Teacher Professional Preparedness to Support Learners with Special Needs in the Inclusive Education Project Schools

Abstract

Globally, there is evidence that teachers’ skills are of paramount importance in the implementation of inclusive education so as to unlock the potential of learners with disabilities. The Government of Kenya’s re-introduction of the Free Primary Education programme in 2003 saw an influx of learners to schools, including those with disabilities. However, learners with special needs soon dropped out due to lack of support (MOEST 2003), as teachers did not know what to do with these learners in their classrooms. In 2010, through constitution of Kenya (Republic of Kenya 2010), the Government committed itself to provide free and compulsory basic education to all learners. However, the education and training policy for learners and trainees with disabilities (MOE 2018a) notes that dropout rates of learners with disabilities are high in regular schools due to the insufficiently trained teachers.This paper presents findings of a study carried out in Nairobi and Homabay counties in Kenya with regard to teacher professional preparedness to support learners with special needs in inclusive project schools sponsored by Sight Savers and Leonard Cheshire Disability (LCD) in Kenya. The study sample comprised of 8 schools from urban and rural focusing on learners in standard 4 to 8 in Nairobi city and Homabay counties. A total of 160 learners in inclusive public primary schools, 8 head teachers, 80 teachers, 2 sponsors and 2 coordinators were involved in the study. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews schedules and focus group discussions. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, which were computed in frequencies and percentages and presented in frequency tables and graphs. At the same time, qualitative data were analyzed using thematic approach in line with the study objectives.The study findings revealed that teacher’s college training prepared them to teach regular learners, hence they were not prepared to teach in inclusive classrooms. Teachers not only revealed that   they had difficulties identifying the specific needs of learners, they also confirmed their inability to support them in the inclusive classrooms. The findings further revealed that most of the head teachers who are in charge of the curriculum implementation in schools did not have any training in special needs education. To fill these training gaps, the project sponsors (Sight Savers International and Leonard Cheshire Disability) were implementing regular in-house training to enable teachers support learners with disabilities. These organizations also had coordinators, resource persons and patron teachers who were mentoring teachers at the school level on teaching-learning resources to confirm their relevancy. This was meant to bring about changes of attitude on disability, effective use of learner-centred approach in the classroom, developing Individualised Education Programme (IEP), lesson planning and reporting on quarterly basis.

Keywords: Teacher professional preparedness, inclusive project schools and learners with special needs.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-15-01

Publication date:May 31^st 2022