A Research Proposal

on
Knowledge, Concerns and Attitudes of
Teachers Concerning Inclusive Education in
West Bengal

Submitted By
IMRAN ALI SAHAJI
M.A. (Education), B.Ed., UGC-NET,WB SET
Introduction:
Inclusive education as an approach seeks to address the learning needs of all children
even if they differ from each other in their styles and pace of learning. It is about celebrating
diversity and changing the rigid school system in order to meet the needs of all children.
Inclusive education is a process of increasing the participation of all students in school including
those with disabilities (Ainscow, 2000). It is not about closing down an unacceptable system of
segregated provisions and dumping these pupils in an unchanged mainstream system. It is not
about providing access in to mainstream school for pupils who have previously been excluded.
But it is about restructuring the culture, policies and practices in schools so that these respond to
the diversity of students. The range of challenges confronting the school system while including
children with diverse abilities and from diverse backgrounds has to be met by creating child
centered pedagogy capable of successfully educating all children.
Inclusion is the practice of establishing heterogeneous classrooms in neighbourhood
schools, where every child strives to accomplish individual goals while fully participating in
social and academic activities. This often requires modifying the curricula and the environment
in order to ensure the success and attainability of these goals (Lipsky& Gartner, 1996; Oremland,
Flynn, &Kieff, 2002).
Teachers' sentiments, beliefs, attitudes, values, professional competence are known to
influence their teaching practices and management strategies in the classroom, and therefore, to
directly influence students' learning. In particular, a teacher's beliefs and knowledge about the
learning capacity of children with disabilities may determine the extent to which the teacher is
willing to make adjustment to teaching methods, curriculum, or classroom organization, or
indeed whether he or she even recognizes that some students in the class do have special needs.
It is argued that successful inclusion is possible when teachers display reasonably positive and
accepting attitudes towards children with disabilities and to the basic principles of inclusion.
With the recent adoption of inclusive models, the term diversity broadens to include
children with varied abilities, particularly those with disabilities. Both general and special
educators are challenged by the idea of including students with disabilities into the general
curriculum. Often, it is difficult for them to envision how to teach and meet the needs of the
student who is performing at a different level than the other students in the class. Physical
proximity is not enough to ensure a student's active participation and progress in an inclusive
classroom. Teachers need to know what accommodations and adaptations are successful for
students with special needs. As general and special education teachers share responsibility for
educating children with disabilities, they should possess knowledge of different disability types,
characteristics of disabilities, learning styles, instructional techniques or methods, problem
behaviour management etc. They must have the skills necessary to modify educational programs
to effectively meet the needs of individual student. According to Opdal et al. (2001), teachers
require knowledge and skills that empower them rather than provide them with comprehensive
information about each disability. In their opinions, anxiety towards teaching children with
disabilities is often linked to insufficient skills, time and support services.
Review of Literature:
Schumm& Vaughn (1995) observed that increasing numbers of children with special needs are
being served in regular classrooms, which is dramatically changing the way special education
services are being provided in schools. They stressed that this development must be addressed in
pre-service teacher education programs so that the next generation of educators will be better
prepared to work more efficiently and effectively.
Gately& Hammer (2005) conducted an exploratory case study of secondary special education
pre-service teachers in order to planteacher preparation experiences that met the special
education needs in the general education classroom. The researchers paired general education
teachers with pre-service teachers and pre-service methods faculty. The results of survey and
discussions of the participants revealed that the methods classes for the pre-service special
educators were not addressing critical issues of special education, knowledge of best practices
for special education was not adequately addressed, and pre-service teachers as well as the
method faculty needed to learn effective content, practices, curriculum design, and technology
skills.
The results of a study conducted by Adebomi& Dada (2007) revealed that pre-service
teachers have positive perception on their level of preparedness with respect to special education
courses they are exposed to. A significant difference was observed between the preservice
teachers in the university and those in the colleges of education in their level of preparedness.
Based on this finding, it was recommended that teacher training institutions should incorporate
the concept of inclusion as part of their curriculum and also the regular pre-service teachers
should be given structured opportunities to experience inclusive education in practice during
their teaching practice exercise.
Gaad& Khan (2007) found that teachers do not have enough knowledge and training to address
the needs of students in integrated settings. Participants considered their limited knowledge to
have an influence on their attitudes, suggesting that lack of knowledge may be an attitudinal
barrier, as well as a practical barrier, to the implementation of inclusion.
Philpott et al. (2011) suggested a number of strategies that regular school teachers would need
to accommodate students with disabilities in the regular classroom environment. These include
peer tutoring, cooperative learning, mastery learning and applied behavior analysis. The
researchers also suggested that regular classroom teachers are required to use instructional
strategies such as multi-level instruction, differentiated instruction, activity based learning and
individualized and adaptive instruction to facilitate special needs students’ learning. Thus a new
and extended body of knowledge and skills would be required of all regular school teachers if
inclusive education programs were to be implemented successfully.
Mukhopadhyay et al. (2009) conducted a study on teacher trainees’ level of preparedness for
inclusive education in Botswana schools. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence
of teacher preparation programmes on teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion, and perceived
preparedness as well as self-efficacy in inclusive settings. Qualitative research method was used
to explore how teachers are prepared for inclusive education in Botswana. Eighteen final year
special education student teachers were involved in two focus group discussions. Findings of this
study revealed that special education student-teachers were not prepared to meet the learning
needs of diverse categories of learners with disabilities in inclusive settings. The participants of
this study appeared to be concerned about the limited knowledge on various aspects of meeting
the learning needs of various categories of students with disabilities. Participants also indicated
that they lack skills required for inclusive classroom setting. Favourable attitude towards learners
with disabilities plays an important role in the implementation of inclusive education.
Unfortunately, many student teachers failed to demonstrate favourable attitude and complained
about the deficit of the students.
In the study ‘Inclusive education in India: are the teachers prepared?’ Das et al. (2013)
examined the current skill level of regular primary and secondary school teachers in Delhi, India
in order to teach students with disabilities in inclusive education settings. A total of 223 primary
school teachers and 130 secondary school teachers were surveyed using a two-part questionnaire.
Part-one of the questionnaire collected background information of the respondents. Part-two was
a Likert scale which required the teachers to indicate their perceived current skill levels on a list
of competencies needed to implement inclusion. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics
and t-tests. The major findings were that nearly 70% of the regular school teachers had neither
received training in special education nor had any experience teaching students with disabilities.
Further, 87% of the teachers did not have access to support services in their classrooms. Finally,
although both primary and secondary school teachers rated themselves as having limited or low
competence for working with students with disabilities, there was no statistically significant
difference between their perceived skill levels.
Purpose of the study undertaken by Sharma et al. (2015) was to determine the factors that
predicted participants’ intention to include children with additional learning needs in their
classrooms at two stages of the project: one prior to participants completing a course of inclusive
education and the other after they had completed the course. The high degree of concerns of pre-
service teachers noted at both stages of the course was found to be worrisome, with participants
being mainly concerned about the lack of resources for inclusive education.
Knowledge Gap:
From the above review of literature it is clear that many researchers have done their
researches on inclusive education and children with special need even some research have been
conducted on knowledge, attitudes and concerns of teachers working in special schools towards
inclusive education but no research has been done on the attitudes, knowledge and concerns of
secondary school teachers working in general schools. Researcher was also unable to find any
such research done in West Bengal.
Statement of the Problem:
“Knowledge, Concerns and Attitudes of Teachers Concerning Inclusive Education in
West Bengal”
Operational Definitions of the Terms Used:
The following terms have been operationalized for the purpose of present study:
Knowledge: In the present study the term ‘knowledge’ includes information, expertise, skills &
understanding of subjects necessary for teachers to effectively deal with and educate children
with disabilities within inclusive settings.
Concerns: In the present study, ‘concern’ refers to level of discomfort of teachers when
including children with disabilities in regular classrooms. The term ‘concerns’ include four
factors i.e. concerns about resources, concerns about acceptance, concerns about academic
standards, and concerns about workloads of teachers about/towards students with disabilities and
inclusive education.
Attitudes: In the present study, the term refers to attitudes of teachers towards factor themes i.e.
a) advantages and disadvantages of inclusive education b) professional issues regarding inclusive
education c) philosophical issues regarding inclusive education, and d) logistical concerns of
inclusive education.
Teachers: The term ‘teachers’ means secondary teachers teaching in regular West Bengal state
aided schools designated as inclusive schools.
Inclusion: In the present study ‘inclusion’ refers to the acceptance, accommodations and
education of students with disabilities in common classrooms. An inclusive classroom
accommodates pupils' diversity and facilitates the learning of all children.
Objectives of the Study:
The study has been planned with the following objectives:
[1] To assess the knowledge of teachers about inclusion.
[2] To identify the degree of concerns of teachers towards inclusion.
[3] To study the attitudes of teachers towards inclusion.
[4] To find relationship between (a) knowledge (b) concerns and (c) attitudes of teachers
towards inclusion.
[5] To find the relationship between (a) knowledge (b) concerns and (c) attitudes of teachers
towards inclusion and their demographic and professional attributes.
[6] To find out the differentials in (a) knowledge (b) concerns and (c) attitudes of teachers
towards inclusion due to variation in age.
 [7] To study the differentials in (a) knowledge (b)concerns and (c) attitudes of teachers
towards inclusion in relation to their educational qualifications.
[8] To study the differentials in (a) knowledge (b) concerns and (c) attitudes of teachers
towards inclusion in relation to their teaching experience.
[9] To study the differentials in (a) knowledge (b) concerns and (c) attitudes of teachers
towards inclusion in relation to the nature of teachers’ training course.
Hypotheses:
In order to attain the objectives of the study, the following hypotheses have been formulated:

