EXAMINING TEACHERS' CONCERNS AND ATTITUDES TO INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN GHANA (original) (raw)
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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.
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.
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
2000
This study was undertaken to examine the instructional practices of teachers in inclusive classrooms in Ghana. It also assessed the influence of selected teacher background variables on inclusive practices. Thirty-seven (37) teachers from 20 primary schools in two districts completed a background information questionnaire and were observed during instruction in their classrooms. The data were analysed employing descriptive statistics, t-tests
Social education research, 2020
This study focused on barriers that are there to the success of inclusion of children with disabilities in education in Ghana 'from the teachers' perspective'. The targeted population in this study involved all teachers teaching in the selected inclusive schools. Purposively sampling used to select the schools. The random sampling was used to select the teachers for the study. The study used questionnaire to collect data. Data collected was analysed by means of statistical methods into numbers, percentages tables and diagrammatical representation. The results revealed that majority of the respondents agreed teachers show negative attitudes towards children with special needs, schools environments are physically not accessible to children with disabilities, teachers are not trained towards teaching children with disabilities. It was suggested that, Government should encourage that architectural structures should be modified and also by making more physical adaptations to the existing buildings to have effective inclusive education. Encourage school authorities to made school environments more disability friendly and make other schools facilities more accessible and more disability friendly for children with special needs to access.
Inclusive Education and Disabilities: Narratives from Ghana
Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development, 2021
Purpose: Inclusive Education (IE) has been recognised internationally as the ideal model of educational access to all. Despite this, it faces many challenges. The present study explored the narratives of 10 participants with diverse disabilities in Accra, Ghana, keeping the focus on (a) how children with disabilities in an Inclusive Educational facility understand their educational experiences, (b) how they perceive their relationship with peers and teachers in school, and (c) how accessible they find existing school infrastructures. Method: Using a phenomenological approach, data was generated through indepth interviews with 10 participants from two selected schools. Results: The experiences of participants, in some instances, were found to be two-sided. While participants felt accepted by some of their peers, they also experienced bullying by others. While some of the teachers were supportive, others were not. All the participants agreed that the physical school environment was disability-unfriendly. Conclusion: Despite limited participation of children with special needs, greater stakeholder commitment was observed. This is promising for the future success of Inclusive Education in Ghana.
Decade of Inclusive Education in Ghana: perspectives of educators
Journal of Social Inclusion
Inclusive education systems reflect growing awareness of the imperatives of 21 stcentury societies to make quality education available to all students. The development of inclusive education in Ghana has been recognized as the process for orchestrating educational quality and equity for students with disabilities. This article contributes to the area of inclusive education from Ghanaian educators on its progress and achievements. The data in this paper emerged from a case study involving educators from two regions in Ghana. Findings show an uncoordinated attempt to pilot inclusive education across the country because of different agencies funding the project. The authors argue that there is the need for a holistic review of the program to ground the policy within the education system of Ghana.
Support for Learning
Schools create an inclusive environment and cultures and enact inclusive practices to cater for the learning and social needs of learners. Using an adapted Ghana Inclusive Education Monitoring Tool (IEMT), which is based on the Index for Inclusion, we collected data from 74 headteachers of primary schools. Data analysis involved percentages and frequencies of multiple-scaled items of the adapted IEMT. Findings revealed headteachers admit learners with special needs and disabilities (LwSEND) to set the stage for inclusion, while teachers accept these learners in schools. Collaborative cultures among teachers, parents, and other community stakeholders support inclusive education. While classrooms had somewhat good ventilation and lighting, school facilities were less accessible to all learners. Knowledge to adapt the curriculum and the flow of inclusive knowledge among teachers was limited. Suggestions to improve inclusive education include school-wide professional development for sharing This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
2011
Education of pupils with special education needs (SENs) in Ghana has been formed around the medical model where pupils with special needs are diagnosed, labelled and taught in segregated special education institutions disconnected from regular mainstream classroom (Hooker, 2008). Recently, there has been increased focus on the adoption of inclusive education (IE) which seeks to reinforce the competence and efficiency of systems in school to reach out to all learners. Therefore, it is important for regular classroom teachers to be trained in the identification and support of the pupils with SENs in order for them to address the needs of all students. Recent studies in Ghana have concentrated on the perception of teachers towards IE and factors impeding its implementation (Agbenyega 2003; Desai & Kuyini 2006). Inadequate training of teachers is one of factors identified; however, they failed to describe the extent of preservice teachers" knowledge on the concepts of IE, SENs and instructional strategies for its effective implementation and these were the main objectives for this study. Although, respondents from 200 final year pre-service teachers in three Colleges of Education confirmed the findings of Opoku-Inkoom (2009) that majority of pre-service teachers are knowledgeable of some of the basic concepts of IE and SENs, however, almost half of the respondents demonstrated less knowledge and few of the participants could actually put their knowledge on these concepts into practice. Therefore, the study concluded that full course on inclusive education should be made compulsory for final pre-service teachers couple with a well-planned teaching practice in an inclusive setting to enhance their practical knowledge, skills and attitudes.