An Investigation of Attitudes and Experiences of Implementing Inclusive Education in Bhutan: Perspectives of Teachers, Principals, and Past Students

Abstract

<p>Inclusive education in Bhutan is in the beginning stage of development. This investigation is the first known empirical study of attitudes and experiences of Bhutanese teachers, principals, and past students with visual impairment (VI) towards inclusive education. The thesis is by journal format, and reports on the mixed method research design. The findings are presented across six journal format papers.</p><p> The first chapter sets the context of the study by providing a very brief overview of the Bhutanese education system, a description of the conceptual framework that has guided the overall investigation, the aims and significance of the investigation, the overall research design, the definition of key terms, and the format of the thesis.</p><p> The second chapter is a peer reviewed book chapter that outlines the history of inclusive education in Bhutan. Bhutan's commitment to international conventions and initiatives, such as the Education for All and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which align with the national goal of Educating for Gross National Happiness, aims to ensure all children are in school, and has recently become a priority for the Royal Government of Bhutan. Currently, there are 12 public schools that provide for the education of students with disabilities. Two of these schools are special schools with specialised services for students with visual and hearing impairment, and the remaining 10 are regular mainstream schools. Despite the intention, inclusive education efforts in Bhutan has many challenges, including teachers' needs for professional learning, a rigid curriculum, teacher-centred instructional pedagogy, lack of resources, inaccessible infrastructure, and the lack of policy and legal frameworks.</p><p> The third chapter is a journal article published in the peer reviewed <i>Bhutan Journal of Research and Development</i>. It presents a critical discussion of disability and inclusive education based on a review of relevant literature. A clear and shared understanding of the concepts of disability and inclusive education is crucial to ensure that efforts towards inclusion are designed and implemented in line with Bhutanese values and ethos. Some prominent models of disability and key benefits of inclusive education are discussed to inform planning for inclusion in Bhutan. To position this discussion in the Bhutanese context, inclusive education is related to the Educating for Gross National Happiness (GNH) reform initiative, which is an attempt to infuse the principles of GNH into everyday classroom instruction and learning in schools.</p><p> The fourth chapter reports on the findings from the investigation of teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education. This was conducted through an online survey via Qualtrics. Respondents included 145 teachers (70 male and 75 female) from the eight SEN integrated schools located in eight different districts in Bhutan. Data were analysed using Rasch latent trait scaling techniques (<i>Proquest</i>) to ascertain the face validity of the newly constructed instrument. Infit mean squares for cases and items were at acceptable levels and the reliability index provided confirmation that there was good fit of the data to the model. Case estimates were subsequently applied to the R statistical environment. Significant differences were detected in the attitudes of teachers towards inclusive education based on gender (Pr(Chi)=0.031), teachers' qualification (Pr(Chi)=0.005), and experience of teaching children with special education needs (Pr (Chi)=0.018). The overall attitude towards inclusive education measured by a 38-item questionnaire resulted in a mean average score of 3.965 for a six-point scale (1 being <i>Strongly Disagree</i> and 6 <i>Strongly Agree</i>). Levels of satisfaction of teachers in addressing the needs of children with special needs were predominantly positive (73%). Those teachers less satisfied mentioned the need for safe playgrounds, accessible toilets, less crowded classrooms, and the need for additional staff and material resources. This paper is currently under review.</p><p> The fifth chapter reports the attitudes of the school principals towards inclusive education. To examine the attitudes of principals towards inclusive education, 20 principals from the eight SEN integrated schools completed an online survey via Qualtrics. Due to the small sample size, descriptive statistics were used to analyse the principals' responses to the survey. Although the results revealed that principals show positive attitudes (mean average score of 3.905 on a six-point scale) towards inclusive education in general, they were quite doubtful and uncertain of including children with high support needs, such as socio-emotional, cognitive, and behavioural difficulties. The most noteworthy finding of this study was that principals' religious beliefs do not have any negative influence on their perception of disability and inclusive education. This study has a number of significant implications, as it highlights the need for adequate training of principals, the need for resource support and the need for national policy and legal frameworks to support inclusive education.</p><p> The sixth chapter outlines the experiences of principals implementing inclusive education. The result of this study draws on data gleaned from semi-structured interviews of six principals (4 males and 2 females) from the eight SEN integrated schools. Thematic coding and Leximancer text mining software (Smith, 2000) techniques were employed to analyse the data. The results show that principals are supportive of inclusive education. Within a very short period of implementing inclusive education programs in the schools, commendable progress has been achieved, especially in making appropriate accommodations and adjustments through the provision of additional teacher support, differentiation of classroom pedagogy, and modification in the assessment and evaluation of learning outcomes. One important finding of this study is that the principals show a great sense of faith and confidence in the resilience of their teachers and their own commitments to lead inclusive education efforts in schools. The results also identified constraints of deficient resources, rigid curriculum, inadequate infrastructure and facilities accessible to all children, and gaps in understanding and knowledge of parents and the Bhutanese society in general regarding the rights of children to a quality education.</p><p> The seventh chapter presents a retrospective view of past students with visual impairment (VI) regarding their experience in inclusive settings. Twelve past students (10 males and 2 females) with VI completed an online survey via Qualtrics. The survey consisted of a 37-item questionnaire and nine open-ended questions, which allowed the respondents to elaborate on their experience and views regarding inclusive education in Bhutan. Given the small sample size of participants, survey responses were analysed by employing descriptive statistics. The analysis of survey responses revealed that past students with VI view inclusive education favourably, with a total average mean score of 4.30 on a six-point scale and are, on the whole positive and satisfied with their experiences of schooling in regular inclusive settings. Manual coding and Leximancer analyses of the responses to the open-ended questions provided triangulation of results that supported this finding. The benefits of being able to make friends with sighted students, the opportunity to learn and interact with a wider circle of students, gaining wider perspectives and developing the self-confidence to manage their own lives independently were some of the highlights of their experiences in regular schools. The past students with VI cited the principals' and teachers' lack of knowledge and training regarding the needs of children with disabilities, limited resources, inaccessible infrastructure, social stigma, and negative attitudes as some of the barriers that need to be addressed if inclusion is to improve and succeed.</p><p> The eighth chapter presents the synopsis of all findings of the investigation with application to the conceptual framework. The implications of the findings of the study to policy and practices are outlined, and recommendations for future research and limitations of the investigation conclude the thesis.</p>