Mathematics teachers' usage of inclusive instructional activities in some special schools in Ibadan, Oyo State

Abstract

Inclusive Education (IE) is a policy and principle aimed at educating students with disabilities and their counterparts who are without disabilities within the same classroom. It brings all students together in one classroom and community, regardless of their strengths or weaknesses in any area, and seeks to maximise the potential of all students. It is one of the most effective ways of promoting an inclusive and tolerant society. It is known that 73 million children of primary school age were out of school in 2010, this was lower than over 110 million out-of-school children in the mid-1990s, according to new estimates by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). This study, therefore, was carried out to investigate the level and extent of mathematics teacher usage of inclusive instructional activities in their teaching in some special schools in Ibadan, Oyo State, with the objective of catering for students with special educational needs. The respondents were 11 mathematics teachers from four purposively selected junior secondary schools that offer inclusive education for students with and without disabilities. The results reveal that mathematics teachers do not use inclusive instructional activities. The awareness and level of usage (2.16) was low. There is a significant difference in the utilisation of instructional activities of male and female mathematics teachers (t = 4.564; p< 0.05), with female teachers having the higher usage of instructional activities. The study, therefore, recommends among others, that mathematics teachers should be trained to use inclusive instructional activities that incorporate the inclusive education.