[1] There exists a significant relationship between (a) knowledge (b) concerns and (c)
attitude of the teachers towards inclusion.
[2] There exists a significant relationship between (a) knowledge (b) concerns and (c)
attitude of the teachers towards inclusion and their demographic and professional
attributes.
[3] Younger teachers will have (a) good knowledge (b) few concerns and (c) more positive
attitudes towards inclusion as compared to older teachers.
[4] Highly qualified teachers will have (a) good knowledge (b) few concerns and (c) more
positive attitudes towards inclusion as compared to less qualified teachers.
[5] Teachers having more teaching experience will have (a) good knowledge (b) few
concerns and (c) more positive attitudes towards inclusion as compared to the teachers
having less teaching experience.
[6] Teachers who have done special teachers’ training course will have (a) good knowledge
(b) few concerns and (c) more positive attitude towards inclusion as compared to teachers
who have done general teachers’ training course.
Methodology of the Study:
Method: Descriptive survey method will be used in present study.
Population: The proposed study will include all the secondary school teachers of West Bengal
as population.
Sample:Around 600 teachers will be selected from 100 secondary schools under WBBSE as
sample of the proposed study.
Sampling Techniques: 1) Simple Random Sampling method will be used for selecting the
secondary schools of WBBSE. 2) Convenient Sampling method will be used for selecting the
teachers.
Tools: Standardized scale will be used as tool for find out the attitudes, knowledge and concerns
of the secondary school teachers under WBBSE.
Statistics: Appropriate Statistics will be used for the present study.
Data Analysis and Interpretation: Data analysis and interpretation will be done on the basis of
the data.

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