow personifying the academic process adjusted for the development particularities of students with health limitations. The materials of the paper are of practical importance for educational activity subjects involved into the higher-school inclusive educational practice. Keywords: people with health limitations, the disabled, inclusive practice, inclusive education, educational activity subject, results-oriented cooperation. Introduction The rise of the open educational environment implies ontological modeling and network- based multi-level coherence of educational activity subjects, establishing the self-education, self- learning and self-development as the leading forms of education. It also involves a flexible and individualized character of education, the systemic integration of politics, science, business technologies, education and production into a single cluster, and the introduction of competence- based approach relying on the generalized ability of the educational process subjects to perform a 1Assoc. Prof., Doctor of Pedagogy, Buryat State University, volod_1963@mail.ru 2Prof., Doctor of Pedagogy, Buryat State University, eridan58@mail.ru 3Assoc. Prof., Candidate of Psychology, Buryat State University, tuyanatu@mail.ru 4Assoc. Prof., Candidate of Sociology, Buryat State University, boronoevpg@mail.ru 5Assoc. Prof., Candidate of Pedagogy, Transbaikal State University, nnp18@mail.ru mailto:volod_1963@mail.ru mailto:eridan58@mail.ru mailto:tuyanatu@mail.ru mailto:boronoevpg@mail.ru mailto:nnp18@mail.ru Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2017: 8 (3),93-113 multi-purpose practical activity (Erdyneeva, 2012, Tsyrenov, 2014, Tsyrenov, 2015, Yarovova, 2015, Erdyneeva & Popova, 2016, Tarman & Chigisheva, 2017). According to the data of the World Health Organization (WHO), about 15% of the world population has some form of disability, with 80% of them living in the developing countries. According to the Global Review of Healthcare, around 785 million people aged 15 and over (15,6%) live with disabilities, and 975 million people (19,4%) have a severe form of disability, the Global Burden of Disease Report reads. Provision of the inclusive education systems depends on adopting the relevant laws, determining a certain direction of policy, developing a nation-wide action plan, and creating the infrastructure. Monitoring and evaluation of the state policy in relation to using the accessible technologies for ensuring inclusive education are especially important (Estevez et al., 2016). The students form a particular social and cultural space in which adverse life factors conditioned by the change of social status, formed behavior and thinking stereotypes may act. Alongside with that, the cognitive and learning activity aimed at acquiring the professional and general human competences allows the young people to find out many meanings that were previously not available for them and to gain understanding of new values. Therefore, the life activity in the new space triggers the intensification of behavior of the mental and physiological processes and mobilizes the reserves of the organism. Higher stressfulness of the environment is one of dysadaptation factors and imposes stricter requirements for reflecting on emotional conditions as a way of controlling the situational negative emotions (Bashanaeva & Shumilkina, 2017; Houdyshellm, 2017). With regard to this, the most vulnerable to the impact of negative factors are students with health limitations (HL), including the disabled ones. The particularity of students of this social group due to the ontogenesis disorder consists in blocking the perception of social standards and requirements. The analysis of practice shows they in fact have problems in interaction with their social surrounding and the accessible fragments of social and cultural reality. The analysis of scientific and theoretical sources and practice of educational activity with this category of students allows recognizing that difficulties of student life can be overcome, with reserves for this to be found in organization of the educational process. And this undoubtedly is an indispensable prerequisite for succeeding. Adverse factors accompanying the educational process, together with pathological phenomena developing due to diseases, destroy the integrity and natural character of functioning Tsyrenov et al. of the organism and cause in students with health limitations a complex of psychological inferiority. The latter is characterized by anxiety, loss of confidence in themselves, passivity, and isolation or, on the contrary, by egocentrism and aggressiveness. This results in the most serious stress conditions and affects the efficiency of acquisition of the educational material and, as a consequence, the professional training. However, it has to be understood that life activity limitations cannot be an insuperable obstacle for one's integration into the full-fledged active life. A mechanism the action of which allows one to get involved into such life is adaptation that has both a natural (biological) basis and a social one. Unfortunately, the traditional professional education is not oriented to solving the problem of social and professional adaptation of people with health limitations. Meanwhile, their receiving a professional education is one of the crucial and inseparable conditions for their successful socialization, for provision of their full-on participation in the social life, and for the successful self-fulfillment in various kinds of the professional and social activity. Literature Review The analysis of scientific research shows that the problem