Inclusive Education in Bangladesh: Are Pre-service Teachers Ready to Accept Students with Special Educational Needs in Regular Classes?

Authors

  • Md Saiful Malak Institute of Education and Research, University of Dhaka

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5463/dcid.v24i1.191

Keywords:

Inclusion, attitudes, practicum, special education, SEN

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine pre-service special education (PSpE) teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education (IE) for students with special educational needs (SEN) in Bangladesh.

Method: 100 PSpE teachers from a leading teacher education institute in Bangladesh were purposively sampled. A 20-item based survey questionnaire was used to measure participants’ attitudes. Items of the survey were developed from a literature review in which Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education Scale (ATIES) by Wilczenski (1992), Concern about Inclusive Education Scale (CIES) by Sharma and Desai (2002), and Interaction with Persons with a Disability (IPD) Scaled by Gething (1994) were considered as the key specialist resources. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilised in the analysis.

Results: The results revealed that while the PSpE teachers hold favourable attitudes towards students with SEN, they are concerned about some basic issues of inclusion. Practicum and close contact with children with SEN were found to be important variables which shaped the attitudes of the PSpE teachers. Implications of the findings are discussed and further suggestions are made as to how teacher education institutes may engage PSpE teachers more effectively with their programmes to promote better inclusive practices.

Conclusion: The study suggests that there is a need for providing PSpE teachers with experiential learning prior to school practicum.

Author Biography

Md Saiful Malak, Institute of Education and Research, University of Dhaka

The author is associated with Institute of Education and Research, University of Dhaka. He is a member of "Golden Key International Honour Society" at Griffith University in Queensland. His research interests include disability studies, special & inclusive education, teachers' attitudes & preparedness, and student challenging behaviours. He is currently pursuing Ph.D studies in Monash University, Australia.

Downloads

Published

2013-05-01

How to Cite

1.
Malak MS. Inclusive Education in Bangladesh: Are Pre-service Teachers Ready to Accept Students with Special Educational Needs in Regular Classes?. DCIDJ [Internet]. 2013 May 1 [cited 2024 Oct. 18];24(1):56-81. Available from: https://dcidj.uog.edu.et/index.php/up-j-dcbrid/article/view/101

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 1 (2013): Spring

Section

Original Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2013 The Author(s)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License By-NC-ND 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC