Activity 3.7 Inclusivity challenges

Part 1: Thinking about your context

Identify the three challenges which are most significant in your own context and with one idea about how to tackle each one.

·        Cultural orientation and disposition towards special needs children. The myth surrounding the birth of a special needs child sometimes causes negative attitudes from parents and pupils that are not disabled. Some parents and members of the society have negative attitudes towards the special needs children.  A lot of these special needs children are discriminated against by the society at large: by not wanting them to mix up with regular children in the classroom, thereby stigmatizing them, and saying they are being punished by the “gods” because of their parents or forefathers’ wrongdoing.

There is the need for increasing campaigns to create awareness and enlighten parents on the need to send their children with one form of disability or the other to school.

·        Inadequate funding by the Federal Government provisions for children with special needs to be inadequate.  The 2019 budget for education in Nigeria is below the 15 per cent to 20 per cent minimum recommended for developing countries by UNESCO. The funding by the Federal Government for regular schools is not enough, not to talk of inclusive education which requires special skills, infrastructure and instructional materials. Cortiella (2009) asserts that a major constraint is serious shortage of educational resources, inadequate facilities and modern teaching materials.

·        Most of the school structures in Nigeria make mobility difficult for these special needs pupils and students. The lame cannot move around easily because the structures are not lame compliant.

Which of the challenges you have listed require input from specialists?

The lame which cannot move around easily because the structures in the school are not lame compliant can be supported with special mobility aids by specialists.

For each of these, write down in your study notebook two or three things that a class teacher could do to support those children if specialist help was not available?

In the absence of specialist help for the physically disabled, because of mutual respect between the children and their teachers, a roaster of movement support can be developed participatorily by the children in the same class, with input from the teacher. This movement support mechanism will contain range of support depending on the circumstance. The supporting children can come together to raise funds for constructing some locally made movement aid.

Part 2: Case study

Identify the ways in which the teacher is inclusive and supports Mogas and write them in your study notebook

The teacher used his/her classroom culture and socio-emotional skills to support Mogas.

Classroom culture: The teacher created a supportive learning environment for him to learn that day through the teacher’s kindness during the lesson, and kind language - congratulating him on his work and on his contributions to the lesson, and thereby gave him an impression of positive behavior.  

Socioemotional skills: Through perseverance, the teacher was able to get close (assistive device) enough to him to get to know the genesis of Mogas habitual lateness. Through social and collaborative skills, the teacher involved with Mogas’ friend(buddy scheme) for peer support; made all necessary contacts with other teachers to ensure Mogas did not get into trouble, and in the process, other strategies of support emerged which eventually gave opportunity for Mogas’ sister who had dropped out to go back to school.

The teacher’s flexibility and responsiveness skill was displayed as he/she organised more pair work and more group work. This provided the opportunity for Mogas to be supported by more of his peers, and it gave me the chance to talk to him individually and establish where the gaps.