A Study on the Experiences of Teachers in Inclusive Education, Educating Children With Disabilities From Multicultural Families in Korea

1. Preface

As exchanges between countries increase, many communities with diversified ethnic and religious characteristics begin to appear in those countries. Korea is, at present, gradually entering a multicultural society as foreigners migrate to Korea for a variety of major life choices such as marriage, employment, and education. According to the 2021 Korean National Statistics Office‘s Population and Housing Survey, the number of multicultural households in Korea grew to 370,000 from 14,000 in 2019. Within the same period, the number of multicultural households grew to 1.09 million from 30,000 in 2019. Korea has prepared for such dynamic social changes as early as 2009 when the Multicultural Family Support Act laid the institutional framework to provide a stable quality of life and social integration of multicultural families. The Act defines a multicultural family as a unit of relatives consisting of married immigrants and persons who have obtained Korean nationality under the Nationality Act. Against this multicultural backdrop, schools are striving to provide educational services that meet the specific needs of learners from various cultural backgrounds. However, students with disabilities who are also from multicultural families have limited access to the social environment outside of daily school life due to the characteristics of their disabilities. These students experience more academic challenges than students without disabilities from mono-cultural families (Jun, I. J. et al., 2020). In response to the educational diversity of multicultural children with disabilities, the integrated education of students with disabilities into an appropriate multicultural society was proposed to change the educational perception of caring in a multicultural learning community so that the students could develop their well-being and healthy self-esteem (Chu, Y.G., 2014).

In any conversation about multicultural education, the role of teachers is paramount because programs and policies for multicultural children are not distributed across school sites equally. It is important to consider their emotion, knowledge, and attitude because special education teachers’ personal views play an important key role in multicultural education. Moreover, their views are also a determinant of the teachers’ behavior when they engage with multicultural students and their parents (Shin, S.J. et al., 2011). In other words, educational success for children from multicultural families and children with disabilities depends on the competence of teachers and special education teachers. In the present era of increased social diversity, the role of special education teachers who instruct students with disabilities from multicultural families is bound to expand; thus,efforts are needed to be obliged to develop the competencies suitable for these important pedagogical roles (Kim, Y. H. & Choi, S. B., 2015).

Therefore, to accommodate their needs, it is crucial first to understand and second to improve the current framework of assisting students with disabilities from multicultural families. A qualitative approach is appropriate for such research as it supports the possibility of examining the “essence” of real-life experiences. Current qualitative studies are limited. They focus primarily only on the experiences of raising non-disabled children of multicultural families (Boratav et al., 2021; Chen et al., 2021; Song et al., 2016). Not much research has focused on the difficulties faced by married immigrants or their successful acclimations to their new countries (Ataca & Berry, 2002; Sigad & Eisikovits, 2009). Some other quantitative studies have also considered the experiences of multicultural families raising children with disabilities (Lopez et al., 2018; Wang & Casillas, 2013). Previous attention has generally concentrated on mothers raising children with disabilities (Lopez et al., 2018; Song et al., 2016). The topic of raising children with disabilities from multicultural families living in Korea is rarer still. This current study finds its motivation in the apparent literature gap with a vision to provide deep insight into instructing multicultural children with disabilities in South Korea.

In this context, the author became interested in the teaching of children with disabilities from the perspective of special education teachers. By examining their acts of child caring and instruction, the need for additional research on special education teachers’ experiences was raised. The purpose of this study is to provide initial and fundamental understandings that can be used in the educational and social welfare fields. In addition, this study aims to analyze the experiences of special education teachers who educate children with disabilities from multicultural families at school sites. Until now, there have been few attempts to simultaneously analyze the experiences of special education teachers on the education of children with disabilities in multicultural families. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the experiences of special education teachers. With research studies such as this, it is possible to explore the reality of educating the children with disabilities from multicultural families as well as new directions and applications of policy in social welfare and educational support. The guiding research question for this qualitative case study is, “What is the experience of a special education teacher who is teaching children with disabilities in Korean?” Even if this study’s scope is limited to individuals and schooling sites in Korea, it is expected that this study can be used for cases in other countries of similar cultures that is, where special education teachers have the primary roles in teaching children.

