Implementing inclusive education in the Philippines: College teacher experiences with deaf students

Inclusive education aims to mainstream students with special needs in a flexible learning environment for acquiring quality education that optimises their potential for holistic development. This goal depends upon teachers who can attain inclusivity in the educational system by shaping positive values, providing knowledge, and developing the skills of exceptional students to cope with life's challenges. Adopting this perspective, this study documents the experiences of forty-three college teachers with deaf students in inclusive classes, in one higher education institution in the Philippines. The descriptive phenomenological approach of Colaizzi's coding and categorising of the participants' responses, obtained from in-depth, individual face-to-face and online interviews elucidates four themes that illuminate the experiences of participants. These themes are conveyed as challenging for harnessing their creative/innovative minds to develop teaching tools for effective quality education, opportunity to shape a brighter future of deaf students, and undertake inspiring teaching. The highlighted themes are attributes that can pave the way for more effective inclusive education in tertiary institutions in the Philippines.