Attitudes of regular primary school educators towards inclusive education in Kisumu District-Kenya

Abstract

The LC 1203.K4O34

Despite the fact that Kenya Government has recently introduced inclusive education in primary schools, there is no clear stated practical policy on its implementation. The current curriculum is overloaded and not disability sensitive. The major problem is that attitude of teachers was not considered in the implementation yet it play an important role. Attitudes influence so much of our lives yet they are not given any consideration. Tie purpose of the study was to find out what factors influence attitudes of the educators i.e. managers/ administrators and teachers in regular primary schools towards inclusive education. The specific objectives of the study were to find out if demographic variables influence the educators' attitude; the effect of geographical location of a school on educator's attitude, and investigate whether admission is given to all children regardless of disability and the educator's opinion on what they require for inclusive education. The study was a descriptive survey study design and purposive sampling using the criteria of urban and rural was used. Out of 1477 teachers, 120 teachers 8% were purposively selected using the criteria of gender and geographical location of the schools. The sample size consisted of 20 administrators and 120 teachers from 20 schools making a total sample of 140 subjects. The study used a modified questionnaire from the Ainscow and Booth (1994) model. The study found out that in the schools where slight practices of inclusive education were going on, or where some teachers were undergoing special needs training, the answers to the questions were positive, and positive co-operation in answering the questionnaires was shown. Some factors that were found influencing the attitude of teachers were the large classes as result of free primary education and handling these large classes with limited or sometimes inadequate teaching and learning materials. Based on the findings the major recommendations were thus: Purchase of equipment suitable for disabled learners; training of teachers; the need to create awareness among the community; and establishment of an inclusive curriculum to cater for special learners. Finally a recommendation for further research should be carried on inclusion of specific categories of learners. Attitude held by parents and non handicapped people should also be investigated

Kenyatta University