2. Research Methodology

The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of teachers who are responsible for educating children with disabilities from multicultural families. The purpose of this study is to examine various aspects of teachers educating children with disabilities from multicultural families. In Korea, information on the lives of teachers’ teaching children with disabilities in multicultural families in Korea is very limited. Additionally, it is not easy to access the examples of these children, it is not easy to access the quantitative data collected by government or educational agencies, so it is appropriate to apply qualitative research methods to understand the situation. An explanatory case study method provides utility in a qualitative research design where special instances of a concept exist. Since the experiences of teachers as the main caretakers of children with disabilities from multicultural families is not a widely established research field, a qualitative case study method has the potential to stimulate new perspectives.

Participants 

Table 1. Research Participant Data.

Participant	Gender	Age	Nationality	Time in Korea	Age of Child	Child’s disability
Participant 1	Female	38	China	15 years	12 ages	Mental retardation
Participant 2	Female	35	Australia	14 years	11 ages	Mental retardation
Participant 3	Female	40	Vietnam	11 years	9 ages	Mental retardation
Participant 4	Female	29	Vietnam	13 years	10 ages	Mental retardation
Participant 5	Female	35	Philippines	15 years	12 ages	Autism

Table 1. Research Participant Data.

Participant	Gender	Age	Nationality	Time in Korea	Age of Child	Child’s disability
Participant 1	Female	38	China	15 years	12 ages	Mental retardation
Participant 2	Female	35	Australia	14 years	11 ages	Mental retardation
Participant 3	Female	40	Vietnam	11 years	9 ages	Mental retardation
Participant 4	Female	29	Vietnam	13 years	10 ages	Mental retardation
Participant 5	Female	35	Philippines	15 years	12 ages	Autism

Research Questions 

This study aims to explore the experiences of special education teachers. Through interviews four main questions guided the collection of data:

• What experiences did you have while teaching children with multicultural disabilities?
• What was the most difficult part about teaching children with multicultural disabilities?
• What do you think is the most necessary support for the education of children with multicultural disabilities?
• What do you want education authorities and communities to do for the education of children with multicultural disabilities?

Data Analyses 

Data were collected through an interview method to reveal the subjective nature of the research participants from an insider's point of view. Interviews were conducted from March 2021 to April 2021. The purpose of the study was explained to the study participants, informed consent was obtained. Interviews were conducted in a work lounge or café setting, familiar spaces where the study participants may talk comfortably.

At the beginning of the interview, participants were asked general questions about their experience. All contents were recorded with the consent of the interviewee, and the recorded material was transcribed. In order to conceptualize the transcribed original data, the researcher employed careful reading to grasp the meaning of words and sentences and conceptualized responses as an integrated work. In each case, related concepts were grouped into one category to explain characteristics and scope.

3. Results

The central concepts were obtained by examining the contextual meaning in special education teachers’ practices of educating multicultural children with disabilities (MCD). Results were divided into subcategories. Table 2 details the educational experiences of special education teachers as a result of normalization through constant insight and interpretation while continuously comparing cases and discovering their commonalities and differences.

3.1. Mother's lack of linguistic ability

3.1.1. Difficulties in raising MCDs

A. Inability to teach children a language 

Female immigrants who have married male Koreans have experienced various inconveniences due to poor Korean language skills even from the beginning of their acclimation stage to the new country. Due to this absence of a Korean language learning environment and linguistic exposure in their early years—often considered the most critical period for learning language—some children from multicultural parents cannot speak Korean fluently. The special education teachers in this study made multiple references to language development in their responses.

Children can't be children, and mothers can't be mothers. If she is a Korean mother, I think she could raise her level a bit. We provide services for parents, but there are also things that they can do at home due to the generalization of knowledge. There are lifestyle habits and delays, so no matter how much you try to bring up the language, you can't do it at home satisfactorily. There are many more frustrating and unfortunate circumstances [for multicultural mothers] than what Koreans experience. (Participant 1)

In the case of the second child, language-related sections were specifically dropped from the ABC21 test. The other sections were not very difficult, so there were many internal imbalances. And when I conducted the REBT2 language test, I think the child had a second-grade elementary school level vocabulary. There was no problem with any other parts, but I think the vocabulary section was the most difficult among akk language skills. I heard that the child's brother has similar symptoms. She is fluent in Korean, but I guess I was confused because her mother's native language was different in the early stages of unconscious development. In other areas of her daily life, there are no obvious problems or issues, so I deduce there is a strong environmental impact. (Participant 4)