of social and professional adaptation of students with HL remains understudied, with the new realia borne in mind. This circumstance is due to the fact that inclusive approaches in the Russian educational practice have not been a standard for quite a long time. It is only the emerging trends of humanization of the society that initiated the introduction of integration education models, including that into the higher education system. However, individual aspects of the problem studied by the authors did attract the attention of the researchers. Thus, Starobina (2003) voiced a supposition that solving the problem of education for people with health limitations and disabilities will be furthered by the creation of an integral system of continuous professional education. Some researchers (Lebedeva, 2000) believed that optimization of institutional and non-institutional education models for this group of students would allow ensuring the efficiency of their education and social and professional adaptation. In the work by Tarasenko and Zbirovskaya (2016), the idea of building the concept of education on the basis of generalization and dissemination of the foreign experience can be traced. The precise question of the social and professional adaptation of students with HL was studied by Gudozhnikova (2016) at the level of secondary vocational education. Currently, the area of research associated with studying the readiness of the educational Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2017: 8 (3),93-113 activity subjects for results-oriented cooperation in the higher-school inclusive practice is in much dynamic and unites various approaches, with its methodological toolkit being still under development. Given this, having to assist the teachers in forming a responsible attitude when implementing the inclusive values in practice implies planning of the process of introduction of inclusive education – with its unpredictability and complexity to be borne in mind. Alongside with that, the experience of introducing the inclusive education practices at universities within the systemic and activity-based approach has to be developed and evaluated. Meanwhile, the said approach involves the consistent analysis of the essential features of inclusion, among them analyzing the subject, object, tools, rules, teaching community and units, the specific nature of work, forecasting the risks, difficulties and uncertainties, modeling a productive environment, organizing the cooperation between teachers, forming an appropriate style of activity, and adopting the relevant agreements between subjects of education for satisfying their needs at inclusive classes (Smith & McCully, 2013; Pearson, 2007; Safder et al., 2012; Tarman, 2016). A comparative analysis of teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education allowed identifying the distinctions of the "soft inclusion" – it only actualizes the problem of necessity but not the essence of inclusive education. Inclusive education implies enhanced attention to the students' life worlds within the context of the entire multi-cultural ecosystem (Rasi et al., 2015). The introduction of inclusive education in multi-national regions requires a previous ethnographic study. Due to the widespread and ongoing segregation of students having severe disabilities this problem has to be considered within the constructivist and interpretation approaches. The analysis of the data of direct observation, video recordings of interaction between the participants, field notes, the content-analysis and the interviews has outlined the following problems in students with health limitations: 1) fear of the different, fear of peers, 2) difficulties establishing the social and academic status, 3) realizing the disability as a demerit or a risk (Tan, 2017). The academic program becomes an all-encompassing means of learning, a tool of research and preparation of the graduates for life. The transformation of the educational environment into a space for individualization and multi-centered way of cognition creates a global future where inclusive education occupies the rightful place (Dei, 2016; Mauch & Tarman, 2016). Inclusive education is viewed as a continuous process of studying, identifying, reducing and eliminating the barriers for learning of students, of their participation in events with the educational support granted, Tsyrenov et al. including the professional competence for teaching the special-needs people, cooperation in methodological studies, and optional research in the area of special education. It may also involve studying the opportunities of the use practical field sites, granting the expert knowledge on the typical difficulty areas in people having special educational needs (Naukkarinen, 2010). In order to successfully satisfy the educational needs of students with health limitations, due to the particularities of inclusive education, teachers engaged in this form of education have to possess psychological, pedagogical and methodological competences that will not only enable them to use a more varied range of didactic strategies but also to show a high level of empathy (Blândul & Bradea, 2017). A critical reflexive approach to self-learning and cultivation of practical judgments are recognized as the most efficient ones when training teachers for inclusive education (Gilham & Tompkins, 2016; Karatas, K. & Oral, 2015; Valiandes & Tarman, 2011). Participation in the higher education and professional employment of people with health limitations are the two key components of achieving the relationships under civil law. Universities and colleges are