Analysis of Ghanaian teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education

Abstract

Social and inclusive education as captured under the Sustainable Development Goals enjoined most countries to implement policies to bring about education for all students. Inclusive education recognises that students come from diverse backgrounds with varied characteristics, which include different learning capacities and cognitive development. The purpose of this study was to examine Ghanaian teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education. The Multidimensional Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale (MATIES) developed by [Mahat, M. 2008. “The Development of a Psychometrically Sound Instrument to Measure Teachers’ Multidimensional Attitudes toward Inclusive Education.” International Journal of Special Education 23: 82–92.] was administered to 280 selected teachers in Ghana. The results of Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed that the three-factor structure of the MATIES theorised by [Mahat, M. 2008. “The Development of a Psychometrically Sound Instrument to Measure Teachers’ Multidimensional Attitudes toward Inclusive Education.” International Journal of Special Education 23: 82–92] was not supported by the Ghanaian sample. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a correlated four-factor solution. These four factors were labelled Behavioural, Affective, Positive Beliefs, and Negative Beliefs. The reliability coefficients for these four subscales were 0.90. 0.86, 0.77, and 0.73, respectively. Analysis of variance revealed that males exhibited more negative beliefs towards inclusive education than females; more experienced teachers exhibited lower behavioural attitudes than their counterparts with less teaching experience.