Inclusive Education for Learners With Disabilities in ... - SAGE Open

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6 SAGE Opensteep for learners with physical impairments, who neededassistance from other students to enter the buildings. In oneof the rural schools, the new classrooms that were built didnot create any provision for learners with physical impairments.In one school, there were no ramps and so studentswith physical impairments had to depend on peers for accessingthe toilets. This finding seemed to negate the RNPE’srecommendation on the provision of “necessary support services”and indicated how learners with disabilities wereexcluded from gaining access to buildings. This finding providesan understanding in which implementation of inclusiveeducation could be assessed and measured in primary schoolsin the South Central Region of Botswana.Lack of funding. It was learned that direct funding is notallotted to primary schools for buying equipment and structuralmodifications to support students with disabilities.When one of the school-heads was asked about this issue,she confirmed,Primary schools don’t have a vote, we are not givenany funds. We are given a fund just for small maintenancework; we call it handyman’s job. We are mostlydependent on the city council for structural modifications.(School-head, rural)Generally, there were no funds for school-based inservicetraining and for procuring curriculum supportmaterials.Learners’ ExperiencesThe study also sought to gain insights into how students withand without disabilities understand the concept of inclusiveeducation. The dominant responses from most of the studentswithout disabilities were, “We are friends.” “We arethe same.” “I respect him or her, and he or she also respectsme.” “I don’t have any problem studying with him.”Younger learners with disabilities were not clear about themeaning of the concept of inclusive education; to them itwas just schooling with the children they grew up with. Oneof the seventh-grade learners with visual impairment whotook part in the focus group discussion said,I enjoy studying with my friends. They help me withmy studies, and I help them with their schoolwork.They don’t discriminate me because I am an albino. Irespect them and they respect me. I don’t have anyproblem. (Student With Physical Disabilities, rural)It emerged from the data that learners without disabilitieswould restructure the rules of the games to include their peerswith physical limitations. It was observed during tea breakthat students with and without disabilities share their mealswithout any problem. In one of the classes visited, learnerswithout disabilities explained concepts in “home-signs” to astudent with hearing impairment, to help their friend understand.During focus group discussions, students without disabilitiesrevealed that they usually help the learners withhearing impairment. The class teacher for that particular classconfirmed, “Since I am not trained in sign language I amdepending on these kids to explain the concepts to her.”Students without disabilities seemed to have no problemwith those with disabilities. During classroom and schoolobservations, it was found that learners with and without disabilitiesfreely interacted with each other during group worktasks and outside the classroom as well. From these observations,one can see that peer acceptance is a positive indicator,not an obstacle. It is supportive of the practice of inclusiveeducation in the primary schools in the South Central Region.DiscussionIn this study, it was found that learners with disabilities arealready included in primary schools in the South CentralRegion. Nonetheless, there are serious limitations to howinclusive education is practiced. The class sizes were largerso that teacher interactions with learners were limited. Largeclass sizes also were thought to diminish the adaptation oflearning materials, use of differentiated instructions, andpeer-assisted learning. This finding is affirmed by the findingsof a study in Lesotho that revealed that large class sizestend to take a toll on the social and intellectual growth ofstudents with and without disabilities (Johnstone &Chapman, 2009).Johnstone (2007) employed a multimethod case study toexplore the challenges of inclusive education in Lesotho.She found that although there was a policy for inclusive educationin Lesotho, its implementation was uneven. Teachers’attitudes toward students with disabilities were favorable,but they did not make instructional adjustments to meet thelearning needs of students with disabilities.Mostert et al. (2002) and Naanda (2005), as cited inZimba, Mowes, and Naanda (2007), investigated the factorsinfluencing successful implementation of inclusive educationin Namibia. They found that the attitudes of teachers inNamibia toward learners with disabilities were not favorable.The magnitude of disabling conditions was found to bethe main factor, which influenced teachers’ attitudes towardlearners with disabilities. Some teachers stated the opinionthat the responsibility for teaching learners with disabilitieslies with special educators in special schools. Naanda ascited in Zimba et al. recommended that teacher preparationat all levels (early childhood to secondary) should be orientedtoward inclusive education for its successful implementation.This kind of training was viewed as one way offacilitating learning for all learners and eliminating negativeattitudes toward learners with disabilities.In Zimbabwe, researchers (Mpofu, 2003; Mpofu, Kasayira,Mhaka, Chiresh, & Maunganize, 2007) have embarked onstudies about the attitudes of Zimbabwe’s school personnelDownloaded from by guest on January 12, 2015
