Implementation of Inclusive Education in Ghanaian Colleges of Education: Factors that Influence the Tutors' Perception

Abstract

The study aimed to explore the perception of tutors of colleges of Education (CoE) towards the implementation of inclusive education in the Ashanti Region of Ghana as it exists at the time of the study and to examine whether their demographic profile like Gender, Age, Professional level, and working experience influenced their perceptions. The research made use of a quantitative method design. The study used 88 college tutors from a population of 133 College tutors in three colleges of education in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. A convenient sampling technique aided the researchers in selecting the CoE, while a simple random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. A self-designed semi-structured questionnaire was used as a primary data collection instrument. The data were subjected to frequency counts involving a simple percentage technique using themes and comments from the questionnaire and Multiple Regression. The respondents believed that implementing inclusive education at the CoE would bring many benefits, such as improving the social and academic skills of students with disabilities. However, respondents feared that inclusive education at the CoE would not benefit them as well as students with disabilities as a result of lack of funding and resources, limited classroom space and instructional materials, and the fact that it will increase the workload of the tutors. Again, the study revealed that except for tutors' working experience, which has a significant contribution to influencing their perceptions towards the inclusion of students with disabilities at the CoE, factors like gender, age, and professional levels are not good moderating tools to predict college tutors' perceptions on the inclusion of students with disabilities in CoE. Recommendations from the study involved Affiliate Universities liaising with the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to organise workshops and seminars for the regular tutors at the colleges to equip them with the necessary skills required to engage students with disabilities in the regular CoE.

Keywords: Inclusive Education, Implementation, Colleges of Education, Ghana, Tutors, Perceptions