Examining the Attitudes and Concerns of the Kenyan Teachers toward the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in the General Education Classroom: A Mixed Methods Study (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Inclusive Education , 2018
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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.
TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KISII COUNTY, KENYA
VEDA PUBLICATIONS, 2022
This paper investigates the teachers' perceptions of inclusive education in public primary schools in Kenya.It particularly explores the influence of the teachers' demographic variables on the perceptions of inclusive education in the regular school system. The study is guided by the positioning theory puts emphasis on within the framework of discursive psychology and requires close analysis of cues that participants use to position themselves, their listeners, and others. The analysis adopted the Ex Post Facto criterion group research design to identify the causative relationship between the demographic indicators and inclusive education practices. The respondents (n = 333) were regular primary school teachers in Kisii Central Sub County of Kisii County, Kenya. There were five research questions that guided the current study were translated into ten hypotheses which were tested using the oneway Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).The findings reveal that the participants presented mixed opinions on the general philosophy of inclusive education based on their demographic factors. The difference among age cohort (F (14,329)= 2.629; P< .001), level of qualification (F(14,311)= 8.94; P< .001) and teaching experience (F(12,163)= 18.03; p< .001) were found to have statistically significant influence on regular teachers' perceptions of inclusive education. However, the findings showed that gender (F(14, 300)= 1.385; p> .001) and training in disability education (F (13,316)=3.84; P> .001), did not have significant influence on regular teachers' perceptions of inclusive education. The study has revealed that a number of teacher demographic factors significantly influence teacher's perceptions in inclusive education classrooms in the general school environments. These include teacher's age, level of educational qualification and teaching experience. The gender and training in disability of the teachers however do not influence the teachers perceptions.
2016
This study focuses on inclusion of children with special educational needs in Kenya by exploring teacher's knowledge and understanding concerning key areas that affect the way they view inclusion. At a time when countries are changing their policies to conform to international declarations that inform inclusion, it is very important that teachers' views are taken into consideration. This is because they are the implementers of this policy decisions and leaving them behind may stagnate any realistic achievements inclusion may aim to forestall. Concerns on whether trained teachers really appreciate inclusion of children with special educations have previously been raised. A number of studies have been done that focus on the attitudes of the general classroom teacher to inclusion. Most of these studies are based on general classroom teachers leaving out the trained teacher. Thus, this study was conducted with the aim of giving a hearing to the trained inclusive teacher on their insights on inclusion in relation to their knowledge and understanding. This study employed a qualitative research design where semi structured interviews were used as the data collection instrument. The participants were five primary school teachers who were already trained to handle inclusive classes and have over five years' experience practicing in the field. From the in-depth interview a lot of information regarding areas that seem to influence teachers' perceptions was gathered. The data provided insights to the way teachers understand inclusion, the policies in use, and the supports that they require in practice and how they meet classroom challenges in practice. These areas formed the basis of getting into the core of the views that trained teachers have on inclusion in Kenya. The study revealed that trained teachers lacked relevant knowledge on all key areas under study and this could influence the way they view inclusion. Most of the knowledge the teachers had were learnt some years back in college and most of it was outdated owing to the changes dynamics that is inclusion. The study points the need for the government to look for ways of furnishing teachers with relevant that would help review their positions on inclusion. VII
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...
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 .