The role of teachers' perceptions in the implementation of inclusive education in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

Trends in the educational provision for children with disabilities have, since the past two and a half decades, continued to focus on their education in the same setting as that for their peers without special needs. Despite the many benefits of inclusion, difficulties inherent in this process are major setbacks to wider implementation of inclusive education. Many teachers of regular schools and other stakeholders doubt the workability of the strategy and resist the idea of having children with special needs in regular classrooms. This paper is premised on the findings of a study that sought to establish the influence of teachers’ perceptions on the implementation of Inclusive Education (IE) in Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) curriculum among rural public primary schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. Adopting a mixed design approach, the study sampled 221 teachers. Stratified and proportionate sampling was used to select schools (ECDE centres) and teachers while was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules and observation guides.Data collected was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Pearson Chi-square and Regression, and correlation analysis wereused to establish the existence and strength of association between the study variables. The level of significance was set at 95% or at a p-value of 0.05. Open-ended questions were analysed through reporting themes and quotas as they emerged. The analyseddata was presented in frequency tables, graphs and charts denoting the findings of the study. The study findings indicated that there was no significant association between teacher's perception (χ2=0.834; df=4; p=0.934) and the implementation of IE. The paper demonstrates that the attitude of the teachers has so far grown into a pure positive one and as such, attitude is no longer an issue. The teachers have graduated to accepting and embracing Inclusive Education in their respective settings.Consequently, the authors callfor the mobilization of teaching and learning resources, assistive technologies and all other relevant aids towards the success of SNL.