The Attitudes of Teachers and Principals of Basic Schools Towards Mainstreaming Handicapped Students in General Education

This study aimed at identifying the attitudes of teachers and principals of basic schools towards pupils who have audio, visual or motor disabilities at regular schools in general education. The study tried to answer the following questions: " what are the attitudes of teachers and principals of basic schools towards inclusion of pupils with audiovisual or motor disability in general education '? The study included the following hypotheses : 1- There are no statistical significant differences at the (α = 0.05 ) in the attitudes of teachers and principals of basic schools towards pupils with audio visual or motor disabilities at regular schools in general education due to sex ( male / female ) 2- There are no statistical significant differences , at the 0.05 ) in the attitudes of teachers and principals of basic schools towards pupils with audio , visual or motor disabilities at regular schools in general education due to experience ( 1-5 ) years , ( 5-10 ) ( 10 or more ) 3- There are no statistical significant differences , at the (α = 0.05 ) in the attitudes of teachers and principals of basic schools in general education due to academic qualification ( diploma , bachelor + diploma ) 4- There are no statistical significant. differences , at .( α = 0,05 ) in the attitudes of teachers and principals of basic schools towards pupils with audio , visual or motor disabilities at regular schools in general education due to locality of residence ( village , city ) 5- There are no significant differences at (α = 0.05 ) in the attitudes of teachers and principals of basic schools towards pupils who have audio , visual or motor disabilities at regular schools in general education due to the current job ( teacher / principal ). 6- There are no statistical significant differences at (α = 0.05 ) in the attitudes of teachers and principals of basic schools towards pupils with audio , visual or motor disabilities at regular schools in general education due to specialization ( scientific or litrary ). The study included a question about the order of the three types of disabilities regarding the priority to inclusion The population of the study was consisted of all basic schools in the Government of Nablus , totalling 106 schools ( in the basic stage only ) and the total number of teachers was 1251 (- both males-and females ') while the total number of principals was 106 ( both males and females ). The sample included 20% of the population of the study , the number of teachers ( male and female ) was2-48 and of principals ( male and female ) 22. Re-administering the questionnaire , the researcher retrieved 227 questionnaires. For the sake of realization of the purposes of the questionnaire , the researcher prepared a questionnaire after reviewing the educational literature in the domain of care and rehabilitation of the disabled . The questionnaire included three dimensions ( psychological , Social , academic ) each dimension consists of tell items. In statistical analysis , the researcher used the following : a) Arithmetic means and percentages b) Independent -test c) One-way analysis of variance ( ANOVA ) d) The average of order in ranking the disabilities The results of the study showed : I- the attitudes of teachers and principals of schools were fairly positive towards inclusion of audio , visual or motor disabled in general education. 2- Results showed that motor disabilities held the first rank in priorities to inclusion , followed by audio disability and visual disability 3- Results showed that there were no statistical significant differences at (α = 0.05 ) in the attitudes of teachers and principals of basic schools regarding the inclusion of motor ,audio disables at the general education due to sex , job , experience , specialization , residence and qualification Recommendations the necessity to initiate legislations and laws by the responsible authorities .These legislations should guarantee the principle of equality of opportunity for handicapped in elementary, secondary and university education. 2- Ministry of Education should , at once , adopt the comprehensive education approach which leads the inclusion of handicapped children to normal schools , unless there are anavoidable reasons that do not allow such inclusion to take place. 3- The study recommends the immediate mainstreaming of simple and intermediate cases , and to transfer the centers. 4- The complicated cases to specialized required parts in need for amendments and adding the school-buildings , to enable the handicapped to get into / out of it and to use the available facilities easily. 5- The need to conduct similar studies and researching that takes into account the new variables. Such studies should cover all districts in the West bank and Gaza strip.