School Environment and Inclusive Education of Learners with Visual Impairment in Secondary Schools: A Case of Selected Secondary Schools in Gulu City, Uganda
Loading...
Date
2024
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Gulu University
Abstract
This study examined the influence of ‘the school environment on inclusive education for learners with visual impairment in Gulu City, a case of Bar-edge-Layibi Division.The objectives of this study as mentioned below. i) To assess the status of the school environment for inclusive secondary schools in Gulu city for people with visual impairment, ii) To examine the level of inclusive education for visually impaired learners in secondary schools in Gulu city and iii) To establish the relationship between school environment and inclusive education of learners with visual impairment. This study consisted of all the teachers in selected secondary schools in Gulu City, all head teachers in selected secondary schools in Bar-edge Layibi division Gulu City, all learners in selected secondary schools in Bar-edge Layibi Gulu City, all heads of department special needs in secondary schools in Bar-edge Layibi division Gulu City and visually impaired learners. Data was collected using four methods namely; individual in-depth interviews, self-administered questionnaires, and document analysis were used to gather the information required for this research. The findings regarding the physical environment indicated that it was suitable for promoting Inclusive Education. Furthermore, Leven's test revealed that there was no significant variation in the condition of the physical learning environment.. Implying therefore that both schools have made visible efforts to ensure students with visual impairments are accommodated in the school environment. Similarly, the social learning environment was a significant factor in determining Inclusive education for learners with visual impairment with a t-test value (t = 0.094, p> 0.05). The findings indicated that there were no notable disparities in the state of the social learning environment within schools. On the level of inclusion among the visually impaired learners, Study findings revealed that the level of inclusion of learners with visual impairment was not significantly different in the two inclusive schools (p<0.01), in terms of context. While the values were statistically significant for resources and the process of Inclusion. Implying therefore that resources are important for learners with visual Impairment. On the relationship between school environment and inclusive education, the study findings revealed that there is a strong statistically significant correlation between School Environment (Physical and social) and Inclusive Education (Context, Resource & Process). In conclusion, the study therefore concludes that the success of Inclusion for Learners with Visual Impairment is dependent on the learning environment (Physical and social). Therefore, the school environment (Physical and Social) is important antecedent for Inclusive Education. We recommend that Government policymakers and the school system uphold Inclusive Education virtues (Context, Resources, and Process) to enhance learning for all learners besides, the Government should invest heavily in a social learning Environment which was found to be a strong predictor of Inclusive Education.