Psychological Evaluation of Attitudes of both Primary Teachers and Special Needs Children towards each other in a Regular School in Yaoundé - Cameroon

Abstract

The number of enrolment of children especially the handicaps found in regular schools is on the increase since the 2005 because of the UN educational policy on inclusive education. This has adverse effects on the learning environment, the psycho- social and professional attitudes of both teachers and the special needs children in regular schools. One crucial issue that has prompted this study is that of the ability of the regular classroom teachers to meet the psycho- social demands of special needs children in terms of attitude UN Disability Convention s exhibited in the classroom. A descriptive survey design was adopted.  A total sample of 412, (205) boys and (207) girls special needs students were identified by 29 teachers from 47 secondary schools in Yaoundé were used for the study. four research questions and 2 hypotheses were raised to guide the study from which a self-designed 2-point- attitudes scale of a 12-item behavioural concepts were pre-tested and obtained a test - retest reliability coefficient of 0.88. The SPSS was used to analysed percentages and t- test statistic. The result showed that both the teachers and the subjects exhibited negative attitudes though the teachers showed more than the pupils.  Gender (Sex) had no significant difference in the students’ attitudes. Some (90%) of the teachers have academic qualifications and only (27%) professional qualification. None of the teachers 29 (100%) had been exposed to teaching of Special Needs children. The result prompted the following recommendations among others that teachers need an extensive programme that will enhance their ability in handling special needs children, learning environmental should be conducive to suit every learner.

Keywords: handicap, disability, impairments, special needs  attitudes and behaviour