Sociology of Special Education: Parents and Teachers’ Knowledge, Beliefs and Attitudes towards Persons with Disabilities in Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District, Ghana
Abstract
The study investigated parents and teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes towards persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese district using cross-sectional survey design. Multistage sampling procedures were used to select 400 subjects. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyse the data. The results show that teachers demonstrated attitudes that were eufunctional to the education of PWDs while parents showed attitudes that were dysfunctional to their education. Overall, parents and teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes are able to predict their positive behaviours toward the education of PWDs substantially when these factors are functional to PWDs’ survival. This phenomenon can help boost PWDs’ confidence. Therefore, management of the District Education Directorate should constantly organise sensitisation and advocacy programmes for members of Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and family-heads on the rights of PWDs and how to manage them. This will help unlock the socio-cultural barriers to the education of PWDs.
Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) was issued with copyright registration Certificate No. Rw-C10000866 by the Office of the Registrar General in accordance to the Rwandan IPR Law No. 31/2009.
N.B.: KIE is now a College of Education, constituent of the University of Rwanda in accordance to the Rwandan Law No. 71/2013 of 10/09/2013 establishing the University of Rwanda (UR), and the College of Education as shown on its website: http://www.ce.ur.ac.rw/
