Going to school for the first time: Inclusion committee members increasing the number of students with disabilities in primary schools in Kenya (original) (raw)
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This paper provides one example of forming an inclusion committee in Kenya toward the vision of creating inclusive primary school campuses. We suggest the development of inclusion committees as a potential innovative strategy and a critical element of community reform toward disability awareness, and to increase access to primary school education for students with disabilities. The formation of the inclusion committee followed a member-driven process for identifying barriers to educational access for students with disabilities, prioritizing the needs within their local context, determining a plan of action to address these needs within existing community resources, and gaining access to new resources. Recognizing access to equitable education as a universal human right supported by local and international legislation, this paper works within the tensions that exist between Western constructs of education and how they are applied in post-colonial countries in the global South. Our findings suggest that establishing diverse participation among stakeholders led to even more inclusive representation; that inclusion committee actions led to local and national level involvement with the initiative; and that community-driven progress toward inclusive education presented both strengths and challenges in terms of sustainability. Finally, we discuss implications for under-resourced schools, including those in the global North.
Journal of Education and Practice, 2017
Children with disabilities encounter different forms of exclusion and are affected by them to varying degrees. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) condemn this. They instead demand inclusion which will recognise the full potential of the learner. Based on this therefore, teachers who are involved in the task of helping these learners achieve their goals in life are faced with some setbacks in this duty. This study explored the challenges of implementing inclusive education curriculum that caters for learners living with autism in a primary school in Nairobi County, Kenya. It adopted a qualitative research paradigm and specifically the phenomenological design. The study targeted teachers and pupils. The sample size of the study consisted of 12 teachers and 8 pupils. Interview and observation guides were used for data collection. The researchers transcribed the interviews, coded the data, categorised the ...
This paper provides one example of forming an inclusion committee in Kenya toward the vision of creating inclusive primary school campuses. We suggest the development of inclusion committees as a potential innovative strategy and a critical element of community reform toward disability awareness, and to increase access to primary school education for students with disabilities. The formation of the inclusion committee followed a member-driven process for identifying barriers to educational access for students with disabilities, prioritizing the needs within their local context, determining a plan of action to address these needs within existing community resources, and gaining access to new resources. Recognizing access to equitable education as a universal human right supported by local and international legislation, this paper works within the tensions that exist between Western constructs of education and how they are applied in post-colonial countries in the global South. Our findings suggest that establishing diverse participation among stakeholders led to even more inclusive representation; that inclusion committee actions led to local and national level involvement with the initiative; and that community-driven progress toward inclusive education presented both strengths and challenges in terms of sustainability. Finally, we discuss implications for under-resourced schools, including those in the global North.
Conversations from the field: Stakeholders’ perspectives on inclusive education in western Kenya
Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2022
In this article, we critically examine issues related to disability inclusive education in the global South. Specifically, we discuss our work on inclusive education in western Kenya. We acknowledge how such practices are often framed within global North perspectives, and use methodologies and approaches from these same spaces and places. Such methodologies tend to be steered by powerful stakeholders and donors that may not always be sensitive to local contexts, concerns, and demands. In this article, we outline how we incorporate Critical Disability Studies (CDS) to address these concerns while working towards a bottom-up approach with multiple local stakeholders of inclusive education. Specifically, we discuss how we centred the stories of disabled and non-disabled students and their parents, teachers at special and primary schools and their respective head teachers, and disabled and non-disabled community members to create the foundations of a sustainable inclusive education system. We use quotes from various stakeholders to shape our discussions, and highlight spaces where applying foundations of CDS was useful in creating bottom-up approaches to disability inclusive education reform.
Journal of Education and Practice, 2014
This study sought to examine the constraints hindering effective provision of inclusive education with the objective of devising strategies to be employed to cope with these bottlenecks. The study was premised on classical liberal theory and social Darwinism which asserts that every citizen should be given opportunity through education. Descriptive research design employing multi-case studies was adopted. Purposive sampling was utilized to draw 170 subjects comprising of students with special education needs, teachers, school principals and Ministry of Education officers (MoEs) in the study locale. Data was collected using questionnaires for students and teachers and interview schedules for school principals. Quantitative data from questionnaires was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data from interviews was analyzed using thematic approaches and reported in narrative and direct quotes. The major findings were that the secondary schools that have embraced inclusive education were experiencing a myriad of interrelated constraints ranging from lack of physical and instructional facilities suitable for inclusive education, lack of qualified teachers to handle the inclusive education and negative attitudes by parents regarding disabled learners, amongst others. It was recommended that for the success of inclusive education to be realized pragmatic copying strategies should be introduced. These strategies should include aggressive sensitization campaigns to enable all stakeholders in education understand their roles and debunk the idea that the Government is the only body that should take full responsibility in the provision of effective inclusion education in the study locale of Rongo District, Migori County, Kenya .
