Foundation phase teachers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices towards inclusive classroom management: a case study of Mthatha district, Eastern Cape, South Africa

• Main Author: Bello, Aishatu Haruna
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Walter Sisulu University 2012
• Subjects: Classroom management > Teachers > Inclusive education
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/d1007198

This study was carried out in the Mthatha district of the Eastern Cape with the aim of assessing the respondents’ knowledge, attitudes and practices in successful inclusive classroom management at the Foundation Phase in their respective schools. The study adopted a mixed-method approach in which data was collected from secondary and primary sources. Secondary data were collected from literature sources and existing schools’ documents while primary data were collected from the respondents drawn from nine schools in Mthatha area (coded A to I for anonymity) using questionnaire, interview guides and focus group discussions checklists. The nine schools were purposively sampled based on schools with Foundation Phase Programme, while 15 respondents were randomly sampled from among the Foundation Phase teachers in the nine schools for this study. The data collected were subjected to various analytical techniques such as descriptive statistics, frequencies and cross tabulations as well as graphical representations using SPSS to be able to identify and list the main findings from the study. Results from the study based on 75% questionnaire response rate revealed that the respondents had high (79%) self-rating of inclusive education content knowledge despite the fact that they actually had low (over 80%) with poor or fair content knowledge on the knowledge scale. The respondents demonstrated a high degree (over 80%) of positive attitudes and good practices and management approach toward inclusive education despite the fact that they had low inclusive education content knowledge. Over 80% of the respondents revealed that their schools are not ready for inclusive classroom teaching and management due to lack of infrastructure, equipment, training, teacher support and teacher-special assistant. The results from the quantitative data were triangulated and validated by the findings from the qualitative in-depth interviews and focus group discussions which reinforced each other. The findings presented were limited to the respondents in the nine schools used in the study area. This study thus concludes that, a huge gap still exists between the desired level of the state of inclusive education and outcomes as expected from the White Paper 6 2001 in 2012. The study thus recommends the ample need for the departments of education as a matter of urgency, to emphasise the inclusion of inclusive education contents in the training and re-training of educators at the basic education phase. Furthermore, all schools should be provided with adequate infrastructural support in terms of equipment and classroom-friendly environment for learners with special needs.