Mukhopadhyay et al. 7toward inclusion of learners with disabilities in regularschools. The findings of these studies reported negative attitudesof teachers toward including such learners in generaleducation classrooms. Principals of schools were found toshow more favorable attitudes toward students with disabilitiesthan was shown by classroom teachers.The teachers and school-heads of the current study werevery concerned with the lack of support and nonavailabilityof resources in primary schools. To be specific, educatorsindicated that there was a lack of appropriate instructionalmaterials needed for students with disabilities. In addition,they regretted the insufficient time available for collaborationand consulting with other teachers, parents, and professionalsto meet the learning needs of students withdisabilities. The findings of this study resonate well with thestudy carried out by Ocloo and Subbey (2008). They foundthat Ghanaian teachers were well aware of the concept ofinclusive education, but inadequate infrastructure and teachers’lack of training impeded the implementation of inclusiveeducation.The finding of this study is consistent with the findings ofstudies conducted by Masimega (1999) and Gaotlhobogwe(2001) in Botswana. Over a period of 10 years, very little hasbeen done to provide appropriate resources for learners withdisabilities. Given the fact that there is a dearth of resourcesrequired for successful implementation of inclusive educationin developing countries, teachers should be trained to beinnovative so that they can produce their own instructionalmaterials and adapt them to suit the needs of learners withdisabilities. This can be achieved through in-service training,possibly in conjunction with teacher training institutions.These findings have been corroborated by other studies indeveloping countries, including Alur (2002) and Singal(2005, 2006) in India, and Johnstone and Chapman (2009) inLesotho. These researchers expressed concern about thedearth of resources as one of the challenges for the successfulimplementation of inclusive education. This importantaspect needs to be built into the guidelines for inclusiveeducation.It is our opinion that the current situation is appallingbecause most urban primary schools do not have sufficientclassrooms to accommodate learners. Some schools haveresource rooms, but because of the shortage of classrooms,they are used as regular classrooms. In one school, learnerswith hearing impairments were forced to attend classes outdoorsnext to a noisy, heavily trafficked area. The majority ofthe classrooms were inaccessible to learners with physicaldisabilities; for example, although some schools had ramps,some of the ramps were too steep for students with physicaldisabilities to move up them independently. Necessary facilitiessuch as toilets were inaccessible. Structural barriers tendto limit independent access to classroom and school activities,and impact negatively on participation and competencein the curricular and cocurricular activities.Collaborative activities among general and special educatorsare essential in developing a work environment thatfosters inclusive practice. Data from this study suggest thatregular education teachers did not collaborate as much asspecial educators in developing instructional plans, inteam-teaching in the regular classroom, and in providingassistance to each other regarding students with disabilities.This finding was corroborated by studies carried outby researchers such as deBettencourt (1999). These findingsreflect that major obstacles to inclusive education atthe primary school level often result from pragmatic factorssuch as limited time, large class size, heavy workload,existing regulations, and insufficient institutional support.Thus, it is important for school systems to encourage teachersto work cooperatively, and also to provide them withopportunities to plan and share information if students withdisabilities are to be successfully educated in inclusiveclassrooms (Turnbull, Turnbull, Shank, & Lead, 1999).It also emerged from the data that school systems andadministrators do not provide the additional help needed byprimary school special educators and general educatorsworking in inclusive classrooms. According to researchers(Brownell & Pajares, 1999), successful inclusive efforts areassociated with administrative support, adequate materials,and personnel resources. If inclusive education is to beimplemented successfully, school systems need to involveparents, teachers, students, and key community members indistrictwide planning.School-heads seemed to lack administrative and decisionmakingpowers such as arranging teaching schedules, reducingclass sizes, providing in-service training, or appropriateuse of specially trained teachers. There were no funds allottedto schools for inclusive education in-service training. It is theresponsibility of the Special Education Division of theMinistry of Education and Skills Development to organizesuch training programs. Teachers who were qualified as specialeducators were frustrated because of inappropriate deployment.Teachers’ views indicate that clear policies are neededto guide the implementation of inclusive education. Policydocuments should outline relevant resources, support services,and service delivery for learners with diverse learning needs inan inclusive setup.The results of the current study indicate that implementationof inclusive education is a complex process. Manyfactors operate at the macro, meso, and micro levels of educationalsystems (i.e., the level of the school system, theclassroom, and the individual learner) and are closelynested around learners with disabilities. Therefore, activeinvolvement of all stakeholders and positive interactionbetween multiple systems are important for successfulimplementation of inclusive education.Conclusions and RecommendationsThe study established that students with disabilities posechallenges for teachers in the regular classroom. The presentstudy indicated that there were some possible effects ofprogram quality on individuals’ beliefs about inclusiveDownloaded from by guest on January 12, 2015
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