Faculty Members’ and Administrators’ Attitudes on Integrating Students with Intellectual Disability into Postsecondary Education

Faculty Attitudes Toward Teaching Students With Mild Intellectual Disabilities in Higher Education

“…This result of the current study is supported by Sandoval et al (2021) who found faculty members had more positive attitudes toward teaching and supporting students with disabilities in Higher Education by making adjustments in their lectures. Another study that supports the result of the current study about faculty members' attitudes is one conducted by Almutairi et al (2021) who found that half of the faculty and administrators they studied were willing to support students with intellectual disabilities to obtain certification in Higher Education.…”

“…Other researchers (e.g., Alhossein, 2016;Almutairi et al, 2021) have reported similar findings of faculty members in Saudi universities showing willingness to support student with disabilities in Higher Education programs. Al-bakri (2016) discussed levels of Saudi university faculty members' knowledge in terms of environmental facilities and problems in environmental accommodations for students with disabilities as he found that faculty members' levels of knowledge about environmental facilities and problems were high.…”

“…In summary, previous researchers who studied the knowledge and attitudes of Saudi university faculty members about teaching students with disabilities in Higher Education while providing accommodations and facilities for these students agreed that improvements are needed in Higher Education environments to provide better education to students with disabilities (Al-bakri, 2016;Alhossein, 2016;Almutairi et al, 2021;Alqarni, 2021).…”

“…The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia supports the right of students with disabilities to be educated at all levels of education. Almutairi et al (2021) found that half of their sample of university faculty members and administrators showed some willingness to support students with intellectual disabilities to allow them to earn certification in Higher Education programs which required essential changes in university admission, registration system, policies, and substructure. The researchers found that administrators were more positive than faculty members in terms of including students with intellectual disabilities.…”

“…They also indicated that most of the faculty members and administrators mentioned the benefits of including students with intellectual disabilities as not only their preparation for work and life, but as enhancing the lives of students without disabilities in terms of how to communicate with diverse fellow students. However, the participants also reported that the inclusion of students with disabilities in regular classrooms might negatively impact students' concertation (Almutairi et al, 2021).…”