designed to generate a space of justice where the individual paths of professional development of students with health limitations is formed by means of developing an integrated program of professional rehabilitation (Aylward & Bruce, 2014; Raynor et al., 2016). Thus, against the background of the modern realia, the capacity of the social and upbringing environment of educational organizations for enhancing the efficiency of the social and professional adaptation of the HL students is understudied. Materials and Methods For solving the set problems, theoretical research methods were used, in particular: the retrospective interdisciplinary analysis, the study of theoretical condition and elaboration extent of the problem, the study of definitions of the problem and making them more consistent, singling out the key notions that reflect the content of the theory under development, and constructing the theoretical provisions based on the logical reasoning mediated by the subject professional experience of the authors. The objective of the paper consists in studying the extent of readiness of educational activity subjects for results-oriented cooperation in the higher-school inclusive educational practice. As empirical research methods, the authors used sociological survey, interview, and studying the pedagogical experience. These methods allowed finding out the attitude of the healthy students to the disabled and the HL people, their readiness for results- oriented communication and describing the problems in the specific psychological and social Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2017: 8 (3),93-113 support rendering, as well as identifying the value references system of students with health limitations and disabilities. Results and Discussion In the Concept of the Federal Target Program of the Development of Education for the years 2016-2020 (2014), the problem associated with the development of full-fledged mechanisms of support and granting equal educational opportunities for people with special educational needs at the level of the secondary vocational and the higher education received clear wording. Within the implementation of measures on creation of conditions for the HL people receiving the secondary vocational and the higher education, it is provided for rendering the secondary vocational and the higher education more accessible for this category of people by upgrading the technologies and infrastructure (The Concept of the Federal Target Program of the Development of Education for the years 2016-2020, 2014; Gudozhnikova, 2016). Quite importantly, the successful implementation of inclusive practices in the higher education system, their efficiency for social and professional adaptation and development of social competences will depend much on the extent to which all educational process subjects are ready for the joint activity and dynamic communication. Given this circumstance, the ideas about the essence of educational process transform into it being viewed as another coordinates system furthering the change of roles of all educational activity subjects. Hence the key question in the problem under consideration becomes that of readiness of the system of education. Meanwhile, the readiness is understood much broader than the creation of an accessible environment, legal and organizational support of the inclusive education only – it also involves a respectful attitude of the educational process subjects (teachers, the administration of educational organizations, and students) to students having life activity limitations. It is this condition that is the principal one for transition of the higher education system to a qualitatively new level of educational environment of the university. Ultimately, this will promote the actual humanization of the educational and social and cultural spaces of higher education institutions. Regrettably, the results of some studies confirm a low level of readiness for the society's full-fledged acceptance of the HL people (Strure, 2001). The works state that unlike healthy students, their peers with developmental disorders are reserved and cut off from the people. As a cause of that, they identify the lack of the basic feeling of trust for the world, a stable positive self-esteem, sufficient motivation and communication skills (Lebedeva, 2000). Tsyrenov et al. The specific features of the higher-school educational process have to be taken into account. They are characterized by a need of dynamic interaction with the social environment, communication with peer students, with the academic teaching staff etc. Within this context, the question of studying the students' attitude toward the disabled and the HL people, their readiness for results-oriented communication with them and rendering them psychological and social support becomes especially important. The way how the students with health limitations feel within the space of the university and the extent to what conditions of learning and its educational space are adapted to their capacities matter as well. In order to identify the attitude of students of Buryat State University and Transbaikal State University toward the people with health limitations, their readiness for results-oriented cooperation under the introduction of inclusive practice, to find out any problems of the HL students, and readiness of the academic teaching staff for teaching this category of students, the authors conducted a survey. Three groups of the surveyed ones took part in the poll: students of the universities of various training areas, students having health limitations, and teachers. The survey was conducted from June 27 to September 15, 2017. Now, the results of the survey of the university students are going to be analyzed. 