Teachers' Attitudes Toward the Full Inclusion of Students with Intellectual Disabilities in General Elementary School Classrooms in Saudi Arabia
[Thesis]
Alqahtani, Ali S.
Dinaro, Andrea
Concordia University Chicago
2019
116
Ph.D.
Concordia University Chicago
2019
The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify Saudi Arabian elementary school teachers' attitudes on inclusive education for students with Intellectual Disabilities (ID), specifically using four major factors (benefits of inclusion, inclusive classroom management, ability to teach students with ID, and special education versus inclusive general education). There were 483 respondents. The study used the ORI survey and a demographic questionnaire to gather data on teachers' attitudes specific to ID. Descriptive analysis, MANOVA, and a post-hoc test were utilized to analyze the results. The results indicated that teachers had positive attitudes toward inclusion in four factors, but they had neutral or negative attitudes regarding their ability to teach students with ID in the elementary classroom in Saudi Arabia. Other findings revealed that general education teachers scored lower than special education teachers regarding benefits of inclusion, integrated classroom management, and the capacity to instruct learners with ID, which could be from lack of knowledge by general education teachers on the benefits of inclusion, possibly from lack of training and experience. Additionally, teachers with less than five years of experience had higher scores toward inclusion for learners with ID than teachers with more than five or five to ten years of experience, which could be because teachers with less experience have not yet had the opportunity to have negative experiences. Results from this study indicated that more research is needed, specifically in the area of ID, as there is currently a gap in research on inclusion specific to IDs in elementary schools in Saudi Arabia. It would be helpful to include other stakeholders, such as administrators, parents, and students with ID and qualitative, other grade levels, and different cities and regions in Saudi Arabia. Further research should also investigate why teachers with less experience had more positive attitudes toward inclusion.