Presentación y discusión de los resultados

Research Question 3.1 What kinds of resources do Jordanian teachers report as

currently existing in schools to support inclusive education? And what additional types of resources do teachers need?

The teachers were also asked to complete the following statement:

1. The most important resource needed for successful inclusion in our school is…

This question was included to further explore not only the availability of resources but what teachers saw as critical for successful inclusive education. The responses to the open- ended question revealed that resources were very limited. This was seen as not only applying to funding, but also to the availability of teachers’ aides and collaboration between

professionals and education stakeholders. It is interesting to note that 185 of the 341 teachers responded to this question: almost double the number who responded with respect to teacher preparations and almost triple the number who answered the open-ended questions on policy. This would then seem to be an area of considerable concern for them. All 185 teachers stated that funding, special programs and school accessibility are the most needed, of those 91 were from the general education sector and 94 from the special education sector.

Additional funding was seen as an obvious need as a female teacher from the special education stated that: “We need money support, this is the most needed.” This was also linked to accessibility. For example, a female teacher from the general education sector said:

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“Our school is too old, and it is not accessible even for students without disabilities, funding is the first thing.”

Interestingly a number of teachers pointed to the need for greater collaboration and awareness between students with and without disabilities. A female teacher from the special education sector provided an interesting insight when she said that: “We need money,

collaboration, and awareness between students without disabilities and community.”

Community awareness and other students’ understanding the impact of disability seems to be important. Further, another female teacher from the special education sector added: “beside

funding, collaboration with professionals and educational stakeholders.”

Other teachers pointed to the importance of ongoing professional development. A female teacher stated that: “We do not have any workshops or training during our

employment. I usually depend on my own experience from previous students that I have taught.”

In addition, the need for greater collaboration between professionals and educational stakeholders as well as teachers was also raised by teachers. Twelve teachers cited

collaboration as an important resource for successful inclusive education. Of those teachers, seven were from the general education sector and five from the special education sector. Interestingly, factors for successful inclusive education beside collaboration and awareness, such as sharing experiences between teachers, were found to be important. A female teacher from the special education sector stated that: “successful inclusion needs funding, training,

and collaboration with professionals as well as teachers, because it is really important to share ideas and learn from each other.”

Finally, collaboration with professionals was found also to be a factor from general education teachers’ perspectives. A male teacher from the general education sector indicated that “I know nothing about inclusive education, but I think through collaboration and

funding, I can learn from other teachers.”

The findings from teachers’ perceptions in the open-ended question showed that there was a lack of appropriate funding, training and collaboration which they considered to be

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very necessary factors for improving inclusive education in Jordan. Such factors will need well-constructed planning to accommodate all students’ learning goals.

Thus, schools in Jordan remain inaccessible and require additional funding. However, schools need not only to be accessible, but the environment must be equipped with all

necessary resources to meet all students’ learning goals. Furthermore, it should be understood that resources are not only about money, but also about teachers’ professional development.

Teacher Attitudes

Research Question 5.1 Is there a relationship between teacher attitudes towards

inclusive education and teachers’ characteristics? (gender, age, schools’ education (primary and secondary), special and general education teachers, employment place, teachers’ level of qualification, teachers’ experience and the location of the school)?

No significant differences were found between teacher attitudes and the demographic variables.

Table 8.3:

Correlations Between the Attitudes Subscale and Experience Teaching Types of Disabilities

