Factors Influencing Teachers' Attitudes toward Inclusive Education

The study examined factors influencing teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education in primary schools in Nyeri Central District. Objectives included examination of effect of teacher-training in special needs education on attitudes and to examine if teacher gender influenced attitude toward inclusive education among others. Study used descriptive survey design. Target population was teachers in charge of special units from 38 public primary schools. Simple random sampling was used to select 10 schools; while stratified random sampling was used to select 8 teachers per school. Instruments for data collection for both qualitative and quantitative were questionnaires. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics; which included; frequency counts, percentages, means, ANOVA, and t-test. Study found out that teacher training had effect on teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education. Teachers were ill equipped with requisite skills to deal with children with disabilities. It also emerged that male teachers had more positive attitude towards inclusive education than females. The study recommended teachers be trained in handling children with disabilities.