I haven't met my student’s mom, but I feel uncomfortable when I talk to her on the phone since she can't convey her intentions accurately. So what I do is I talk to her on the phone and then I have to talk to the child’s [Korean] father one more time. This way I can learn how my class is going or what isn’t working. (Participant 5)

B. Difficulty in taking care of children 

Female married immigrants who became parents in their early 20s must care for their children with little prior knowledge of how to raise them. With the additional linguistic burden of living in a new country, this situation of ill-preparedness makes it extremely difficult for such women to raise their children properly.

Since my student’s mother can’t speak Korean, I can’t communicate well with the child’s home. There’s also a big age difference: the mothers are almost all in their early 20s and the fathers are much older than that. This is why I feel like mothers can't take care of their children well. (Participant 1)

C. Failures in adequate detection of disabilities 

It is important to detect disabilities early and migrate children through early treatment and education, but individuals similar to this study’s participants are likely to miss the decisive timing of disability detection. This may be also partially due to female married immigrants unfamiliarity with Korean language and culture. If a child's disability had been discovered earlier, the degree of the disability would not have been severe. Yet, unfortunately, some disabilities were discovered too late. Korean special education teachers noted different scenarios from their experiences.

When a child enters kindergarten, I think the first thing to be done is figuring out if the child is developing properly. It's better to detect a disability when the child is younger. Some mothers avoid visiting the hospital alone; other mothers who are more fluent visit the hospital early in the morning to meet their child’s doctor. In the beginning, it seemed like mothers didn’t socially engage because they couldn't speak the language. (Participant 1)

Mothers can't understand if their children have developmental delays, and the mothers can't seem to grasp what their children are asking for. Fathers don't understand why their children can't do a particular thing. They don't understand why development is slow. Ordinary fathers, when their child’s development is slow, ask why their child can't do this particular thing compared to other children. (Participant 5)

3.1.2. Difficulties in communicating with others

A. Difficulties in accessing hospital services due to language barriers 

It is said that female married immigrants who find it hard to adapt to life in Korea are not easy to actively engage in outside activities. This may explain a mother’s reluctance to visit the hospital for diagnosis and treatment.

I don't think they know how to take care of their children. Also, some mothers don't have good social lives. That's why they don’t go to the hospital. I felt like they don’t go to the hospital because they can’t speak the language or communicate. I think they can't even get a proper medical examination. (Participant 1)

B. Mother’s personality becomes passive over time 

Some female married immigrants actively treat their disabled children in their home countries using a variety of methods; however, this study revealed that participants who did not speak Korean turned passive and did not actively interact with others.

I once met a Vietnamese mother and a Chinese mother. They said that they would rather go to their respective countries to seek treatments. Active mothers said they would get acupuncture, request medical prescriptions, or take herbal medicines in their own countries; in fact, there are some people who go back several times a year, and I've seen this regularly. But some mothers would simply stay home. It depends on their preferences. But when a child does not attend school regularly, I cannot help them consistently. One of my students, I felt like he was stuttering in his language, and he seemed to be eating more slowly. (Participant 1)

I think that some [multicultural] mothers are more comfortable that way. I think a mother does that because it would be easy for her to take care of herself and her child. Since she can't speak the language well, she can't convey what she wants to say. Some mothers of my students’ do not speak Korean at all. They do not want to talk on the phone. (Participant 3)

C. Difficulties in acquiring and sharing information related to treatment for children with disabilities 

Participants in the study said that mothers of multicultural families should acquire and share various educational and social welfare information concerning their particular situations while raising children in Korean society. Notably, it was not possible to do so even though obtaining feedback on children's learning from special education teachers necessitated verbal communication. Instead, husbands and other family members fluent in Korean interacted on behalf of the mothers. Such indirect communication, however, lowered the quality of the verbal exchanges.

