Challenges facing the effective implementation of inclusive education; a case of public primary schools in Nyamira district, Nyamira county Kenya.

Abstract

ABSTRACT

inclusive education allows all learners to be admitted in regular schools regardless of their disabilities and individual differences. The Kenyan government follows a policy on inclusive education and integration. Nyamira District has 23 special units and 2 special schools which cater for mentally challenged learners only. This leaves out other children different special needs in education in the regular mainstream. The purpose of this - was to find out the challenges facing the effective implementation of inclusive education in public primary schools in Nyamira District. The study objectives were to determine the attitude of teachers towards learners with special needs; find out if teachers are professionally trained to handle learners with special needs; find out the adequacy of resources and school support and services available for learners with special needs. The findings of the study would help mitigate the problem of access and equity in the provision education and training for learners with special needs. The study assumed that the respondents would be honest.. It focused on head teachers and teachers in public primary schools in Nyamira District. It's focus did not allow the results. to be generalized as applicable in other Districts in Kenya. The researcher had sufficient time. The study used operant conditioning theory by B.F Skinner. The independent variables were; attitude of teachers, professional training, resources and school support and services. It adopted a descriptive survey design. It was carried out in Nyamira District Nyamira County –Kenya.it targeted all the 98 head teachers and 1010 teachers in public primary schools in Nyamira district. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 29 head teachers and 303 teachers. • Data was collected using questionnaires for head teachers and. teachers and observation schedule which were piloted. Content and face validity were used for validity e split-half method and Spearman Brown Prophecy were used for reliability. The instruments were administered and collected by the researcher. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS} ion 17.0 was used to analyze the data. Data collected was presented in frequency tables, graphs and• charts. The results of the findings were that: teachers have negative attitudes towards learners with special needs; teachers are not professionally trained to handle learners with special needs; there are inadequate resources; and there are equate school support and services for learners with special needs. Major recommendation included: awareness creation on disability, training more teachers in • al needs education, and allocating more funds for special needs education to buy resources. It was recommended that• further research be carried out to investigate how for special needs education are utilized in public primary schools.