The Importance of Inclusive Education Course for Preparing Pre-Service Teacher to Teach Students with Special Needs in School

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the importance of the Inclusive Education (KPK 3012) course for preparing pre-service teachers at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) to teach students with special education needs in schools. The four objectives of the study are based on the outcome of the course learning which is to identify the importance of teaching aspects of the characteristics of special needs students, inclusive education policies, attitudes concerned and teaching techniques. his case study was conducted at UPSI involving 30 pre-service teachers. The data collection period is for four months. Data collection methods used are observation, interviews and document analysis. The observation was conducted five times during KPK 3012 course lectures. Two sets of interview questions were set up and used in four interview sessions. The findings show that this course can provide respondents with knowledge about the characteristics of special needs students, inclusive education policies, attitudes concerned and teaching techniques. Research implications indicate that an inclusive education course can provide pre-service teachers with the knowledge and skills required by teaching students with special educational needs. Inclusive education courses should be offered at all institutions with educational programs to enable potential teachers to teach special needs students in the future.