I think the biggest issue is language. I think the biggest thing is that we can't communicate well enough when we talk to the mothers. It's difficult for us to explain certain things, and mothers don't understand. This is why the father acts as an interpreter between us, but even this poses some obstacles because fathers are usually working a lot. Even if I want to help them and provide a little more care, I can't communicate with the family very well. I think that's the biggest problem. (Participant 1)

She might not be able to respond because she doesn't understand what we're saying. We would like to hear [some background] about the birth of the child. The mother said the child died, but the next day he was breathing. It didn’t make any sense, so I didn't know how to interpret her intended meaning. So basically the child wasn’t breathing and then was breathing later. Even if I want to investigate whether or not the child has developmental delays due to a lack of oxygen at birth, I don’t understand what the mother is saying. Actually, it would be nice to have an interpreter. We’ve never actually asked for anyone; no wonder there's never been one. This is why I keep saying communication is the number one priority. That way, by starting with his birth, we can find out more about why the child is doing what he does (Participant 2)

If fathers would pay attention, I think communication will be better. We consult with parents more often by phone than in person. We can’t understand half of it. I think the mothers didn't understand anything we were saying. (Participant 3)

Perhaps it’s because her mother is Vietnamese and because it hasn't been a long time since she got remarried to her Korean husband. She probably isn’t verbally fluent enough to communicate. Maybe we were talking to the student's grandmother. So I think it was difficult when more emotional protection was needed. I usually consulted with the grandmother and talked to the father sometimes too, but I think the father was in a situation where he couldn't take care of his children often because he was in the transportation business. My relationship with the father was not bad, but since I saw him once a week, I think there were some aspects that receive attention. Since the grandmother is the main caregiver, I continued to consult with her. In particular, rather than coming from a multicultural family, as I said earlier, it seems that people who supported them socially were limited to teacher or grandmother. Thus, it is difficult for mother to participate. I think the student probably couldn't communicate well and couldn't make a lot of demands. (Participant 4)

Welfare service cards are available. But I don't think they [the multicultural mothers] can access such resources because they don't know about such resources. I feel like they don't have any idea because they tend to stay in their homes. Since they don't work outside of their home, they don't get the information they need. (Participant 5)

3.2. Governmental and societal support for multicultural special education

3.2.1. Preventive measures

A. Early diagnosis and intervention 

Female immigrants who marry Korean husbands and raise children with disabilities in multicultural families regret that their children's disabilities were not diagnosed and treated early on. Therefore, they want the state to actively support medical benefits for children born into multicultural families. This is because ’the country's active response measures can reduce future costs due to disability.

I think it's most important early on to find allies who can help with mediation. I hope that a better system can be created because I think the disability diagnosis standards now exclude multicultural families. In the case of learning disabilities, exclusion occurs at home not school, so the government should give specific support. I think this kind of request appears quite often. I don't know much about other countries but I heard that in Sweden, people who are not fluent in English are considered disabled and supported. In that respect, even the name of a disabled person could create barriers, so shouldn't we look at it as a special request and increase support little by little? That's what I think. (Participant 4)

Among the core areas of special education, most of the students receiving services seem to have limited language skills. Limited language skills heavily influence other learning, so I think families should understand this when children are young. (Participant 5)

B. Regular diagnosis and treatment 

Research participants argue that regular medical services should be provided to multicultural families raising children with disabilities to mitigate the impact of disabilities that were detected late. In Korea, where the medical insurance system is particularly well established, additional support for key members of society will create an even better welfare state.

Just looking at the children I met at work every year, multiculturalism appears in full force. First of all, we tend to pay attention to medical issues first. If these kids have proper hospital visits, their physical and communicative abilities can be properly checked. I hope they could receive this kind of treatment in a timely manner. So I think it would be better if mothers could first verify whether or not they have completed proper checkups for infants. (Participant 1)

3.2.2. Reactionary measures

A. Access to Korean language education 

Study participants in the education field who teach children with multicultural disabilities believe that educational institutions should devote themselves to progressing students’ Korean language skills. Some individuals wanted Korean language education programs in connection with multicultural support centers to be implemented in all schools with multicultural children. Through such educational measures, it is expected that the quality of life of multicultural children and their families will be improved.

