Mapping the evidence-based research on Ghana’s inclusive education to policy and practices: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

For the past 15 years (2003–2018), Ghana has followed international frameworks and taken steps to implement inclusive education. This has triggered research that seeks to assess effectiveness of practices by documenting the perspectives and experiences of key stakeholders such as parents and other educators. This study took stock of the research evidence to appraise the effectiveness of inclusive education practices, identify gaps in the literature and draw attention to areas that policymakers could strengthen to advance those practices. Adopting Ainscow and Miles’s (2009. Developing Inclusive Education Systems: How Can We Move Policies Forward. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e849/cf5de98a03304867093fff0a5d8265a6e20e.pdf) inclusive education measurement indicators as a conceptual framework, we reviewed empirical studies that have been conducted on inclusive education in Ghana since the policy was formally incorporated into the education system. Ten databases, along with manual searches in journals and the reference lists of selected articles, yielded a total of 426 studies, of which 35 satisfied the pre-determined inclusion and quality-assessment criteria. We found barriers to inclusive practices at all levels of education. Teachers in particular have not been adequately informed and supported to teach students with disabilities in regular classrooms. The implications of the findings for policymaking and future research are discussed in detail.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• scoping review
• Ghana
• stakeholder
• policy
• practices

Acknowledgement

We will like to thank Ian Bollard, a Research Librarian at the University of Tasmania, for his support with the development of keywords to conduct the literature search, recommending databases and repeating the literature search with the first author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maxwell Peprah Opoku

Maxwell Peprah Opoku is a PhD candidate and tutor at the School of Education, University of Tasmania. He had his first degree in Political Science and second, MSc Disability, Rehabilitation and Development, from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He was appointed as Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Centre for Disability Studies, Department of Community Health while pursuing his master’s degree. Subsequently, he continued to study a second master’s degree in Governance and Regional Integration at Pan African University. His research interests are disability research, special education, community-based rehabilitation, inclusive education, disability and behaviour management, health research, management of natural resources, human rights, social policies and public policy.

Christopher S. Rayner

Dr Christopher S. Rayner was appointed as Lecturer in Inclusive Education in December 2010. After teaching and researching in the field of inclusive education for eight years, Chris took on the role of Academic Director of Professional Experience in December 2018. Chris’ interests relate to teacher education, pre-service teachers’ school placements, and mentoring. He also maintains a research focus on the ways educators and educational communities promote access, participation, and achievement for all students and cater for student diversity and exceptionality, particularly students with autism. His passion is to promote thriving learning communities through collaboration across the education sector.

Scott J. Pedersen

Dr Scott J. Pedersen is the Director of the Active Work Laboratory at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) in Australia. He obtained his PhD in Human Performance from Indiana University specialising in the motor control of individuals with developmental disabilities. Dr Pedersen has also held teaching and research appointments at Peking University (CHN), Beijing Normal University (CHN), and New Mexico State University (USA). Work emanating from Dr Pedersen’s lab includes the research and development of an e-health solution, called Exertime, designed to passively prompt desk-based workers to interrupt prolonged bouts of sitting by increasing incidental movement opportunities throughout the workday. Currently, Dr Pedersen serves as a co-director for the Better Health Research Theme at UTAS where his expertise in healthy behaviour change is utilised across several cross-disciplinary research projects.

Monica Cuskelly

Professor Monica Cuskelly is an associate professor in the School of Education at The University of Tasmania. She has research interests in the psycho-social functioning of individuals with intellectual disability, family functioning in families with a child with a disability, and self-regulation and mastery motivation in vulnerable groups.