International journal of special education, 2016
The philosophy of inclusive education aims at enabling all children to learn in the regular education classrooms. It is widely believed that the successful implementation of any inclusive policy is largely influenced by teachers being positive about the expectations. Grounded in Positioning Theory, this study was conducted to examine the attitude, perceptions and concerns of Kenyan teachers toward the inclusion of children with disabilities in the regular education classrooms. The study participants were 142 Primary School teachers from 10 Primary Schools in a school district in Western Kenya deliberately selected from schools identified as actively implementing inclusive education programs. The overall findings indicate that teachers have a positive attitude towards inclusion of children with disabilities in regular classrooms. Overall, the study showed that attitudes, perceptions, and concerns of the teachers influence their acceptance and commitment to the implementation and success of inclusive education.
Journal of Education and Practice, 2014
The thrust of this study was to examine the challenges facing the implementation of inclusive education programme in public primary schools in Nyeri town, Nyeri County. The study had three fold objectives, namely(i) to find out the status of implementation of inclusive education in Nyeri town, Nyeri county;(ii)To analyze the factors hindering the implementation of the inclusion process for all the school-going-age children and, (iii) to establish the plausible solutions to the challenges facing implementation of special needs education curriculum. It was premised on the classical liberal theory of equal opportunities advanced by Sherman and Wood (1982). A descriptive survey research design was utilized in Nyeri County, Kenya. The study employed a stratified random sampling technique to draw 80 respondents comprising 12 headteachers, 60 teachers, and 8 education officials in the study locale. The main research instruments used were questionnaires and observation checklists. The major findings were that, first, physical and critical teaching learning resources were either inadequate or were quite dilapidated. Secondly, there were inadequate specialized teachers to handle the special needs education curriculum. Third, there were several socioeconomic and cultural variables that constraints effective teaching and learning in most sampled schools .It was recommended that since the named constraints were negatively affecting access and quality of education Nyeri County, the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of education should put in place adequate and appropriate physical and human resources to enhance the implementation of SNE not only in the in the study locale but all other areas experiencing similar constraints.[252 words].
Journal of Education and Practice, 2015
The philosophy of social inclusion is embedded in current legislation of the convention of child rights and the requirement of equal opportunities for those with disability (Salamanca Statement, 1994). Inclusive education entails taking care of all students including those with special needs like physical, mental or developmental. This paper reports the outcome of a study that assessed the level of teachers’ and school administrators’ preparedness to handle inclusive education. The participants were 140 teachers and 13 Principals of selected secondary schools in Kenya. A questionnaire, interview schedule and classroom observation tool were used for data collection. Data were analysed descriptively and using inferential statistics. Results revealed physical infrastructure and instructional resources are unsuitable to support learners with special needs. There was general lack of teacher training on pedagogy and knowledge on how to handle students with special needs. School management...
The thrust of this study was to investigate the challenges facing the implementation of inclusive education programme in public secondary schools in Rongo Sub-County, Migori County. The study had two fold objectives, namely (i) To analyze the factors hindering the implementation of the inclusion process for all the school-going-age children and, (ii) to examine the copping strategies to challenges facing implementation special needs education curriculum. It was premised on the classical liberal theory of equal opportunities advanced by Sherman and Wood (1982). The study sample comprised of 5 students with special educational needs per school from all the types of school as boarding, day mixed, yielding a total of 170 students, all school principals, three teachers per school and the Sub-County Quality Assurance and Standards Officer .Data was collected using questionnaires for students and teachers and interview schedules for school principals and the District Quality Assurance Standards Officer. The main research instruments used were questionnaires, interview guides and observation checklists. The major findings were that, first, physical and critical teaching learning resources were either inadequate or were quite dilapidated. Secondly, there were inadequate specialized teachers to handle the special needs education curriculum. Third, there were several socioeconomic and cultural variables that constraints effective teaching and learning in most sampled schools. It was recommended that the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of education should put in place adequate and appropriate physical and human resources to enhance the implementation of SNE not only in the in the study locale but all other areas experiencing similar constraints.[257 words].
Problems of Management in the 21st Century
This study assessed the effectiveness of the use of selected teaching/learning resources in the implementation of Inclusive Education (I.E) for Special Needs Education (SNE) learners in mainstream primary schools. Focusing on the organisational effectiveness of the school management in meeting the needs of Special needs Learners, research questions explored the following: the availability of the selected teaching/learning resources, effectiveness of the use of available teaching /learning for Inclusive Education, challenges in the use of available teaching/learning resources and possible improvements with regard to the implementation of Inclusive Education for Special Needs Learners in mainstream primary schools. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Out of 150 schools that had integrated Special Needs Learners in Bungoma Count, Kenya, 20% were stratified, proportionately and randomly sampled. Purposive sampling was used to obtain the participants; head teachers, regular, a...