Primary school educators' attitudes towards inclusive education
type: CreativeWork
description: The current principles of education policies in South Africa reflect great challenges facing a society in transition. Evidently, the task undertaken by successive democratic governments since 1994 has been to address the inequalities of the past. Since as the capacity of country's building education in various ways - including Special Needs Education, Inclusive Education and Training System, in particular, the White Paper 6 (2001) attempted to promote, enhance and support the inclusion, participation and development of learners. This study examined the attitudes of primary school educators towards inclusive education, particularly the inclusion of mentally challenged learners. The study was specifically investigated the attitudes of primary school educators towards the inclusion of mentally challenged learners in mainstream education. It also aimed to determine the category/categories of mentally challenged learners which primary school educators preferred to be integrated in the mainstream. Additionally, the study also sought to establish how the following variables associated with the attitudes of educators towards the inclusion of mentally challenged learners in mainstream education: age, grade level taught, gender, type of school, teaching experience and class size. The study was both analytical and quantitative descriptive in nature, in which educators from primary schools in the Empangeni and Obonjeni Districts serve as accessible population. A structured questionnaire constructed according to a five-point Likert - type scale was used to collect data. Data were analysed both qualitatively and qualitatively. The statistical technique used to test the hypotheses was the Chi-square. The findings indicated that the majority of educators held negative attitudes towards the inclusion of the mentally challenged learners in mainstream education. Finally the findings revealed that the variables o£ gender, age, type of school, experience and class size have no influence…
abstract: The current principles of education policies in South Africa reflect great challenges facing a society in transition. Evidently, the task undertaken by successive democratic governments since 1994 has been to address the inequalities of the past. Since as the capacity of country's building education in various ways - including Special Needs Education, Inclusive Education and Training System, in particular, the White Paper 6 (2001) attempted to promote, enhance and support the inclusion, participation and development of learners. This study examined the attitudes of primary school educators towards inclusive education, particularly the inclusion of mentally challenged learners. The study was specifically investigated the attitudes of primary school educators towards the inclusion of mentally challenged learners in mainstream education. It also aimed to determine the category/categories of mentally challenged learners which primary school educators preferred to be integrated in the mainstream. Additionally, the study also sought to establish how the following variables associated with the attitudes of educators towards the inclusion of mentally challenged learners in mainstream education: age, grade level taught, gender, type of school, teaching experience and class size. The study was both analytical and quantitative descriptive in nature, in which educators from primary schools in the Empangeni and Obonjeni Districts serve as accessible population. A structured questionnaire constructed according to a five-point Likert - type scale was used to collect data. Data were analysed both qualitatively and qualitatively. The statistical technique used to test the hypotheses was the Chi-square. The findings indicated that the majority of educators held negative attitudes towards the inclusion of the mentally challenged learners in mainstream education. Finally the findings revealed that the variables o£ gender, age, type of school, experience and class size have no influence…
author: Zulu, Sibongile Primrose
keywords: Inclusive education, Inclusive education -- educators' atittudes
license: https://devspace.unizulu.ac.za/bitstreams/6f8a0736-b9bf-4023-ba35-3b65685b99ac/download
date published: 2009
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:17:03Z
provider: University of Zululand
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Zululand