School based factors influencing implementation of special needs education curriculum in special needs units in public primary schools in Kitui west sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

This study was carried out in Special Needs Units (SNUs) affiliated to public primary schools in Kitui - West sub county, Kenya. The study sought to establish some school based factors that could influence the implementation of Special Needs Education (SNE) curriculum in a bid to produce good outcomes and achievements for learners with special needs. In the study four factors that is; learning resources, the school physical environment, regular learners’ opinions and professional training of the teachers of SNE were identified and used to form the four objectives of this study. The objectives included; to establish the influence of learning resources on the implementation of SNE curriculum, to examine the influence of school physical environment on the implementation of SNE curriculum, to find out the influence of regular learner opinions in learning together with learners with SNE on the implementation of SNE curriculum and to determine the influence of professional training of teachers of SNE. The study was done based on the Input- Output Process theory by (Mc Donwell & Oakes, 1987) and the descriptive exploratory research design method was used to establish the influence of the factors being studied on educational implementation. The census sampling method, a technique that surveys all members of the population was applied getting participants who provided information in respect to objectives in which case all the 30 special needs education teachers in the 12 (twelve) SNUs were targeted. Three sets of instruments namely; the interview guide, checklist and observation schedule were used to collect data that was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data through tables, pie charts and bar graphs while qualitative data was organized into themes and explanations based on the study objectives and presented in narrative forms. Findings from the study revealed that; most of the required learning resources pertaining to SNE were either unavailable, inadequate or scanty in most of the cases while others were found obsolete and insignificant to the requirements of the new curriculum, the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) that came under use in 2017. Most of the schools’ physical environments lacked structures necessary for supporting curriculum implementation in SNE, barely with very little or no modifications made to make them barrier free, conducive and learner friendly. Opinions from the regular learners about learners with SNE depicted scenarios of isolation, discrimination and negativity to inclusive learning practices which were detrimental to SNE curriculum implementation. There was a deficiency of professional skill training amongst tutors of special needs education that resulted to ineffective, poor curriculum implementation procedures and methodologies that were antagonistic to learners’ academic achievements and outcomes. Among some of the recommendations and suggestions of the study were; that different stakeholders in education, people of good will and charitable organizations should support the sourcing and provision of learning materials in aid of SNE, that some of the Acts and provisions in Kenya regarding disability should be reviewed and enacted when planning learning environments and that the Ministry of Education should devise sensitization programs on inclusive practices to create disability awareness and accommodative practices among regular learners and the enhancement of teacher professional training in SNE considered.