Knowledge, attitude and practices of teachers regarding disability among students in 10 government schools of Male’.

Abstract

In January 2013, a circular was sent to all schools in Maldives regarding introduction of inclusive education in mainstream schools to allow different types of disabled children to be enrolled in these schools. This study investigates the knowledge, attitude and practices of regular classroom teachers towards students with disability compared with the teachers teaching in Jamaaluhdheen and Imaadhudheen School. The study is conducted using a survey questionnaire among 84 teachers of 10 government schools in Male‟. The data is analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. According to the study, all the participants had an acceptable level of knowledge regarding disability in children. Moreover, the control group has expressed positive attitude towards including disabled children in main stream classes and involving them in all the curricular and extra-curricular activities while the case group had negative attitude towards involving disabled children in the normal classes. From this study it was identified that teachers do not believe they have the proper skills to teach students with disability. Therefore, it is very important to increase teachers knowledge and skills by providing more workshops and training programs.