Teachers' and School Administrators' Preparedness in Handling Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Education in Kenya (original) (raw)
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Inclusive Education endeavors to makeregular schoolsacccesssible for all school going children without discrimination in line with the EFA goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) No. 2 of Universal Education, the World Declaration on Education for All adopted in Jomtien Thailand (1990) and the World Conference on Special Needs Education in Salamanca Spain (UNESCO, 1994). Currently, most developed Countries have invested heavily in inclusive Education by providing teaching/learning facilities and training manpower. Asia, North East India, and Papua New Guinea have continued to show that inclusive Education does work well. However, most sub-Saharan Africa countries still haven"timplemented inclusive Education. This could attributed to financial constraints and lack of awareness on the need to academically empower children with Special Needs as well as inadequate trained personnel in SNE (UNESCO, 2008). In Kenya for instance, though the Government of Kenya (GoK) has enacted varous pieces of legislation; TheDisability Act 14 of 2012 (GOK, 2008). The ACTstresses that no person/learning institution shall deny admission to a person with a disability by reason only of such disability,the Sessional paper 1 of 2005 which emphasizes the need to have inclusive education (GoK, 2005) and the new Constitution(2010) which envisages inclusive Education infree Basic Education(GoK, 2010; Tororei, 2009), many school age going children are not still enrolled in schools though its expectedthat every child irrespective of gender, disability, and race has a right to attain basic Education in Kenya. To achieve this, there is need to create awareness to school managers on the educational, social and adoptive problems that affect learners with special needs and how to support the program. Hence the need for this study to assess influence ofEducation Management Attitude onImplementation of Inclusive educationfor learners with Disabilities in regular primary schools in Sabatia Sub County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to:establish the attitude of the school managers on Inclusive Education andassess how availability of teaching/learning resources influenced the performance oflearners with disabilitiesin SabatiaSub County; Vihiga County Kenya.The study used mixed methodology design with concurrent triangulation. The target population was 226 which consisted of 105 head teachers, 105 teachers and 16 education officers. The sample was 48 participants composed of 22 head teachers, 22 teachers and 4 education officers. Sample was from 105 schools, composed of 98 public schools and 7 private schools and systematic random sampling was employed. The study used inclusive management theory, and production function input output model theory. Data instruments; questionnaires for teachers and interview schedule for education officers. Piloting was done in three schools involving 10 participants who were not included in the study. Quantitative data was presented in descriptive statistics using tables, means, standard deviation, and percentages. Inferential statistics used where; Pearson, chi-square and ANOVAin SPSS Version 22. The study revealed that there were inadequate teaching and learning materials for learners with special needs althoughmore than three quarters of the teachers held positive attitude towards LSN. It was recommended that there was need for more teacher collaboration, time and how inclusionprograms should take place in school systems and Ministry of Education should provide a special education funds vote in the Free Primary Education to procure adequate teaching/learning resources.
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 ...
International Journal of Inclusive Education , 2018
This paper is an extension of a prior research project where Kenyan primary school teachers began using inclusive education strategies that proved beneficial for meeting the needs of diverse primary school students. Specifically, this paper highlights a project where these inclusive practices were expanded to a second region of western Kenya. This expansion of teacher training on inclusive education and critical disability studies promoted sustained schooland community-based discussions on inclusive education and sensitisation on issues related to disability. These practices also led to the development of inclusion committees, co-teaching practices, and stimulated the partial dissolution of the physical boundaries and categorical distinctions between ‘primary’ and ‘special’ schools. In conjunction, all of these factors ultimately led to an increase in the number of students with disabilities accessing any form of education for the first time. Furthermore, such approaches to the development and small-scale expansion of a sustainable inclusive education system led to the Kenyan government’s consideration of the replication of such practices on a national scale. As a result of this work in conjunction with a growing inclusive network of governmental and non-governmental organisations, a national review on special education policy is underway.
