A Case Study of Preschool Teachers' Pedagogical Behaviors and Attitudes Toward Children with Disabilities

Drawing on the Whole Schooling principles and Pierre Bourdieu's sociological concepts of habitus, capital and field, this qualitative case study explored and analysed preschool teachers' pedagogical behaviors and attitudes toward children with disabilities in three rural kindergartens in the Kpando district of Ghana. The study focused specifically on the teachers' verbal and non-verbal behaviors enacted through their pedagogical practices and the environment in which they work. A Bourdieuian analysis of data generated through observation and interviews demonstrated that the teachers worked in a constrained education field with limited resources to support children's learning. While the teachers claimed that they value children with disabilities, their verbal and non-verbal behaviors enacted through their pedagogical practices were inconsistent with their claim of valuing children with disabilities. The findings further pointed to cultural beliefs as contributing to the ways the teachers conceptualized and delivered pedagogy as normalized practices. The discussion of the results raised implications for improved resources and the need to urgently support teachers to transform entrenched social and cultural conceptions of disability and pedagogy to enhance inclusive practice in Ghanaian preschools that include children with disabilities.