Teachers’ Perspectives on Inclusive Education

Paper Info
Page count 4
Word count 1164
Read time 6 min
Topic Education
Type Proposal
Language 🇺🇸 US

Background and Significance

It has been acknowledged that approximately 15% of the world’s population has a disability, and 1 in 10 students are identified as dyslexic (Maufuriyah, 2018). Historically, students with disabilities received special types of education that implied their isolation from the rest of the students (Westwood, 2017; Wibowo & Muin, 2018). However, the modern educational systems of many countries are undergoing changes associated with the transformation of educational facilities into inclusive environments (Goepel, 2018). This study focuses on such learning disabilities as dyslexia and dyscalculia due to the incidence of these special needs among students with learning disabilities. Dyslexia is the disorder associated with facing reading difficulties while students diagnosed with dyscalculia have deficits in arithmetic (Peters, Bulthé, Daniels, Op de Beeck, & De Smedt, 2018). Modern scientists and practitioners, as well as policymakers and the general public, pay substantial attention to the problem, which translates into the development of the corresponding curricula and teaching strategies.

In Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, schools offer educational services that enable students with disabilities to study with their peers and benefit from this inclusion (Alharbi & Madhesh, 2018). However, although these two countries declare their commitment to the provision of inclusive education, this area is characterized by various issues and gaps (Ratnaningsih, Arhasy, & Hidayat, 2019; Battal, 2016; Aldabas, 2015). Recent research shows that teachers are often ill-prepared to provide high-quality educational services to students with dyslexia and dyscalculia.

Some of the areas of major concern include the assessment of students’ needs, development of effective teaching strategies, and teachers’ overall preparedness to work in an inclusive environment (Alsamiri, 2018; Alhabashneh, Abu-Salih, & Knight, 2018; Irdamurni, Kasiyati, Zulmiyetri, & Taufan, 2018). Some of the topics that have been examined recently are associated with the use of technology, but the views of educators regarding the inclusion of ICT in their practice are still under-researched (Sbai, Biadil, Mohajir, & Nahli, 2018; Cahyana, 2015). It is also noteworthy that researchers and practitioners have developed various strategies and interventions to ensure the provision of high-quality educational services to students with special learning needs (Muarifah, Barida, & Supriyanto, 2016; Rababah & Alghazo, 2016). The primary focus of researchers is on the evaluation of the existing programs and identification of the most burning issues to address, while the analysis of stakeholders’ perceptions regarding the matter has not received significant attention (Saputra & Nugroho, 2015; Alkhunizi, Alnas, & Janabi, 2019). It is essential to examine teachers’ awareness of such programs, the extent to which such interventions are used in their practices, and their overall perceptions concerning such programs.

Purpose of the Study

The primary aim of this study is to identify and compare teachers’ perceptions towards inclusive education for students with dyslexia and dyscalculia in Indonesia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As mentioned above, the two countries have started adhering to the international standards regarding inclusive education quite recently, and their progress can shed light on the existing gaps and opportunities to achieve the set and declared goals. Certain attempts have been made to examine the existing trends in these areas, but quantitative methods have been utilized (Alahmadi & El Keshky, 2019). In order to explore the differences and similarities between Saudi and Indonesian educators’ perceptions, it is essential to concentrate on a range of areas. In this study, the focus is on the detection of special needs, training strategies, and interventions, as well as overall preparedness to meet the needs of students with dyslexia and dyscalculia. The following research question will be addressed:

  • What perceptions do educators in both countries have regarding inclusive education?

The supporting questions that will guide this research include:

  1. What are the differences in perceptions of Indonesian and Saudi teachers regarding the detection of dyslexia and dyscalculia?
  2. What challenges and opportunities do teachers in both countries have to achieve inclusion?