Inclusion education advocates the notion that all children have a right to access high quality education and this right should not be affected by disability or any special needs in a child. Inclusion is the approach of integrating all children and their various needs in a similar setting to learn. The purpose of this study was to establish challenges that affect academic performance of children with special needs in an inclusive setting in early childhood educatio n. The study adopted a descriptive research design which embraced both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze data which was collected from 50 preschool teachers and 10 children with educational special needs. The study established that there is a lack of enough resources, competent teachers, quality time for individual attention and appropriate curriculum for children with special needs. The study concluded that a lack of collaboration from administration and parents, a lack of relevant resources, sufficient time and clear laid down polices on inclusive education is a major challenge of children with special educational needs in early childhood education. The study recommends that there should be a formalized system of support for parents of children with special needs and disabilities, and that the Governmant should intensify monitoring, supervision, and quality control in schools to ensure children with special needs are provided for without discrimination.
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].
Since the introduction of Special education in Kenya in 1946, numerous special schools have been established. However, there has been a move toward integration and later inclusion of students with disabilities in regular schools. Inclusion has its own challenges. Kenya, as a rapidly developing country, is undergoing drastic social, economic and cultural changes. Consequently, learners with disabilities in inclusive schools experience a number of challenges. These challenges bring into focus the need of reinforcing various modifications especially in classroom environments in learning institutions to counteract challenges brought about by the change from integration to inclusive education. With this realization, the study sought to examine the classroom curricular preparedness of inclusive schools for the pupils with physical disability. Adaptations that ought to be made under classroom curricular category should ideally aid in lessening these challenges and impact positively on the pupils with physical disability and enhance their learning activities. The study utilized mixed method research approach, where both Phenomenology and Descriptive survey research designs were made use of. The findings indicate that there are adequate classroom curricular adaptations for inclusion of pupils with physical disability
Inclusive Education and School Culture: Integration Issues for Mainstream Primary Schools in Kenya
2014
This study assessed the effectiveness of school administrative support in the implementation of Inclusive Education for Special Needs Learners in mainstream primary schools. Focusing on the organizational effectiveness of the school leadership in meeting the needs of Special needs Learners, research questions explored the following: school administrative support in implementation of inclusive education values, administrative support on creation of inclusive school environment, administration support on staff development and collaboration in inclusive education practices between special and general educators. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. Out of 150 schools that had integrated Special Needs Learners in Bungoma County, Kenya, 20% were stratified, proportionately and randomly sampled. Purposive sampling was used to obtain the participants; head teachers, regular, and special teachers. The sample comprised of 30 head teachers, 120 regular teachers and 8 special teachers...
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].
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...
2012
The central problem of this study was to investigate and give an understanding of the situation on the ground about the efficiency in inclusive education at the secondary school level in Kenya. The objective of this study was to find out the approaches used in handling students with special needs in integrated regular classrooms to uncover the efficiency and effectiveness of the strategies used in teaching and to evaluate these strategies. The research adopted a case study of secondary schools in Rongo district and targeted all the 34 public secondary schools in the district.• The sample consisted of 5 students with special educational needs per school. This is 10.0% of the target population. The study involved principal, teachers, students with special needs and an interview for the district education officer (DEO). Data was collected using interviews for the principals, questionnaires for the students with special needs and an interview for the education officer (DEO). Data collected was analyzed through the use of statistical package for social science (SPSS). Qualitative data was analyzed by arranging them according to the main objectives, research questions and after that inferences, conclusions and recommendations were drawn according to the research questions and objectives. The study established that school heads were facing major challenges in the implementation of inclusive designs, lack of text books for special education needs, inadequate funds and lack of trained teachers in the required special educational skills as teachers have not been trained on such skills. This has affected efficiency in the provision of inclusive education. .-' v '" 38 3.6.2 Reliability 39 3.7 Data Collection 39 3.8 Data Analysis and Presentation~'" 40 vii ..' '" .42 4.3 The enrolment trends of students with special educational needs in regular schools ..43 4.4 Retention and completion rates of students with special educational needs .46 4.5 Readiness of teachers and students for inclusive education , 53 • 4.6 Training and deployment of teachers .' 61