School based factors influencing performance of children with disabilities in public primary schools in Kajiado north district, Kajiado county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the school based factors influencing performance of children with disabilities in public primary schools in Kajiado North District, Kajiado County, Kenya. It particularly focused on the rationale of the teachers‟ attitude towards children with disabilities, influence of resources and facilities in the performance of children with disabilities influence of teachers‟ qualification in implementing inclusive education and influence of learning/teaching resources on performance of children with disabilities. This research was based on Vyogotsky theory (1987-1998) of proximal development which discusses learning and teaching of challenged children as a shared or joint process in a responsive social context. The investigation was conducted using the descriptive survey design which describes respondents‟ characteristics such as abilities, opinions, attitudes, beliefs and/or knowledge. Two sets of questionnaires, semi structured questionnaires and observations were used for data collection. The semi structured questionnaire was used for the head teachers. The design of the instruments was informed by the objectives and the research questions of the study. The study yielded both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS while qualitative data was organized into themes and patterns based on analysis of meanings and implications emanating from respondents information and documented data on Inclusive Education to improve performance of all pupils. Quantitative results of data analysis were presented mainly in tables. From the findings of the study, it was established that teachers must believe that their behaviour can affect the education of their pupils. They must recognize that they have the capacity and power to make key decisions which affect their role and pupils´ performance. The findings also established that there is need for both the classroom teachers and the subject teachers to get trained in SNE to provide successful inclusive education. Besides, it was established that inadequate/lack of materials and overpopulated classrooms posed a great challenge to teachers from implementation of quality Inclusive Education. The study recommended that public primary schools should be equipped with adequate resources and facilities for children with disabilities to fill several gaps that still exist. Besides, teachers need to be trained again through in-service courses to be empowered with SNE skills to enable them perform and also make them recognize that they have the capacity and power to make key decisions which affect pupils´ performance. Head teachers should be on the forefront to ensure Inclusive Education policy is implemented in school. Given the scope and limitations of this study, the researcher recommends a replica of the study to be performed in other public primary schools in the country hardship areas in Kenya to establish the variant challenges in inclusive education.