Support mechanisms influencing the inclusion of differently enabled learners in regular public primary schools in Nakuru- North Sub-County, Kenya.

Abstract

Pursuant to Millennium Development Goals, Kenya put forward an agenda to achieve equitable Education for all by 2015 and later on by 2030 based on vision 2030.Based on this agenda, inclusive education was introduced to enhance participation of differently enabled children in educational activities alongside their peers without disabilities. However, despite these efforts, a large number of differently enabled children are still out of school while those already enlisted continue dropping out. This study hence sought to assess support mechanisms put in place for inclusion of differently enabled learners in regular public primary schools in Nakuru North Sub County. The objectives of the study were: to investigate the school-based policies put in place to support inclusion, to assess the existing infrastructure put in place to support inclusion, to determine the teacher competencies and practices in support of inclusion and to establish the level of parental support in the inclusion of differently enabled learners in regular public primary schools in Nakuru North Sub- County, Kenya. The guiding theory was social constructivist by Lev Vygotsky. The study was a mixed method anchored on the pragmatic paradigm. The concurrent triangulation design was adopted. All the 45 public primary schools in the SubCounty were targeted, with14 being selected using the simple random technique. The 14 headteachers from the selected schools were purposively selected. Further, 70 teachers were randomly sampled considering only those that handled learners with disabilities. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect data. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as means and percentages while the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings of this study revealed that set guidelines did not clearly outline the process of enrollment and placement of differently enabled learners in regular schools leading to their exclusion from educational services as supported by 81% of the respondents who indicated that schools selectively enrolled these learners. Teaching-learning resources and assistive devices were found to be significantly lacking with items on this variable recording an overall low mean of 1.9097. The physical infrastructure and environment were also not adequately modified. Teachers were found to be inadequately equipped in handling differently enabled learners since 77.6 % of them did not use relevant teaching strategies neither did, they adapt the curriculum and examinations adequately to suit all learners. The other items measuring teacher competencies and practices also recorded low means with an average mean of 2.52785. Lastly, parental support among parents of differently enabled learners was very low with more than 66% of the respondents supporting this fact. This was reported to be attributed to poverty, ignorance and stigmatization. This study concluded that, the public primary schools were not adequately and appropriately supported in implementation of the inclusive education since most of the supports are inadequate or lacking. The study recommended that policy makers should disseminate information on implementation guidelines to headteachers and teachers to help in inclusion of differently enabled learners. Adequate infrastructural support should be provided to schools to enhance accommodation of learners with disabilities. Teachers, both preservice and in-service, should receive specialized training on effective handling of differently enabled learners. In addition, sensitization of parents of these learners on disability and the available opportunities for their children should be done so as to foster parental support for inclusive education.