INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: LEARNERS WITH DISABILITIES AND SPECIAL EDUCATION NEEDS IN GHANA

This paper presents findings on a study commissioned by the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) and the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) Programme to assess, among other things, the knowledge level and extent of compliance of colleges of education (CoEs) and public basic schools with the inclusive education (IE) policy in Ghana. Based on interviews with college principals and assessments of the college environment using a scoring rubric, it is evident that colleges are making efforts to be compliant with IE policy in Ghana. While altering existing infrastructure requires resources, there is the need for colleges to prioritise resource allocation if they are to increase their level of compliance with the national IE policy. The study revealed that while colleges of education are making efforts to be IE compliant, much of the efforts have concentrated on student teachers and tutors. In their teacher training programmes prospective teachers have been prepared to identify and teach students with special education needs (SEN) in their classrooms. However, observations of tutor lessons suggest that little is done in terms of classroom setting to account for student teachers with and without SEN. In many instances, there was no statistically significant differences between teaching practice and non-teaching practice schools with respect to IE issues discussed. There is also a general lack of data on students with SEN at both CoEs and basic schools, even though students with SEN attend these institutions. The lack of data makes it difficult to estimate the prevalence of students with SEN across basic schools and CoEs.