Preservice teachers’ attitude and efficacy towards inclusive education in Nigeria: A case study of pre-service Science Education students in university of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Science Education Department, Federal University of Technology, Minna
Abstract
In the actualization of sustainable development goals, teachers’ positive attitude towards the
implementation of inclusive education in their classrooms becomes essential. Hence, this study
investigated pre-service teachers’ attitudes and efficacy towards inclusive education among
pre-service science education students in the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The study adopted
descriptive research of the survey type and a sample of 297 respondents were involved. Three
research questions and two hypotheses were raised to guide this study. The research
instrument entitled Questionnaire on students’ attitude towards inclusive education adapted
from Kielblock (2018) was utilized in gathering data for the study. The reliability of the
instrument was observed to be 0.74 using PPMC statistics. The research questions were
answered using frequency count and percentages while hypotheses were tested using t-test
statistics at a 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study revealed that the majority
(72.1%) of the respondents are aware of inclusive education policy in Nigeria. Also, 59.9% of
the respondents held a negative attitude towards inclusive education while 47.5% of them
have low efficacy towards teaching in an inclusive classroom. Furthermore, it was revealed
that gender does not significantly influence students’ attitudes and efficacy towards inclusive
education. It was therefore recommended that efforts should be intensified in teacher
education programmes to impact knowledge on inclusive education among pre-service
teachers as this may likely, strengthen their attitude and efficacy towards inclusion.
Description
Keywords
Pre-service Teachers, Inclusive Education, Attitude, Efficacy, Science Education
Citation
Imam, B. T. , Sulaiman, M. M., & Alabi, H. I. (2021): Preservice teachers’ attitude and efficacy towards inclusive education in Nigeria: A case study of pre-service Science Education students in university of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. Journal of Science, Technology and Mathematics Education. 17(3); 122-132