TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KISII COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

This paper investigates the teachers’ perceptions of inclusive education in public primary schools in Kenya.It particularly explores the influence of the teachers’ demographic variables on the perceptions of inclusive education in the regular school system. The study is guided by the positioning theory puts emphasis on within the framework of discursive psychology and requires close analysis of cues that participants use to position themselves, their listeners, and others. The analysis adopted the Ex Post Facto criterion group research design to identify the causative relationship between the demographic indicators and inclusive education practices. The respondents (n = 333) were regular primary school teachers in Kisii Central Sub County of Kisii County, Kenya. There were five research questions that guided the current study were translated into ten hypotheses which were tested using the one – way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).The findings reveal that the participants presented mixed opinions on the general philosophy of inclusive education based on their demographic factors. The difference among age cohort (F (14,329)= 2.629; P< .001), level of qualification (F(14,311)= 8.94; P< .001) and teaching experience (F(12,163)= 18.03; p< .001) were found to have statistically significant influence on regular teachers’ perceptions of inclusive education. However, the findings showed that gender (F(14, 300)= 1.385; p> .001) and training in disability education (F (13,316)=3.84; P> .001), did not have significant influence on regular teachers’ perceptions of inclusive education. The study has revealed that a number of teacher demographic factors significantly influence teacher’s perceptions in inclusive education classrooms in the general school environments. These include teacher’s age, level of educational qualification and teaching experience. The gender and training in disability of the teachers however do not influence the teachers perceptions.