Teaching Children with Special Needs in Nigerian Regular Classes: Impact of Gender, Marital Status, Experience, and Specialty

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of teachers’ gender, marital status, years of experience, and specialty on their willingness to include children with special needs (CWSNs) in their classes. We adopted a cross-sectional survey design. Using a convenience sampling technique, 316 teachers from 15 state-owned secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria participated in this study. Data were analysed with mean, t-test, and ANOVA. Findings showed that teachers were willing to include CWSNs in their classes, and only teachers’ specialty showed a significant impact on teachers’ willingness to teach CWSNs. It was concluded that aspects of the teacher socio-demographic variables that may affect their willingness to include CWSNs are those that could influence their competence. Limitations of studies were highlighted.