WORKBOOK ON THE CULTURE OF THE PEOPLES OF SIBERIA AS A MEANS OF IMPLEMENTING THE REGIONAL COMPONENT AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN THE COURSE “FUNDAMENTALS OF THE SPIRITUAL AND MORAL CULTURE OF THE PEOPLES OF RUSSIA

Abstract

The article addresses the challenge of combining two tasks of contemporary school education – the implementation of the regional component and the provision of an inclusive approach for students with disabilities. The material is an original workbook on the culture of the peoples of Siberia, designed for the course “Fundamentals of the Spiritual and Moral Culture of the Peoples of Russia” in the fifth grade (the block “Cultural Unity of Russia”). The study aims to substantiate the creation of an adapted didactic aid that simultaneously takes account of regional specificity and special educational needs. The methodological framework comprises an analysis of scholarly literature and normative documents, a review of existing textbooks for children with intellectual disabilities, pedagogical modelling and approbation. The theoretical basis draws on K. D. Ushinsky’s ideas on the national character of upbringing, S. V. Alekhina’s research on inclusive education, P. Westwood’s work on adaptive teaching and L. Anderson’s work on universal design for learning. Teachers working with children with disabilities are shown to need ready-made adapted materials: according to the Ministry of Education, about 1.5 million such children were enrolled in Russian schools in the 2023/2024 academic year, a significant proportion of them in general education classes. Three types of task are proposed: reproduction of a term with the support of a gap-fill frame, a game-based matching of elements of traditional clothing of the peoples of Siberia (Nenets, Buryats, Evenks), and a classification of traditional dishes. Approbation was conducted at Secondary School No. 158 “Grani” in Krasnoyarsk with three fifth-grade students with special educational needs: the term-definition task was completed in three minutes, the game-based tasks in five minutes on average. All participants coped with the basic tasks, although in classifying cuisine one student attributed borscht and dumplings to Siberian cuisine, which indicates the need to reinforce the concept of regional cuisine. The authors conclude that the workbook makes the material accessible to children with disabilities and does not require separating them into a distinct group, while the difficulties identified determine the directions for further revision.