Methods

In order to address the established research questions, a descriptive research design will be employed. Since the focus is on people’s perceptions, qualitative research methods will be utilized. At the same time, quantitative data will also be collected and analyzed to identify certain trends and factors that can have an impact on people’s perspectives. Therefore, mixed-method research will be used to answer the set research questions. Indonesian teachers of three public primary schools in Jakarta, four public primary schools in Surabaya, and four public primary schools in Bandung will participate. In Saudi Arabia, educators from three public primary schools from each of the following cities Riyadh, Jeddah, and Alhasa will be invited to participate in the research and complete the questionnaires. The approximate number of teachers who will complete questionnaires will be 400 people (20 educators from each school). The schools will be identified by exploring the national ratings in order to locate the schools that employ the most effective strategies and receive sufficient funding. The school’s administration will be contacted to receive the corresponding permission.

The surveys will include descriptive characteristics of the teachers and questions regarding the areas mentioned above. The descriptive data will be analyzed to identify some links between teachers’ characteristics and their perceptions regarding inclusive education. Likert-scale questions will be used to identify the level of educators’ knowledge regarding inclusive education, as well as their perceptions of the effectiveness of some approaches. The quantitative data will be analyzed with the use of such software as SPSS.

After the completion of the survey, the teachers will be invited to share their ideas on inclusive education during face-to-face interviews. The information regarding this stage of the research will be disseminated with the help of the corresponding notifications provided to the faculty. The overall number of interviewees will be 40 teachers (20 educators from each country). Purposeful sampling is a common instrument employed to collect qualitative data (Creswell, 2014). The effectiveness of the tool has been justified as it ensures the participation of knowledgeable people who are willing to share their views.

After signing the written consent forms, the participants will be interviewed. Face-to-face interviews will be held in educational facilities or other public places, depending on the participants’ preferences. It is essential to ensure the establishment of rapport between the interviewer and the participant, so a friendly and relaxing environment is critical for the implementation of the study. The use of technology will also be considered if necessary. For instance, some interviews can be held via Skype if necessary. Semi-structured interviews will be held, and the participants will answer open-ended questions regarding inclusive education, effective teaching strategies, students’ needs assessment, and associated areas. In order to ensure adherence to the highest standards of scientific research, the corresponding permission will be received from the institutional review board. The qualitative data will be recorded and transcribed with the help of the corresponding software. Content analysis will be employed, and major themes will be identified and coded manually. The data analysis process will be facilitated by the use of technology as ANOVA software will be utilized. The use of technology will ensure the validity of the findings.

References

Alahmadi, N. A., & El Keshky, M. E. S. (2019). Assessing primary school teachers’ knowledge of specific learning disabilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, 9(1), 9-22.

Aldabas, R. A. (2015). Special education in Saudi Arabia: History and areas for reform. Creative Education, 6(11), 1158-1167.

Alhabashneh, M., Abu-Salih, B., & Knight, S. (2018). Impact of web 2.0 technology on students with learning difficulties: A state-of-the-art and future challenges. In 2018 32Nd International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications Workshops (WAINA) (pp. 693-697). Krakow, Poland: IEEE.

Alharbi, A., & Madhesh, A. (2018). Inclusive education and policy in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Education Research and Reviews, 6(1), 946-956.

Alkhunizi, L., Alnas, K., & Janabi, O. (2019). Knowledge and attitude toward learning disabilities among primary school teachers in Dammam, Qatif and Alkhobar cities, K.S.A. International Journal of Education Research and Reviews, 8(6), 14-19.

Alsamiri, Y. (2018). How learning disabilities teachers in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia define students with giftedness and learning disabilities. Cakrawala Pendidikan, 37(3), 356-365.

Battal, Z. M. B. (2016). Special education in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Technology and Inclusive Education (IJTIE), 5(2), 880-886.

Cahyana, I. A. (2015). Towards digital intervention: overview of dyscalculia in Indonesia. Jurnal Sistem Komputer, 5(2), 51-54.

