CONCEPTS AND ISSUES ON INCLUSIVE EDUCATION BY THE TEACHERS AT FRANCISCO ORINGO SR. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Abstract

This study determined the perception of the teachers at Francisco Oringo Sr. Elementary School on the concepts and issues of inclusive education which served as the basis in formulating an intervention plan. Using descriptive and quantitative methods, thirty six respondents were asked to fill out a three-part questionnaire that determined their sociodemographic profiles (age, gender, educational attainment, number of years in teaching, number of years in teaching students with disabilities, and seminars/trainings attended related to special education), level of implementation of the inclusive education in teaching, relationship between the respondents’ identified profiles and their perception on the implementation of inclusive education in teaching, and challenges faced by the teachers in inclusive education. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to aid in the analysis and interpretation of the data that were gathered. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significance level. Descriptive statistics including rank, frequencies, and percentage were used to describe the profile of the respondents. For the level of implementation on inclusive education, weighted mean was used. For challenges faced in an inclusive class, each item was tallied separately. Hence, only frequencies and percentages were used. On the relationship of profile and perception, the Chi-Square test was used. Results revealed that the respondents generally agreed with the statements related to inclusive education, with 12 of the 20 statements on the positive side. It also revealed that there was no significant relationship in each of the six demographic profiles identified and the perception of the respondents on the concepts and issues on inclusive education in teaching. Finally, some challenges in inclusive education were revealed. It includes lack of special education teachers, facilities for special care, special education classes and appropriate resources.