Apparently one of the things that people complain about the most is the language barrier. It’s hard because the student is multicultural, but it's the same process for others students in special education. Yet the teachers who engage the students directly must have a hard time. And when a kid just arrived from overseas, he or she has a hard time. So I think Korean language education is necessary. (Participant 2)

The most basic question that concerns students with disabilities is their Korean proficiency. There are cases where they can't understand Korean very well. The students that I was asked to conduct a diagnostic test for were like this. Language is the most basic ability when approaching a different curriculum; so even if it's Korean, it's hard to understand. Aside from basic literacy skills, if multicultural students have difficulties in reading and reading in context, I would recommend focusing on Korean literacy or comprehension skills. (Participant 3)

Is this not the first step in supporting instruction as part of special education? We have to conduct a diagnosis at the beginning, but there are cases where it is a little difficult for students to go through the special needs assessment process. First of all, for their child to receive special education, parents need to give their consent. In terms of children in general kindergarten or elementary school, parents have minimal understanding of special education services, and they often believe that their children do not require special accommodations. There are also difficulties in the process of asking parents about a diagnosis for their children. There may be difficulties in counseling with parents in some kindergartens or schools because counseling with parents does not proceed smoothly. (Participant 5)

B. Connecting social welfare services and community members 

Participants in the study desired that the current link between the Office of Education and the Multicultural Support Center continue in the future. In addition to the multicultural support center, social welfare centers and youth training centers also run programs for multicultural children. It is recommended that the education office provide leadership in connections with community representatives. Their resources can have a good influence on both students and special education teachers.

There are people who teach Korean and do it there. I don't know if it's consistently connected. I think they only take classes and don’t leave home for anything else. I hope the education office and the multicultural support center are well connected. (Participant 1)

There are support systems that support multicultural families in the community, and as I said before, there are support systems that are provided through multicultural education centers supported by the Office of Education. Also there are several systems that support parents. I think teachers will be helpful if they provide a little bit of information about when and where parents can use such resources. (Participant 2)

There is a class for multicultural children. There are several classes offered in the education office. If a child has a special education class, then he or she can get both kinds of support. There are many cases where a student receives basic Korean language education in Korean classes and special education services at the same time. We can't embrace all these multicultural children. Therefore, in the past, there was a system that provided Korean language education to students individually in addition to their group classes. One child in particular is a special education student who also participates in an educational program that is held after school or at a support center that teaches Korean at a certain time. I think these kinds of connections should be made, but we can’t do it all ourselves because the child is receiving both special needs and multicultural services. (Participant 3)

There are people who use the center individually. There are parents who come to see us first. So, we connect with them this way. We taught Korean at a multicultural center. Due to differences in learning styles, there are many people who learn about us and ask us to do it. (Participant 4)

If you were to ask teachers about this individually, they would tell you that there are many multicultural support centers that can be connected in this manner at present, so the parts that are connected to them or the Korean language schools are now being operated. There was a case of linking it to that. Rather than something coming into the framework, you can think of it as the [support] center playing a role in linking other support services to the child. Creating links to social services is a role that we have in supporting our children. There was a case where some parents had a hard time accepting that their child had special needs. So I connected to Korean language classes with special education support. (Participant 5)

C. Availability of an educational specialization in multicultural education 

Participants in the study agree that it is important for special education teachers to have the capabilities necessary to educate children from multicultural families in today’s culturally heterogeneous era. In particular, since multicultural education is often first experienced at the multicultural support center or social welfare center, it seems that families have gained access to support mostly through trial and error. The Office of Education should continue to conduct future studies and push forward in providing services that meet the needs of educational consumers' expertise in multicultural education.

If you're a Chinese kid, you can't speak Chinese properly, but that doesn't mean you can speak Korean properly either. It's hard for a special education teacher to speak two languages, but we've experienced such situations before. (Participant 1)

Although there is still multicultural training available, measures should be taken to increase multicultural education capabilities for special education teachers. I think there will be more students from multicultural backgrounds at our school in the future. It is important for the educational field to prepare for this in advance and have the necessary capabilities according to changes in students' characteristics. I feel sorry as a special education teacher when I see that students and families of multicultural families are uncomfortable because we are not prepared to assist them. (Participant 3)

I'm considering taking more classes so that I can do more professional activities in the treatment room or something like that. Korea wasn't a multicultural society before. There are a lot of people in this new social category. For these children, special education support centers and special education authorities need to service interpreters for smooth communication, for example, for Filipino mothers and children from multicultural families in the Philippines. (Participant 5)

D. Supplementary diagnostic tools 

Study participants who have experienced special needs assessment and diagnoses in the educational field are considering the problems and questions that appear when applying the current disability diagnostic tools to children from multicultural families. Additionally, they are trying to find alternatives. In particular, it is said that if a diagnosis is conducted according to a given diagnostic manual in a situation where there is no tool to determine whether a child's characteristics are caused by a multicultural environmental factor, the teacher will then be in an awkward situation. Female married immigrant mothers and their children who are not fluent in Korean have clear limitations in understanding and responding to diagnostic tools and checklists written in Korean. First of all, based on my experience, I think the counseling sessions with parents of a multicultural family should be a little different from what happens as general assumptions and conditions would dictate.

