Assessment of teacher’s attitude regarding inclusive education in private and public schools of Rawalpindi/Islamabad

Abstract

Background The advocates of inclusive education believe that all learners must learn in same circumstances to minimize discrimination. Teachers’ attitudes and beliefs toward inclusive education are instantly reflected in their classroom activities and practices. This research will concentrate on public and private education in schools. It will investigate their attitudes toward inclusive education and how these attitudes alter as a consequence of variables such as age, gender, teaching experience, and inclusive education training. Materials and Methods Three hundred and eighteen teachers from private and public school were enrolled in the study, completing a questionnaire regarding demographic factors and attitude of teachers with respect to cognitive, affective and behavioral factors. Chi Square analysis was done and Cronbach’s back Alpha value was 0.8. The p-value of < 0.05 was taken as significant. Results A total of 318 participants were in the study of which 68% females were from public schools, 21.1 % had more than 10 years of experience, 50% contacted with disabled child, the comparison of private and public school with cognitive attitude have significant results with p-value 0.005. Conclusion Finally, the study revealed low levels of negative attitude from private school teachers, medium levels of concerns, and high levels of favorable attitudes toward inclusive education. Keywords: Attitudes, inclusive education; general education; special education