754 students of 16 faculties and institutes of the above universities studying at different years took part in the research, among them those of the university college (0,6% of the total university students number). The poll covered students of all years, various age, belonging to different ethnic groups, income levels and differing in the gender attribute. The coverage of the scope of the respondents surveyed ensures meeting the requirements for the investigation to be representative. First of all, the authors were interested in the way how students having no health problems interpret the notion "people with health limitations". Most university students (47,7%) questioned believe the people having certain physical and mental particularities to belong to the group of people with health limitations. A slightly smaller quantity of the respondents (37%) thinks it is the disabled, i.e. people with physical development disorders who are the representatives of this social group. Yet other students, numbering about one third (31,4%), refer to this category the people having various deviations. By generalizing the answers, it can be stated that the students surveyed understand the particular condition of the social group outlined in the research sufficiently. Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2017: 8 (3),93-113 The authors also wondered if the healthy students distinguish between the notions "people with health limitations" and "people with the disabilities". Less than half of the questioned ones (41,3%) consider people having physical defects to be disabled. 42,4% of the respondents believe the disabled are those who are incapable of any activity without the support by others. Meanwhile, 20,2% of the students call people having intellectual problems the disabled ones. However, in the "other" box, 8 people of 18 tried to differentiate the disabled according to the developmental deviation types. The analysis of the two last questions allows pointing out that on balance the respondents have an accurate idea about the people with HL and the disabled. However, they find no substantial difference between them. A part of the questioned ones refers only the people having mental deviations to the group of the disabled. This emphasizes the insufficient level of awareness about the disabled in some students; they have a poor knowledge of the structure of disability. Next, the authors tried to find out if the surveyed ones had an experience of communication with people of the social group under study. So the following item of the questionnaire concerned the experience of communication with people of this group. Over half of the respondents (56,5%) had an opportunity to be friends and communicate with representatives of this social group. In particular, 53% had no problems in communication with them while 39,8% sometimes had certain difficulties. The total of 7,2% answered the question about problems in the positive, i.e. they had difficulty communicating with the said group of people. Such figures reflect the orientation of the Russian public to inclusion of people with health limitations and disabilities into the society, which results from the recent years' institutionalization of the integration education models in the country. So, what problems are faced by students in communication with people having developmental disorders? Although 72,68% of the questioned ones (548 people) encountered no barriers in communication, yet so much as a quarter of students (25,5%) felt some discomfort from communication with people having physical particularities. It was also important for the authors to find out to what extent one's life activity limitations are an insuperable obstacle for one's integration into the full-fledged active life. With regard to this, 74,2% of the students said this circumstance was not an insuperable obstacle for inclusion of such a person into the active Tsyrenov et al. social life. Unfortunately, each fifth respondent (20,9%) believe the circumstance to be a serious obstacle for leading the full-fledged active life. It is encouraging that the majority of students (77,1%) are ready to render any aid to a HL person in solving their problems. Such an attitude to people with HL stems from most questioned ones having an experience of communication and friendship with them, understanding of their problems, and readiness of the society to change the attitude to people with health limitations. Nevertheless, 4,2% of the respondents will refuse to help, which is also a reflection of the public opinion. The question of co-education is important. A little less than half of the students think people with health limitations have to study together with the healthy ones. Regrettably, 41% of the students are not ready to study with them, believing that people with health limitations have to study at specialized educational organizations. The figures clearly demonstrate the segregation thinking still existing among the public that is oriented to separating such citizens in the process of education. It is also confirmed by the fact that it is only half of the questioned ones who feel positive about the idea of inclusive education. 27,8% of the students are not satisfied with some aspects of inclusion, while the negative attitude was expressed only by 3,2% of the survey participants. 