I don't know if it's because I'm at the center, but I always felt so frustrated that it's hard to tell if I'm a special education teacher or not. I personally thought it'd be nice if there was a system for special education for multicultural students. (Participant 1)

With parents usually taking care of their mothers as their main parenting, there are cases where it is difficult to conduct diagnostic evaluations because the child has difficulties in their language development. When I came to Korea after living in a foreign country, the parents of my students asked me to do such a developmental disability measurements, but their children’s first language is not Korean, so there are difficulties that arise from there. We can simply exclude linguistic tests and conduct diagnostic evaluations, but I think the biggest barrier is actually the language barrier because there is a difficulty in ascertaining how much parents understand. (Participant 2)

Isn't this student's actual performance due to multicultural families? Then, when receiving multicultural support rather than special education, wouldn't this learning deficit be supplemented even if a child is not receiving special educational services? That's the opinion. Even considering this multicultural part, the opinion that students needing special educational services seems to have always been a little controversial. In this case, when one teacher judged that he trusted the expertise of the Diagnostic Evaluation Committee, it was a bit determined by the teacher’s personal observations whether this was a multicultural factor or a student who needed special education. (Participant 4)

E. Parent counseling support system 

There are various constraints on counseling children raised in multicultural families and parents of multicultural families in the educational field. In particular, there are difficulties due to a lack of language communication and a lack of professional knowledge. In order to solve this problem, some study participants suggested that it would be good to establish a system that can support counseling for children and parents.

When I have questions about my student, I want to talk to their parents, but it's too hard for me to talk to them. Most of the time I talk to the father or mother on the phone. If were a delivery system that could help teachers with parental consultations, I think that would be much better. (Participant 2)

4. Discussion

This study explored the experiences of special education teachers in Korea who are the main individuals responsible of teaching children with disabilities from multicultural families. The primary categories from the data analysis highlight multicultural mothers’ lack of Korean linguistic ability and a desire for governmental and societal support for multicultural special education. The participants in this study indicated that rising multicultural children with disabilities has its own set of challenges. This included the inability to teach the children properly due to a lack of specialized language, the difficulties taking care of the children’s unique needs, and issues related to late diagnosis of a child’s disability. The special education teachers also revealed that mothers understandably have difficulties communicating in Korean in multiple contexts, including visits to hospitals and welfare centers. Furthermore, some of the teachers' comments suggested that mothers have or later develop a passive personality that prevents the mothers from obtaining important information related to their children’s wellbeing. A third point of resonance involves preventative measures that will aid multicultural students with disabilities and their families. Rapid diagnosis and intervention of children with disabilities, regular medical checkups, and medical treatment are most prominent here. All parents have expectations of their children’s health and can either agree or disagree about the etiology, diagnosis, and standards of process (Welterlin & LaRue, 2007). Preventative measures also address measures of hardship including food insecurity, housing instability, health care access, and telephone service disconnection (Parish et al., 2008). The final thematic category concerned reactionary measures. In terms of governmental and societal support for multicultural special education, these included access to Korean language education, connection with social welfare institutions, discriminate intervention of multicultural special education, supplementary diagnostic tools and development of a counseling support system for parents raising children with disabilities from multicultural families. Scholars have indicated that one way to increase the opportunities for immigrant families and individuals to feel comfortable with professional partnerships is for them to seek professionals that are of the same cultural or linguistic background (Welterlin & LaRue, 2007). This study of Korean special education teachers demonstrates that the essence of multicultural education for students with disabilities leans heavily into advocacy. Future directions in this field should endeavor to create stronger alliances among parents, educational institutions, and government programs so that needs can be met and hope for better futures can be crystalized.