Inclusive School Teachers’ Attitudes toward Inclusion of Children with Special Educational Needs in Ghanaian Schools (original) (raw)
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European journal of special education, 2021
The study explored teachers' opinion and attitude on the inclusion of students with special educational needs in Selected Basic Schools in the Atwima Nwabiagya District, Ghana. The study used qualitative approach with case study as the design. Ten (10) teachers were used as participants who were made up of six (6) females and four (4) male selected purposively from two schools. Semi-structured interview was used as an instrument to collect data for the study. The findings revealed that generally teachers accepted the philosophy of inclusive education. They however, showed unwillingness to accommodate children with emotional problems and behavioural disorders. The teachers avowed having limited knowledge and experience essential to educate varied learners. The teachers decried the fact that the inclusive education policy was not followed by appropriate measures such as specific training on how to teach effectively children with special educational needs.
With the introduction of the pilot inclusive education in Ghana, many children with special needs have been enrolled in some of the mainstream schools together with their peers without special needs. They are being taught by general education teachers. However, some of these teachers may not be adequately prepared to handle children with special needs. This research was conducted to ascertain the level of knowledge and preparedness of teachers in five schools piloting inclusive education in the Ejisu Juaben Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The study utilized qualitative data collection method, and employed a purposive sampling technique to select 40 participants for the study. The findings of the study indicated that teachers in the schools chosen for the inclusive education programme had no adequate knowledge of the programme before it was introduced. Besides this major finding, the study also revealed other setbacks to inclusion such as inadequate preparation on the part of the teachers and negative attitude of teachers towards children with special needs. It is recommended, among others, that teachers in the mainstream schools are provided with intensive training on teaching special needs children in an inclusive setting to enable them to handle all categories of children with disabilities in their classrooms effectively
Attitude of teachers in private regular primary schools to inclusive education in Lagos state
The major source of the challenges facing individuals with disabilities in every society is the societal attitude. Suffice to say that positive societal attitude will generate positive response to the life needs of all categories of persons with disabilities, while negative societal attitude will negatively affect the societal response to life needs of persons with disabilities. This study examined the attitude of teachers in regular private schools in Lagos state toward the inclusion of pupils with disabilities in the regular classroom. Descriptive design was used. Sixty (60) teachers were randomly selected from four (4) private primary schools in Mushin Local Government Area in Lagos state. A self-designed Teachers' Attitude Scale was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics of mean, percentage, frequency, standard deviation and t-test were used to analyse the collected data. Three research questions were answered. Attitude of
In Nigeria, inclusion practice is emerging and has been required by federal law in Nigeria and advocated for by professionals. However, much of the responsibility for the successful inclusion of children with special needs rests upon the shoulders of teachers. This paper examined the pre-primary and primary school teachers' perception of and attitude towards inclusion in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive research design. A multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted in the selection o f 200 pre-primary and primary school teachers from 15 schools (10 regular and 5 special schools) to explore their perception of and attitude towards inclusive education. Teachers' Perception of and Attitude towards Inclusion (α=0.87) was the instrument use d to collect the data. The data collected were analyzed using frequency count, simple percentage and t-test. Four research questions were answered. The results revealed that majority of the teachers have positive perception of and attitude towards inclusion respectively. The findings of this study also showed no significant difference between the special and regular school teachers in their perception of and attitude towards inclusion. The implications of the findings were discussed and recommendations were made.
The research focuses on the attitudes of kindergarten teaching staff (teachers and pedagogical assistants) towards inclusion, their views on the problems they encounter in the education of children with special educational needs and their views on the importance of the measures introduced in the education of these children. Two questionnaires were used for data collection. Attitudes through a questionnaire by the researcher Marian Mahat (MATPIES) were measured. The second questionnaire of own construction consisted of six questions, two of which focused on the problems encountered by educators in the education of children with special educational needs and their views on the importance of the measures introduced for these children. The questionnaire was completed by 284 kindergarten teaching staff members. The correlation between the degree of problems reported by teaching staff in the education of children with special needs and the attitudes of teaching staff towards inclusion was not confirmed. The correlation between the assessment of the need for measures for successful inclusive education and the attitudes of teaching staff towards inclusion was not statistically significant.
Review Article Attitudes of Teachers towards Inclusive Education in
2016
Many factors continue to affect and regulate the development of inclusive education in Ethiopia. A limited understanding of the concept disability, negative attitudes towards persons with disabilities and a hardened resistance to change are the major barrier impeding inclusive education. In response to this, there is a growing body of literature which argues that the problem should be approached methodically. Therefore, this paper reviews studies on attitudes of regular teachers towards inclusive education. It explores significance of attitudes, factors that might be affect teachers attitudes, teachers ’ role and training in an inclusive setting and challenges of inclusive education. Teachers ’ attitudes were found to be influenced by the nature and severity of the disabling condition, training of the teacher, experience, gender and availability of support. Implications from this review suggest the need to the availability of training, adapted curriculum, positive attitudes and utmo...
EXAMINING TEACHERS’ CONCERNS AND ATTITUDES TO INCLUSIVE
This paper reports on a study that examined teachers’ concerns and attitude toward inclusive education of students with disabilities in Ghana. A 20 item Attitudes Toward Inclusion in Africa Scale (ATIAS) was completed by 100 teachers from five ‘Inclusive Project’ schools and five Non-Project coeducational basic schools in three different localities; central business, coastal and suburban areas within the Greater Accra metropolis. Analysis of the responses indicated four factors: Behavioural Issues, Student Needs, Resource Issues and Professional Competency. Interviews were also conducted with a small sample of the teachers in order to extend the understanding of their attitude and concerns. The paper draws on the findings to provide recommendations for improving practice in inclusive based classrooms.
Attitudes of Teachers Towards Inclusive Education
Attitudes of teachers depends on love, care, willingness to accept the the students as he or she is, cooperative, providing opportunities and also motivating the students to excel in their behaviour repertoire. Teachers attitude towards the students should be very healthy , impartial so that the students can learn in a conducive and healthy environment. Students too appreciate teachers who have a positive attitude towards students abilities, calibre and talents by giving them a strong platform of performance. In the same context the attitudes of teachers should be positive when the students are special children .The special children too require love affection support and guidance from their teachers .Attitudes of teachers becomes a major contributing factor when dealing with special children in an inclusive school. The present study focuses on the attitudes of 50 teachers (25 teachers of regular schools and 25 teachers of inclusive schools) based on the questionnaire prepared by the authors. The results indicate that there is no specific difference observed in the attitudes of the special teachers and regular teachers in respect to inclusive education.
Barriers to inclusion of children with disabilities in inclusive schools in Ghana
2015
The study investigated the types of barriers impeding the participation of pupils with special needs in schools practicing inclusive education in Wiamoase Educational Circuit in the Sekyere South District in Ashanti Region of Ghana. The aim is to identify shortfalls in support services for pupils with special needs and find ways of mitigating challenges they encounter. A qualitative method, using in-depth interviews and observation was used to collect data from 20 participants, made up of the district special coordinator, resource teachers, head teachers, and classroom teachers. The findings from the study indicated that support for pupils with special needs in the general schools was inadequate. Efforts should, therefore, be made to increase the supply of resources to the schools, and also, step up public awareness on education for children with disabilities.