Pre-service Parents Teachers’ Attitude and Perceived Challenges about Inclusive Education in Ghana: The Ghanaian Inclusive Education Policy

Abstract

The inclusion of learners with special educational needs into regular schools is a significant pillar in the New B. Ed Basic Education Curriculum for teacher education in Ghana. Based on this, the study aimed at finding the attitude of pre-service parent teachers and their perceived challenges about inclusive education in Ghana. The study employed a convergent mixed method with a sample of 112 sandwich pre-service parent teachers at the Gambaga College of Education. The quantitative research approach consisted 10-item questionnaire scale adapted from the works of Paseka and Schwab (2020) on ‘Parents’ Attitude towards Inclusive Education’ (PAIE) scale. Data was collected using both the questionnaire and focus group discussion. The analysis of quantitative data involved the use of multiple statistical procedures; frequency counts, simple percentages, and standard deviation, while the inductive thematic analysis (ITA) was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings revealed that the pre-service parent teachers have positive attitude towards inclusive education. They believed that Ghanaian teachers will be able to recognize their children’s strengths and support them with the appropriate contents in inclusive classroom and they can also work well in a good relationship with learners with special educational needs. However, they stressed on some few challenges that may hinder the effective implementation of inclusive education in Ghana. Among the challenges included inadequate resources and the lack of peaceful cooperation among learners in inclusive environment (such as stigmatization). It is therefore recommended that the government and other significant stakeholders ensure that these challenges are remedied for effective implementation of inclusive education in Ghana.