Abstract
Advancing inclusive education in countries where children with special needs (CWSNs) are yet to be meaningfully included in regular schools will ensure the progress of Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals. One potent determinant to the effective inclusion of CWSNs is teachers’ intention and efforts to integrate them into their classes. Yet, there is still inadequate evidence in the existing body of literature that will help stakeholders understand the psychosocial variables that will impact their intentions and efforts to include CWSNs in their classes. In view of this, our study determined the association between teachers’ sociodemographic characteristics, psychological distress, job satisfaction, and their willingness to include CWSNs in their classes using a hierarchical regression model. The sample size is made up of 502 secondary school teachers in Anambra State. Our model showed the potency of sociobiological and motivational factors on teachers’ inclusive education willingness of CWSNs in their classes. Teachers’ age, years of teaching experience, and job satisfaction are significant predictors of their inclusion willingness for CWSNs. Teachers’ psychological distress did not significantly predict their inclusion willingness for CWSNs. The significance and implications of our findings were underscored.
Highlights
Inclusive education aims to guarantee equitable access to education for all children
We further used Amos version 24 to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis. Fit tests such as chi-square (χ2), comparative fit index (CFI), the goodness of fit index (GFI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), and Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) [114, 115] were adopted. e cut-off points for these fit tests are that the probability value of Chi-square should be less than 0.05, while TLI, GFI, and CFI values should be greater than 0.90, whereas the RMSEA should be less than 0.08 [114, 115]. e test of internal consistency was ascertained using Cronbach alpha (α) [116]
Ese outliers were deleted and the Standardized Residuals were rerun, which showed that the data contained no further outliers
Summary
Inclusive education aims to guarantee equitable access to education for all children. It allows all students to gain access to their schools of choice irrespective of their strengths, weaknesses, and disabilities [1] It is understood as the right of every child to be effectively included in mainstream society [2, 3]. Experts have asserted the similarity in the goals of educating children with special needs and those without special needs since they support the harnessing of the full potentialities of the child and ensure that children live productive lives in the community [4] Notwithstanding these laudable benefits, most developing and low-income economies are faced with implementation challenges, such as lack of finance, resources, and quality data [5,6,7], weak commitment to inclusion [8,9,10], lack of facilities for accommodating students of all abilities [11,12,13], lack of government involvement in implementation and legislative issues [14,15,16,17], and issues and factors related to the teacher [18,19,20,21].
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