Attitude Score D9_1 - How many students with Physical Disabilities have you taught in your

career? .155

**

D9_2 - How many students with Intellectual Disabilities have you taught in your

career? .126

*

D9_3 - How many students with Sensory Disabilities have you taught in your

career? .057

D9_4 - How many students with Behavioural Disabilities have you taught in your

career? .177

**

D9_5 - How many students with Emotional Disabilities have you taught in your

career? .090

D9_6 - How many students with Multiple Disabilities have you taught in your

career? .120

*

**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

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As indicated in Table 8.3, the teachers were asked a number of questions about the level of experience (i.e., taught zero students with disabilities, one to five students with disabilities, six to 10 students with disabilities) with disabilities of different types and severity of disability .The Spearman’s correlations between the response to the questions about the level of experience with students with disabilities of different types and severities and attitudes towards inclusive education are shown in Table 8.3 There are significant positive correlations between attitude and number of students taught with Physical (r = .155), Intellectual (r = .126), Behavioural (r = .177), and Multiple Disabilities (r = .120). Teachers who have taught a large number of students with behavioural disabilities have the most favourable attitude towards inclusive education.

Teacher Knowledge

Research Question 5.1 What knowledge and skills related to inclusive education for

students with disabilities do Jordanian teachers report that they have currently? And what would improve their knowledge?

A Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted for the associations between teachers’ age groups and teacher knowledge of how to teach students with disabilities using the subscale score derived from the factor analysis. Significant differences were found (χ2 = 3, 13.931, p = .003). Pairwise comparisons were conducted using the Mann-Whitney test and found that teachers in the more-than-50-years-of-age group saw themselves as having a higher level of knowledge to teach students with disabilities than did the other age groups.

Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted for the associations between the knowledge scale and the remaining demographic variables. The following significant associations were found: female school teachers reported higher knowledge on how to teach students with disabilities (Mdn = 3.71) than male school teachers (Mdn = 3.57), U = 11442, p = .032); teachers employed in the special education sector (Mdn = 3.86) than those in the general education sector (Mdn = 3.29), U = 8742.5, p <.001), and those who work in city areas

reported higher knowledge (Mdn = 3.71) than those in rural areas (Mdn = 3.57), U = 11559, p = .003). No significant differences were found between primary and secondary school

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Research Question 5.2 What is the relationship between teacher knowledge towards

inclusive education and teachers’ characteristics (gender, age, schools’ education (primary and secondary), special and general education teachers, employment place, teachers’ level of qualification, teachers’ experience and the location of the school)

Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted for the associations between the knowledge scale and the two groups of teachers. As would be expected, significant difference were found as special education teachers reported higher knowledge on how teach students with disabilities (Mdn = 3.86) than general education teachers (Mdn = 3.29), U = 8897, p <.001).

Table 8.4:

Mean Rank for Special and General Education Teachers of Necessary Knowledge to Teach Students with Disabilities

Ranking General education teachers Special education teachers

1 Teacher education course Mean Rank = 2.45

Experience teaching students with disabilities

Mean Rank = 2.87 2 Professional development whilst I have

been a teacher Mean Rank= 2.83

Professional development whilst I have been a teacher

Mean Rank= 2.90 3 Experience teaching students with

disabilities

Mean Rank = 3.04

Teacher education course Mean Rank = 3.04

4 Reading about how to teach students with disabilities

Mean Rank= 3.46

Reading about how to teach students with disabilities Mean Rank= 3.08 5 Learning from a more experienced

teacher

Mean Rank = 3.49

Learning from a more experienced teacher Mean Rank = 3.25 W .385 .387 Sig. Level _{.000 .000} Sample Size _{183 158}

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The teachers were also asked to rank from most to least important, what has been helpful in giving them the necessary knowledge to teach students with disabilities in their classrooms. It was determined that Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance provided the most useful technique for analysis since it enables examination of consistency of the ranking given by teachers in each group.

Whilst special and general education teachers were consistent in their ranking within their group they differed between the groups. Interestingly, teacher education course was ranked first by the general education teachers, but third by the special education teachers who saw experience teaching students with disabilities as most important, whilst the general education teachers rated that third. However, ‘professional development whilst I have been a teacher’, ‘reading about how to teach students with disabilities’ and ‘learning from a more experienced teacher’ were ranked similarly.

8.6.1 Teachers’ comments on the open-ended questions about their knowledge about