Educational integration of children with disabilities in schools in the Midlands Region of Zimbabwe

Abstract

Primary school heads' and teachers' experiences and perceptions of the education of children with disabilities were examined to determine their attitudes towards disability and integration. One hundred and twenty-six primary school heads and teachers from the Midlands Region participated in this study. A questionnaire was used as the main data collection tool and descriptive statistics were mainly used to analyse the data. Zubin’s (1939) nomographs for statistical significance of differences between percentages were used. Two hundred and sixty three of the participants (52%) displayed favourable attitudes towards disability and integration of children with disabilities into regular schools. Pertaining to individual disabilities, physical and visual disabilities were considered more acceptable for integration while intellectual and hearing disabilities were considered less acceptable for integration. Teachers and heads involved in structured integration displayed more positive attitudes towards disability and integration than those who have self-integrated children. Further, male teachers' and heads' attitudes towards disability and integration were not significantly different from those of female teachers and heads. Finally, it was recommended that future studies should use more vigorous research designs to ascertain correlative and causal relationships between and or among variables.