School factors affecting head teachers provision of special needs education in public primary schools Kangundo sub county Kenya

Abstract

T hroughout the world, children who have mental disabilities and many others who experience difficulties in learning have been traditionally marginalized within or excluded from schools . Th is has led to numerous campaigns and advocacy on the adoption of inclusive education . Headteachers face challenges in the provision of special needs education among pupils in their schools. Headteachers in Kangundo Sub - County, Machakos County face challenges in the provision of special needs education among pupils in their schools. Further, these pupils continue to drop out of school s ince their needs are not addressed . The purpose of the study was therefore to investigate school factors affecting public primary schools headteachers’ provision of special needs education in Kangundo Sub - County, Machakos County, Kenya. The study was guide d by four research objectives. The research o bjective sought to determine how physical facilities , teaching and learning resources , adequacy of special needs teachers and financial resources affect headteachers’ provision of special needs education in Kang undo Sub - County Machakos County, Kenya. The study employed descriptive survey design. The sample for the study comprised of all the 14 headteachers and 140 teachers. Data was collected by use of questionnaires. The instruments were also validated and teste d for reliability. Findings revealed that 6(42.9%) of headteachers revealed that they had barrier free pavements in the school to accommodate children with special need. Findings also revealed that there were inadequate financial resources for the special needs children in the school as indicated by m a jority 9(64.3%) of headteachers . It was further found out that the funds did not provide adequate for provision the needs for SNE as indicated by majority 70(51.5%) of teachers. Majority 98(72.1%) of teachers revealed that school s did not have finances to outsource SNE teaching and learning materials. Majority 125(91.9%) of teachers indicated that their school were not able to purchase items that SNE children need ed for learning. The study further found out tha t financing of special education still remains a major challenge for the government. Based on the study findings, the study concluded that pupils with walking difficulties were able to access classrooms with ease. T he study concluded that there were inadeq uate financial resources for the special needs children in the school and that the schools got funds to cater for inclusive education in the school from the government. It was lastly concluded that the quality of the services for children with special needs in schools was adversely affected by acute shortage of specialized aids and equipment and inability on the side of the government to fund special education materials and construction of buildings depending highly on donor funding. The study recommends that t he government to take its rightful and leading role in the provision of education for ch ildren with special needs. Non G overnmental O rganization (NGOs) and other institutions should be encourag ed to fund the special education since schools are not able to fully support the SNE children