Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to compare the perceptions of three groups of
parents; parents with special needs children in regular schools (n=16), parents with
special needs children in special schools (n=16) and parents with special needs
children not enrolled in either regular or special schools (n =18) towards inclusion in
Capricorn District. Their perceptions were sought with regards to inclusion in regular
schools, general education teacher’s attitude and sociocultural constraints on
inclusion. Causal comparative and quantitative design inclusive of administration of
structured questionnaire was adopted for this study. From the basic descriptive and
inferential statistics [ANOVA and Tukey (HSD) test], there was a significant
difference (p < 0.05) in perceptions among the three groups on 59% and 46% of the
statements addressing inclusion in regular schools and sociocultural considerations
respectively. No significant difference was observed (p > 0.05) on 76% of the
statements on teachers’ attitude. Despite certain concerns, the perceptions of
parents with SN children in RS (Group 1) were largely in favour of inclusion as
opposed to parents with SN children in SS (Group 2) and parents with SN children
not enrolled in either RS or SS (Group 3). There was a general consensus by all 3
groups of parents on the negative effects of general education teachers’ attitudes on
inclusion. The results further suggested that the sociocultural paradigm as envisaged
by parents from Group 3 influenced not only their expectations but also those of
others (children without SN, teachers and the community at large) about children
with SN. Against this backdrop, a more detailed investigation on the influence of
culture on parents’ perception of inclusion is recommended.
