Assessing the Landscape of Inclusive Education in Nigeria. A Study on Teachers' Awareness and School Suitability (PDF)

Academic Paper from the year 2023 in the subject Pedagogy - Inclusion, , language: English, abstract: Inclusive education was adopted at the Salamanca World Conference on Special Needs Education (1994) as the best educational measure capable of dealing adequately with varying learning needs in the general classroom setting. Most of the participating countries e.g. The United States, South Africa, Canada etc. have gone far in providing inclusive education. However, Nigeria, being one of the countries that recognize Inclusive education, has failed to create conducive atmosphere for the proper take-off of this wonderful educational policy by putting in place all the necessary apparatus needed.

Based on this observation, the study was carried out to assess the level of awareness among regular primary and secondary school teachers as well as suitability status of the schools for implementation of inclusion. The study used ten randomly selected schools, and from these schools, 50 teachers were also randomly selected (five from each school). A questionnaire tagged "Baseline Questionnaire for Teachers on Inclusive Education" was used to elicit information on the teachers' level of awareness, as well as the teachers' view on the suitability of the schools for inclusive education practice. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics.

The result showed that the teachers' awareness level about inclusive education is very low, and the majority of them also view their schools as unsuitable for accommodating students with special needs. Recommendations based on the findings were made to make Inclusive education a reality in the country.