South African Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Working with Learners with Severe Intellectual Disabilities

ABSTRACT

This study investigates South African teachers’ attitudes in schools for learners with special educational needs specifically learners with severe intellectual disability (SID) using a quantitative and descriptive online survey. The questionnaire includes the Modified Teachers’ Attitudes Scale. The theory of planned behaviour is used as an explanatory model to explore why teachers may have difficulty with their role in supporting the educational needs of learners with SID. Purposive sampling was employed to recruit teachers which are on Facebook support groups. The results based on the feedback from 221 teachers, reveal that teachers possess negative attitudes regarding the communication, socialisation, and future outcomes of learners with SID. Teachers revealed positive attitudes towards inclusion and their capabilities when teaching learners with SID. A neutral attitude was obtained towards these learners’ participation needs. The article concludes with the importance of teacher education on the nature and manifestations of the disorder to provide realistic expectations within the classroom. An additional recommendation is made addressing the management of schools requesting to fortify the use of inclusive practice and place value on input from teachers.

KEYWORDS:

• Educators
• inclusive education
• intellectual disability
• learning support educators
• South Africa
• special schools

Acknowledgments

Thank you to all participants for offering up their valuable time in order to participate in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

DB developed the original idea. EJ, MlR and SG contributed to the development of the idea. MG assisted with the statistical analyses of the data. Interpretation of the design was done by DB with the assistance of MG. Critical revision of the manuscript as well as supervision of the study was done by EJ, MlR and SG.

Additional information

Funding

There was no research funding for this study, and no restrictions have been imposed on free access to, or the publication of the research data.