The Practice of Inclusion, attitudes, Challenges and opportunities In Preschools In Mekelle City
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Date
2020-06
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AAU
Abstract
The main objective of this study is investigation of teachers’ and principals attitude towards
inclusive education and the challenges and opportunities of the practice of inclusion in
preschools of Mekelle city administration. A mixed type research design both quantitative and
qualitative approaches was used to analyze the data collected from 203 teachers through
questionnaire, 29 preschools through observation checklist, 12 preschool principals through
interview, 3 parents of children with disabilities who are attending in preschools and a parent of
a child with disability who is out of school. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage),
crosstabs and chi-square test were used to quantitatively analyze the data collected through
questionnaire and observation to examine the attitude of teachers, school accessibility and
practice of inclusion. The opportunities, challenges and practices of inclusion was qualitatively
analyzed from the data collected through interview from school principals, parents and from
open ended questionnaire. The study reveals that negative attitude of teachers that children with
disabilities should learn in special schools separately and preschool principals believes that
children with disabilities are obstacles to quality education, preschools physical inaccessibility
and absence of learning facilities are the main barriers of inclusion of children with disabilities
with their peers in preschools of Mekelle. On the other hand good treatment of children, some
positive attitudes and presence of some children with disabilities in some preschools are the
opportunities of inclusive education of children with disabilities in Mekelle preschools.