Exploring positive and negative teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion of children with disabilities in schools in Trinidad: implications for teacher education

ABSTRACT

This paper explores positive and negative attitudes towards the inclusion of children with disabilities in schools among primary and secondary school teachers in Trinidad via qualitative methods. Data is collected from 15 primary and secondary school teachers using semi-structured interviews and constant comparison analysis is employed to identify the themes. Among the teachers in the positive attitude category, two themes emerged, namely humanistic beliefs and recognition of benefits indicating the existence of a philosophy of inclusiveness. For teachers in the negative attitude category, two distinct themes emerged corresponding to limitations for children with and without disabilities and the lack of support for inclusion. The findings indicate the need for professional development for in-service teachers and the urgency for a compulsory pre-service programme for new teachers in Trinidad.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• teacher education
• attitudes
• disability
• trinidad

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Disability refers to long-term physical, mental, sensory, or intellectual conditions or any combination of them.

2 Inclusive practices are defined as actions taken to give meaning to the idea of inclusion (Florian 2009).

3 Ambivalence among primary school teachers was previously reported by other scholars (Conrad and Brown 2011; Blackman, Conrad, and Brown 2012).

4 Inclusive education is also important to alleviate hunger and poverty among persons with disabilities and to improve their chances to participate in the labour market (United Nations 2019).

5 Previously only students who scored above 30% were placed in secondary school, however, the establishment of universal education until the secondary school level means all children including those scoring below 30% enter secondary schools (Steinbach 2012).

Additional information

Funding

The field work for the research was partially funded by The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago [grant number: CRP.5.APR17.62].

Notes on contributors

Bephyer Parey

Dr Bephyer Parey is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) at the St Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI). She was awarded a PhD in Social Policy in 2019 and holds a BSc in Mathematics and MSc in Statistics from the UWI. Dr Parey uses quantitative, qualitative, as well as mixed methods to pursue her broad research interests in disability, education, social care, and poverty.