Parent and Teacher Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education in Nauru

Abstract

It is recognised that the attitudes of parents and teachers are important in supporting inclusive education in developing countries. This study involved the application of quantitative research through the administration of a survey to determine the attitudes of parents and teachers in the Republic of Nauru. The results have provided preliminary data regarding attitudes related to the emergence of inclusive education in Nauru. Parents were more positive concerning issues that relate directly to the educational benefits of their children over more general benefits of inclusion in education. At this stage, teachers report higher levels of positive attitude than parents. A more fine-grained level of analysis revealed that there is a wide range of attitudes to aspects of education for students with disabilities, and areas of expertise needed to support inclusive education. This research has provided an understanding of current parental and teacher attitudes and levels of existing teacher expertise towards inclusion that is able to inform future policy development in Nauru.

Knowledge and attitudes of school principals towards childhood hearing loss and hearing services: A cross-sectional survey to support the implementation of inclusive education in Samoa

“…From the Samoan perspective, this may be explained by research in the Pacific Islands that suggests that while parents may be supportive of IE philosophy, there is a preference for special school education for students with severe disabilities to avoid bullying from mainstream school students. 13,14 Based on the responses described above, an important point to note is that it is worth questioning what our Samoan participants understood by the phrase 'child with hearing loss'. Did they understand it to mean a student with a congenital or early-onset profound hearing loss who uses sign language as their primary means of communication?…”

“…From the Samoan perspective, this may be explained by research in the Pacific Islands that suggests that while parents may be supportive of IE philosophy, there is a preference for special school education for students with severe disabilities to avoid bullying from mainstream school students. 13 , 14 …”

“…A review of the literature revealed a growing body of publications on the implementation of inclusive education (IE) in the Pacific Islands. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] The major themes emerging from these studies include the need for reconceptualising IE to develop culturally and contextually informed policies, the importance of school leadership for the successful implementation of IE and generally raising awareness and advocacy for people living with disabilities. In contrast, there is very little in the audiology literature from low-and middleincome countries (LMICs) on the knowledge and attitudes of key stakeholders towards IE for students with hearing impairment.…”

Teachers' Attitudes To Inclusion Scale Validation Questionnaire

“…Teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education include their emotions, beliefs, and behaviors, and they can have a powerful influence over behavior. The subject has been at the center of research in recent years and shows an evolution towards acceptance of different situations, towards tolerance and inclusion in India (Hazarika, 2020), Australia (Page et al, 2020), Greece (Mouchritsa et al, 2022), China (Fu et al, 2021). Social indicators indicate that an inclusive education system determines an inclusive society (Monsen et al, 2015).…”