Teaching of Children with Special Needs in Inclusive Schools: Teachers and Management’s Perspective

Shaheen Pasha, Muhammad Javed Aftab

Abstract


The recent political government of Punjab (Pakistan) has shown keen interest to implement inclusive education in public mainstream schools. This descriptive study, conducted on 88 participants - including the members of the management and senior teachers of public sector mainstream schools from different cities of the Punjab, Pakistan - is aimed to analyze the provision, practices and state of their readiness for inclusive education. The survey technique was used to collect the data of participants’ responses on eleven indicators. The responses were grouped, tabulated, processed and analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of percentages. The participants’ readiness ratio for inclusive education (IE) varies from 02% to 44%. The study reveals that the members of the management and senior teachers of mainstream schools in Punjab are not fully prepared for the education of children with special needs in mainstream schools. A successful inclusion demands for many changes in the existing policies and practices, including admission policy, teaching stratifies, assessment policies, in-service training, and school infrastructure. Apart from low readiness ratio, the participants demonstrated a positive attitude towards inclusive education and made several recommendations to improve the prevailing situation. The study believes that the members of school management and senior teachers of the mainstream educational institutions of school can implement inclusive education in their schools if their recommendations are considered seriously.

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