Influence of Teachers’ training on Preparedness Towards Integration of Learners with Special Needs in Public Primary Schools in Masaba South Sub County, Kisii County

Abstract

All over the world, learners with special needs experience difficulties in learning and have traditionally been marginalized within or excluded from schools. This has led to numerous campaigns and advocacy on the adoption of integration. Integration promotes education for all learners in mainstream schools. Teachers play a critical role in the realization of this process. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which teachers’ training influence their preparedness in integrating learners with special needs to regular public primary schools in Masaba South Sub- County of Kisii County in Kenya. The independent variable that guided the study were teachers’, teachers’ training while the dependent variable was integration of learners with special needs. The target population comprised of 784 teachers in the 82 public primary schools in Masaba South Sub County. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 25 schools which were used in the study. A sample of 385 teachers that were selected through multi-staged sampling participated in the study. The study used questionnaire instruments for collecting data. Piloting was carried out in one school that did not finally participate in the study to establish validity and reliability of research instruments. The study adopted survey research design to investigate the study variables. A research approach that involved quantitative in nature was used in analyzing data. The findings of the study were that teachers’ training and support from school administration influence integration. Teachers should be trained in SNE, and the school environment should meet the needs of learners with special needs. It therefore recommended that the government of Kenya through the ministry of education should make efforts to allocate more funds for training of teachers for special education under integrated education to enable teachers to be able to handle learners with special needs.