The attitudes of regular primary and secondary school teachers towards the inclusion of students with disabilities in their classrooms in Botswana

Master of EducationWhile there has been a recent trend towards inclusive educational placement of students with disabilities into regular classrooms world wide, little information exists regarding the attitudes of teachers in Botswana towards such practices. This study was undertaken to examine the attitudes of primary and secondary school teachers' attitudes towards the inclusion of students with disabilities into their regular classrooms in Botswana. A questionnaire seeking demographic information and another called 'Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale' were used to collect data from primary and secondary school teachers. T-tests and Pearson Product Moment Correlation have been used to examine the relationships in attitudes towards inclusion between primary and secondary school teachers, and the significance of relationships between teachers' attitudes towards inclusion and the selected background variables. The major findings of this study were: 1. Teachers were more willing to include students with social disabilities (e.g. students who are shy and withdrawn ) than any other type of disability in their classrooms. 2. Teachers were more inclined to include students with academic problems than those with behavior (e.g. students who are physically aggressive towards others) and physical problems. 3. Teachers preferred to include students with behavior problems than those with physical problems. 4. Students with physical difficulties were the least preferred of all the types of disabilities for inclusion. 5. Teachers with smaller class sizes were more willing to include students with poor attendance records in their classrooms than those teachers with larger class sizes. 6. Teachers who had no students with disabilities in their classes, that is, no contact with students with disabilities, had more positive attitudes towards the inclusion of students of students whose academic achievement is 1 year below the other students in their classrooms, than those teachers who have had contact with such students. 7. Teachers with high level of confidence about the inclusion of students with disabilities had more positive attitudes towards the inclusion of students with disruptive behavior, and those who do not follow the school rules of conduct