4,1% of the questioned students do not support the idea of inclusive practice, which gives evidence about the existing negative stereotypes about conditions, mechanisms and means of inclusive education and the insufficient understanding of essence of the inclusive process. The answers obtained by the authors are quite controversial, which once again emphasizes the ambivalent acceptance of inclusion ideas by the Russian public as a whole and by students in particular. If a HL student joined the group, 54,3% of the students would be indifferent to the fact and 36,3% of them would even be glad at the event. 4,3% would be displeased at the situation, and 2,9% of the surveyed ones would avoid communicating with such students. The answers contradict some attitudes of the students toward integrated education forms mentioned above. According to 12,6% of the respondents, the academic process will not be influenced by a HL student joining the group, while the fact will affect the educational results for 3,8%. 79,1% of the respondents spoke about having to create special conditions for students with HL, while 18,2% do not think so. Further on, the authors asked to specify what conditions had to be created for people with health limitations for them to successfully master the educational Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2017: 8 (3),93-113 program. The students turned out to be quite well informed about the list of special conditions for ensuring the successful acquisition of the educational program. The respondents pointed out forms and methods of learning, the use of special teaching aids and textbooks. It is only 3,8% of the students deny the necessity of creating special conditions for them. Thus, most students understand the importance and necessity of creating special conditions for studying because the majority of students said the conditions had to be created when answering the previous question. Two more questions were asked to check the sincerity of the respondents in their previous answers. The first of them was designed to find out the feelings which the questioned ones would experience when meeting a person with health limitations. The majority (55,2%) would not have any particular feelings. In 34,1% of the surveyed ones (which is over one third), meeting a special person evokes pity. This is alarming because pity toward any person humiliates rather than makes a good impression. Some students cannot control their emotions and feel fear (4,5%) and dislike (3,4%). Meanwhile, such answers as the wish to help (0,8%) and respect (1,2%) confirm that the society has got the future, even though the quantity of students thinking so is not high. 74,9% of the students who participated in the questionnaire survey will consider a person with health limitations to be an ordinary one, i.e. they do not differentiate people according to the condition of their health. And yet 12,6% believe that such people have to stay in their social group, that is, to communicate, study and work with other HL people. So, the university students show an altogether positive attitude toward people with HL, they understand their problems and realize the necessity of co-education with them at the university, they are also ready to render psychological support. It is encouraging that they have the experience of communication and friendship with such people. However, a minor part of the students is of the opposite opinion. Some discrepancies in the answers to similar questions have been found too. According to the authors, this reflects the actual situation at this stage of development of the Russian public and generally emphasizes the ambivalent attitude of the healthy part of population toward those having health problems. The second group of participants of the survey consisted of students with health limitations and disabilities. At the time of the research, 72 students of this social group were registered, with 28 of them in ten training units agreeing to take part in the poll. Tsyrenov et al. Under the harsh social stratification of the society, the question of the income level is quite important. With regard to this, according to half of the surveyed ones, their income level is characterized by having enough money to buy food only. One of the respondents admitted he even lacks the money for food. He certainly needs additional social support. In 44,4% of the students having developmental disorders, the income is sufficient to cover everything except the expensive household appliances. The system of value references previously formed in the students is of interest. It would be not quite precise if the students questioned did not single out health as a priority value (21,4%). Good relationships within their family, faithful friends and an interesting job are especially significant for people of this group, with education, material welfare, availability of their own housing and children being a less important value. In 4,2% of the surveyed students, all the above values matter very much. On the whole, the students are interested in studying at the university. However, 16,7% of them could not clearly identify their attitude to learning, with 5,6% saying they were not attracted by studying at the university. This suggests that the educational process is not motivated for them; they might be dissatisfied with the future profession. Half of the respondents are happy with the conditions created at the university, and the third of the students participating in the survey are partially happy with them. Again, half of the students pointed out they felt psychologically comfortable at the educational institution, and 16,7% of this group of students said they felt more comfortable than not. Unfortunately, for 27,8% of the developmental disorder students, the psychological conditions can hardly be called comfortable. Yet other 5,6% cannot identify their psychological condition in the process of learning. Slightly over one quarter of the students, 27,6%, have no serious difficulties in their studies. However, 20,7% of the students find it difficult to focus, and as many students encounter problems with understanding the study material in a number of subjects. According to 17,2%, their health condition hinders them. The minority is composed by ones who lack time for self- training and who have difficulties controlling their emotional state. Bad peer relationships and a complicated family situation are also an obstacle. The authors believe the difficulties of various nature interfere with the full-fledged mastering of educational program of the university, and the Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2017: 8 (3),93-113 controversies revealed have to be taken into account when working with the students of this group. It is evident that full-time education does not allow some students having particularities to study at the rate meeting the specific character of their needs. Here, the distance learning may have its advantages and allow organizing a personified educational process with the features of their thinking, memory, attention, cognitive activity mode considered. It is only a third of the questioned ones (33,3%) that recognize the efficiency of distance learning. A slightly larger quantity of the students (38,9%) do not consider it efficient for them, with 27,8% being at a loss to answer this question. What is important in implementing the inclusive approaches is the opportunity of getting individual counseling from the teachers. Regrettably, as of now, the opportunity is only available to a third of the students with health limitations and disabilities, with another third occasionally getting this opportunity. The above renders urgent the question about the list of special conditions the creation of which ensures the people with special educational needs successfully studying at higher education institutions. Half of the questioned students mentioned there was no need of creating special conditions. Yet 3 students (15,8%) of this category need classes with domain specialists – psychologists, language speech therapists, special education teachers. An individual program of studies and assistance of a tutor is needed for 5,3% of the survey participants. 10,5% were at a loss to answer, with one student giving no answer. The opinions of the students differ considerably, yet their claims for conditions of studying that correspond to their particularities to be created are justified and consolidated by law. So, these wishes have to be borne in mind when developing a model of support for people with health limitations and disabilities studying at the university. What exactly conditions do the university have for education of the HL and the disabled people? The students are happy with access ramps and lifts available (21,1%), they point out distance learning opportunities (18,4%), the medical room (18,4%), and a spacious sports hall (16,5%). In 7,9% of the answers, the availability of comfortable furniture and wide aisles between desks, the comfort of the canteen, provision with modern PCs and interactive whiteboards are pointed out. Only 1 student knows about the special equipment available at the Tsyrenov et al. university for hearing and visually impaired students. It is also important that 66,7% of the students have an opportunity to pursue a creative or research activity or sport. The question about relationships with peer students was very valuable for the research. It is encouraging that the absolute majority – 72,2% – recognize the fact that peer students build normal relationships with them. Yet it also requires attention that it has not become a norm for 11,1% - they do not behave so always, and as many students were at a loss to answer this question. The result of development of inclusive practice in the general education system is that so few as 5,6% of the students have had problems communicating with people due to their physical particularities. Sadly enough, 27,8% sometimes encounter such forms of attitude; however, 66,7% have no problems of this kind, which is very important. Due to this, the question arises as for which of the educational activity subjects the students find it difficult to communicate with. The fact can only alarm one that the students questioned experience problems in communication with almost all educational activity subjects. It is especially sad that 26,3% of the answers mention problems in communication with teachers. It is also alarming that 36,8% of the developmental disorder students evade from answering this question. Regrettably, teachers and peer students have not become close ones for these students. In a situation they find difficult for them, 51,7% of the students with health limitations and disabilities turn to their own parents and 37,9% – to friends. It is only 3,4% who would turn to their peer students for help in a difficult situation. This could also be associated with the fact that since childhood, it is from their closest ones that people of this group have got used to seek help. Unfortunately, this is a problem running throughout the Russian society. The possibility of conflicts between subjects of education cannot be denied; in fact, conflicts are encountered in their life practice. At least, their answers in the survey confirm that. Such situations can emerge in 42,1% of cases if they do not like somebody's behavior and in 36,8% of cases – when they do not like the attitude toward them. During the research, the authors questioned 44 teachers of all faculties and institutes of the university of the total of 806 who were employed as of the survey point. The analysis of answers of the university teachers questioned has shown that a considerable part of the teachers (42,9%) associate people with health limitations with the disabled, while 46,9% identify them as people having physical and mental deviations. As for the notion "the disabled", the respondents Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2017: 8 (3),93-113 gave the following answers: 32% think the disabled are people having a physical defect, 8% - ones having intellectual deficiency, while a half (50%) refer those incapable of the independent, i.e. unassisted, activity to the disabled. 6% think that all the above groups of people belong to the disabled. It is encouraging that 77,3% of the teachers have a certain experience of communication with the HL people while only 18,2% of them have no such experience. It was interesting to find out what feelings the teachers have when meeting a person with health limitations. In particular, 52,2% of the questioned ones have no special feelings whatever. This suggests that when encountering the people of this category the teachers do not identify them as special ones. This is actually a positive point that allows building the inclusive educational space of the university with confidence. What is sad is that 37% of the respondents feel pity toward people with health limitations and 2,2% feel fear toward them. The authors are convinced that pity does not allow reasonably perceiving people with health limitations as equal subjects of social life. Pity humiliates one altogether, and the feeling is shared by such an impressive quantity of the questioned ones due to the segregation thinking having previously formed in the society. It should also be pointed out that 8,7% of the surveyed ones specified in the "other" box that such people required a special attitude, called a feeling of guilt or the necessity to render assistance. According to the authors, the answers reflect the total palette of feelings existing in the Russian society toward the special people quite brightly. The fact that 90,9% of the university teachers will respond to a call for assistance on the part of a HL person is positive too. It is a little embarrassing that 9,1% more of them might respond. It follows from them that they might as well fail to respond to a request for assistance. Certainly, this point has to be taken into account when implementing the inclusive approach in the educational process. It must be difficult for such a teacher to perceive a student7 having physical defect, to accept the student's particularities and the specific nature of educational needs in full. In this case, this will keep under the development of inclusive thinking of the society. This falls in line with the answers to the question in what form people with health limitations have to study. Namely, 66,7% admit that these people have to study together with healthy children. This must be quite a high percentage at the stage of development of the society. However, 21,6% of teachers believe they have to study at specialized educational organizations, and 9,8% - under individual form of education, with 2% of the questioned ones thinking that the Tsyrenov et al. form of education should depend on the degree of condition. Two questionnaire forms had marks for all three options, i.e. they agree with variability of the form of education for people with health limitations. In three of the forms filled in, two options were marked with an explanation that people having intellectual problems had to study at specialized educational organizations while those with physical disorders – either with healthy people (form one), or at special educational organizations and together with healthy people (form two), and individually with a teacher or with healthy children (the third form). Thus, in general, most respondents anyway consider the necessity for people with health limitations to study together with healthy students, except persons having intellectual problems. This is but obvious, because people with mental retardation get educated in practical life skills mainly and inherently they have no opportunity to receive the higher education. All in all, 65,9% of the university teachers who participated in the survey feel positive about the idea of inclusive education. In particular, 27,3% of them are satisfied with only some of its aspects and 6,8% are at a loss to answer. The authors believe that the figures are high enough for this stage of introduction of the inclusive educational practice. If the HL students joined the group taught by the questioned teachers, 65,9% of them would take the fact without much problems and 34,1% of them would be glad at the event. In the aspect of possible change of the quality of education, teachers evaluate the process of introduction of co-education for healthy students and the developmental disorder ones quite positively. Half of the teachers surveyed think this will not influence the academic process in any way while 36,4% of them see an opportunity for improvement in it. Only 6% were at a loss to answer. The answers obtained to a certain extent contradict the fact that 72,7% of teachers say they are ready to teach the HL and the disabled people while 25% of them are not. With regard to this, it is curious enough that 78,7% of the respondents consider the HL and the disabled people to be ordinary people. And the opinions of higher education institution teachers do not correlate with the above opinions about the disabled and the people with HL in any way, nor with the fact that 10,6% of teachers who participated in the research deem it necessary for this category of people to be in their social group. According to them, such people have to communicate and work with the HL people only. It is even sadder that 2,1% of the respondents point out they should be isolated from the public. And 8,5% of the questioned ones were at a loss to answer this question. Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2017: 8 (3),93-113 Thus, the research conducted allows stating that inclusive approaches to design of education for the HL and the disabled people develop both at Buryat State University and Transbaikal State University. The attitude of educational activity subjects toward people having health limitations and disabilities, the experience of interaction with them, an understanding of their role and place in the society, readiness for accepting the ideas of including them into the educational space are on balance positive, which certainly is reassuring. Most university students show a tolerant attitude to the HL and the disabled people which is expressed in having no discomfort in communication with them or dislike for them. Moreover, they feel positive about the idea of co-education. Nevertheless, some results are of concern. To these, a lack of unambiguous positive acceptance of special people can be referred. A part of students is wary of people with developmental disorders. A minor part of the students surveyed are not prepared for co-education. Given this circumstance, the necessity of including the subjects that form a tolerant attitude to special needs people into the student-training content becomes more urgent. So, the survey of the HL and disabled students has allowed identifying a set of strain points in the process of their education. With these issues resolved, the process of their social and professional adaptation and acquisition of professional competences will be rendered more efficient. Conclusion The theoretical study of the essence of the problem has allowed determining that the integrated result of education of people with health limitations and disabilities at higher school is their social and professional adaptation. An important condition for achieving the said result is not only creation of an accessible environment for them, but also the adaptation of the system of education to needs and capacities of students of this group, as well as readiness of the educational activity subjects for perceiving them in a reasonable manner. The implementation of this condition will allow students with health limitations to integrate into the active social life of educational institutions in full. The results of the empirical research have allowed revealing a set of problems that would help design the models of organization of inclusive educational space of higher education institutions that is oriented to rendering support and assistance to students with health problems. As of today, an insufficient level of awareness about the disabled can be stated in a certain part of students; they have a poor knowledge of the structure of disability. Alongside with that, the Tsyrenov et al. orientation of the public to the inclusion of people with health limitations and disabilities into the society is evident, which results from institutionalization of the integration education models in Russia in the recent years. With the answers given by the respondents, the question of ambivalent acceptance of inclusion ideas by the public at large and particularly by students can be reconsidered. Meanwhile, most students understand the importance and necessity of creating special conditions for people with health limitations and disabilities to be able to study. Thus, the university students demonstrate an altogether positive attitude toward people with health limitations; they understand their problems, realize the necessity to study alongside with them at higher education institutions, and are ready to help them out. It is encouraging that they have an experience of communication and friendship with the HL and the disabled people. During the survey, some discrepancies in answers to similar questions have been found. The authors believe one of the reasons behind the discrepancies being the ambivalent attitude of the healthy population to those having health problems. According to a certain part of the HL and the disabled students, their condition of health prevents them from successfully mastering the educational program. Another obstacle is the bad peer relationships and a complicated family situation. In the opinion of the authors, difficulties of whatever nature hinder the full-fledged acquisition of the educational program of higher education institutions. The results of the survey allow identifying a set of strain points in introducing the inclusive practice at universities. According to the authors, the situation is quite typical for Russia. Hence it becomes relevant to design a model of support in the process of studying at higher education organizations for people with health limitations and disabilities. Thus, the results of the research allow outlining the prospects of further study of the problem, adjusting and reconsidering the objectives, content, methods, means and forms of organizing the activity under implementation of the inclusive educational practice so that they will ensure creation of conditions for a comprehensive introduction of inclusion as an actual educational practice into the higher school. 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