More appealing is the inclusive education practice that recognizes diversity among children than practices that lead to inequality in education. However, there have been implementation challenges including the rejection of children with special needs (CWSNs) in regular classes by teachers. Given this, the study attempted to build an empirical model to explain associations between teacher self-belief system and socio-emotional factors and their willingness to include CWSNs in their classes. The sample size consisted of 316 teachers. Using path analysis, findings showed, among others, that the conceptual model fit the data satisfactorily, and that teacher self-concept had direct effects on teachers’ willingness to include CWSNs in their regular classes. Teacher cognitive self-concept was a better predictor and its impact was significantly mediated by teacher empathy. It was concluded that willingness for inclusion could be influenced by teacher belief system and socio-emotional characteristics. Received: 27 October 2020 / Accepted: 17 December 2020 / Published: 5 March 2021
This study investigated the impact of teachers’ gender, marital status, years of experience, and specialty on their willingness to include children with special needs (CWSNs) in their classes. We adopted a cross-sectional survey design. Using a convenience sampling technique, 316 teachers from 15 state-owned secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria participated in this study. Data were analysed with mean, t-test, and ANOVA. Findings showed that teachers were willing to include CWSNs in their classes, and only teachers’ specialty showed a significant impact on teachers’ willingness to teach CWSNs. It was concluded that aspects of the teacher socio-demographic variables that may affect their willingness to include CWSNs are those that could influence their competence. Limitations of studies were highlighted.
Advancing inclusive education in countries where children with special needs (CWSNs) are yet to be meaningfully included in regular schools will ensure the progress of Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals. One potent determinant to the effective inclusion of CWSNs is teachers’ intention and efforts to integrate them into their classes. Yet, there is still inadequate evidence in the existing body of literature that will help stakeholders understand the psychosocial variables that will impact their intentions and efforts to include CWSNs in their classes. In view of this, our study determined the association between teachers’ sociodemographic characteristics, psychological distress, job satisfaction, and their willingness to include CWSNs in their classes using a hierarchical regression model. The sample size is made up of 502 secondary school teachers in Anambra State. Our model showed the potency of sociobiological and motivational factors on teachers’ inclusive education willingness of CWSNs in their classes. Teachers’ age, years of teaching experience, and job satisfaction are significant predictors of their inclusion willingness for CWSNs. Teachers’ psychological distress did not significantly predict their inclusion willingness for CWSNs. The significance and implications of our findings were underscored.
During the past five decades the heartland of global Christianity has shifted to the Southern hemisphere. This places the responsibility of future Christianity predominantly in the hands of church leaders in these regions. It is therefore crucial to critically reflect on how effective theological education is to produce competent church leaders, especially in Africa. This article aims to give an overview of the challenges theological education in Africa is currently facing, and then to provide a macro vision of the major moments in the development of the international discourse on theological education over the past five decades. This comparison will inform practitioners about the relevance of current models used for theological education in Africa. By highlighting the relevance of these various models and how they relate to challenges in Africa, this article contributes to research on the development of new and alternative frameworks for theological education in an African context.
The research question we pursued was: What are the variations in the themes of research in the African higher education context that will enable researchers to promote student development? This contribution addresses three aspects of student affairs research in the African higher education context. First, it commences with tracing the African position with a document analysis of 121 student affairs research articles published in 34 peer-reviewed journals over the past interval (2008-2019). Secondly, the thematic categorization of the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS 2019) was used to determine international publication trends as derived from this document analysis. Thirdly, we applied Bronfenbrenner’s Person-Process-Context-Time (PPCT) model, as an appropriate umbrella research design and guiding framework to review the mapping of African student affairs research. From a comparison between the international CAS categorization and the African categorization, it was concluded that the CAS mapping was largely confirmed by the African analysis, with nine main themes as the foci. Additionally, it was found that four first-hand African themes have not found in the CAS categorization, and significantly limited research was conducted into post-graduate programmes and services (hereafter referred to as PGP's, despite the demands for increased enrolments. The findings suggest that more accurate and continuous mapping of the field can assist policymakers, managers and student affairs practitioners in making more informed choices on supporting growth and development in African higher education, with special emphasis on postgraduate students.
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