Teachers’ Sociodemographic Characteristics, Psychological Distress, Job Satisfaction, and Their Willingness to Include Children with Special Needs in Regular Classes

Abstract

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.

Teacher distress tolerance and willingness to teach children with special educational needs in Nigeria: Teacher job satisfaction as a mediator

“…Teacher willingness to include children with special needs questionnaire (TWICWSNQ) This is a 10-item questionnaire that measures the willing efforts and intentions of regular teachers to accept SEN. Nwosu et al (2020) and Nwosu, Wahl, Oparaugo, et al (2021); Nwosu, Wahl, Cassim, et al (2021) reported that this questionnaire is a combination of the 'Teacher Willingness to Teach Challenging Children Questionnaire (TWTCCQ)' developed by Low et al (2019) and the 'Teachers' Multidimensional Attitude towards Inclusive Education Scale (TMATIES)' developed by Mahat (2008). They reported that the essence of this merger is the understanding that teaching SEN also demands provision of emotional support to these students.…”

“…Inclusion willingness for children with SENs has been conceptualized as the intention of the teacher to invest their efforts to align their lessons in such a way that the diversity that may arise from a child with special needs are addressed (Gilor & Katz, 2018a, 2018b). We operationalize it as reflected in teachers' gracious acceptance of children with SENs in such a way that they are ready to conscientiously modify their teaching and provide emotional supports that favour all the learners in their classes (Nwosu, Wahl, Cassim, et al, 2021; Nwosu, Wahl, Oparaugo, et al, 2021). Researchers have in recent times engaged in understanding factors that may impact on the willingness to teach SEN (Gilor & Katz, 2018a, 2018b; Low et al, 2019; Nwosu et al, 2020; Nwosu, Wahl, Cassim, et al, 2021; Nwosu, Wahl, Oparaugo, et al, 2021).…”

“…We operationalize it as reflected in teachers' gracious acceptance of children with SENs in such a way that they are ready to conscientiously modify their teaching and provide emotional supports that favour all the learners in their classes (Nwosu, Wahl, Cassim, et al, 2021; Nwosu, Wahl, Oparaugo, et al, 2021). Researchers have in recent times engaged in understanding factors that may impact on the willingness to teach SEN (Gilor & Katz, 2018a, 2018b; Low et al, 2019; Nwosu et al, 2020; Nwosu, Wahl, Cassim, et al, 2021; Nwosu, Wahl, Oparaugo, et al, 2021).…”

“…Distress intolerance may magnify the perception of the stress therein and impair the pleasurable experiences and fulfilment teachers should derive from their job. Besides, we hypothesized that teachers' socio‐demographic variables such as their age, gender and years of experience will impact the association between teacher distress tolerance and their willingness to teach children with SENs in regular classes since researchers (Hind et al, 2018; MacFarlane & Woolfson, 2013; Nwosu et al, 2020; Nwosu, Wahl, Cassim, et al, 2021; Nwosu, Wahl, Oparaugo, et al, 2021) interested in teachers' willingness to teach children with SENs in regular classes have considered these variables as potent factors. Therefore, we determined the association between regular teachers' distress tolerance (tolerance of frustration, ambiguity and discomfort) and their willingness to include children with special educational needs (SENs) in their classes, as well as the mediating function of teacher job satisfaction.…”

“…Moreover, fundamental to effective inclusion of these students in regular schools is the willingness of teachers to include them in regular classes (Gilor & Katz, 2018b). Hence, researchers are increasingly investigating factors that predict regular teachers' willingness to accept children with special needs (Gilor & Katz, 2018b; Low et al, 2019; Nwosu et al, 2020; Nwosu, Wahl, Cassim, et al, 2021; Nwosu, Wahl, Oparaugo, et al, 2021). The increasing interest in this field of study is, on the one hand, prompted by the additional workload the uniqueness of SEN could present to regular teachers, which could impact teacher well‐being (Kebbi & Al‐Hroub, 2018; Low et al, 2019) and on the other hand, the reports that these students are sometimes rejected by the regular teachers (Offor & Akinlosotu, 2017), which undermines the efforts for social justice.…”