Creswell, J. W. (2014). A concise introduction to mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Goepel, J. (2018). The inclusive classroom. In Hymer et al. (Eds.), Themes and issues in primary education (pp. 182-197). St. Albans, England: Critical Publishing.

Irdamurni, I., Kasiyati, K., Zulmiyetri, Z., & Taufan, J. (2018). The effect of mingle model to improve reading skills for students with dyslexia in primary school. Journal of ICSAR, 2(2), 167-170.

Maufuriyah, I. (2018). Inclusive support and education of children with special needs; issues, challenges, and responses. In The 6th Asian Academic Society International Conference (AASIC) A Transformative Community: Asia in Dynamism, Innovation, and Globalization (pp. 247-257). Central Java, Indonesia: Asian Academic Society.

Muarifah, A., Barida, M., Supriyanto, A. (2016). The effort of early detection for special need children in preparing education for children. In The Proceeding of 1st Semarang State University International Conference on Counseling and Educational Psychology (pp. 32-39). Semarang, Indonesia: Semarang State University.

Peters, L., Bulthé, J., Daniels, N., Op de Beeck, H., & De Smedt, B. (2018). Dyscalculia and dyslexia: Different behavioral, yet similar brain activity profiles during arithmetic. Neuroimage: Clinical, 18, 663-674.

Rababah, A., & Alghazo, Y. (2016). Diagnostic assessment and mathematical difficulties: An experimental study of dyscalculia. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4(6), 45-52.

Ratnaningsih, N., Arhasy, E. A. R.., & Hidayat, E. (2019). The analysis of dyscalculia students learning difficulty in inclusive education of primary school level in Tasikmalaya. JETL (Journal of Education, Teaching and Learning), 4(1), 238-243.

Saputra, M. R. U., & Nugroho, K. A. (2015). “Learn-to-read” application for remediation of dyslexic children based on multisensory approach. In 2015 4Th International Conference on Instrumentation, Communications, Information Technology, and Biomedical Engineering (ICICI-BME) (pp. 1-6). Bandung, Indonesia: IEEE.

Sbai, M. A., Biadil, M., Mohajir, M., & Nahli, O. (2018). The use of ICT in dealing with learning disabilities: A literature review with a focus on reading Arabic texts. In 2018 IEEE 5Th International Congress on Information Science and Technology (pp. 415-421). Marrakech, Morocco: IEEE.

Westwood, P. (2017). Learning disorders: A response-to-intervention perspective. New York, NY: Routledge.

Wibowo, S. B., & Muin, J. A. (2018). Inclusive education in Indonesia: Equality education access for disabilities. Kne Social Sciences, 3(5), 484-493.

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EssaysInCollege. (2022, May 24). Teachers' Perspectives on Inclusive Education. Retrieved from https://essaysincollege.com/teachers-perspectives-on-inclusive-education/

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"Teachers' Perspectives on Inclusive Education." EssaysInCollege, 24 May 2022, essaysincollege.com/teachers-perspectives-on-inclusive-education/.

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EssaysInCollege. (2022) 'Teachers' Perspectives on Inclusive Education'. 24 May.

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EssaysInCollege. 2022. "Teachers' Perspectives on Inclusive Education." May 24, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/teachers-perspectives-on-inclusive-education/.

1. EssaysInCollege. "Teachers' Perspectives on Inclusive Education." May 24, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/teachers-perspectives-on-inclusive-education/.


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EssaysInCollege. "Teachers' Perspectives on Inclusive Education." May 24, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/teachers-perspectives-on-inclusive-education/.

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EssaysInCollege. 2022. "Teachers' Perspectives on Inclusive Education." May 24, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/teachers-perspectives-on-inclusive-education/.

1. EssaysInCollege. "Teachers' Perspectives on Inclusive Education." May 24, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/teachers-perspectives-on-inclusive-education/.


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EssaysInCollege. "Teachers' Perspectives on Inclusive Education." May 24, 2022. https://essaysincollege.com/teachers-perspectives-on-inclusive-education/.