- Title
- The perceptions of Thai preschool teachers about inclusive education for young children with disabilities
- Creator
- Sukbunpant, Sasipin
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The present study aims to (a) examine the needs of Thai preschool teachers in relation to the inclusion of young children with a disability (b) investigate whether there are relationships between teachers’ demographic characteristics and their attitudes and their needs, and (c) identify the predictors of Thai preschool teachers’ attitude regarding inclusive education for young children with a disability. This study was conducted in the upper north educational region in Thailand which consists of four provinces; Chiangmai, Chiangrai, Lampang and Lamphun. The population of the current study was 1,638 public primary schools which have preschool classes and there were 350 schools in the sample. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were employed in this study. All 589 of the preschool teachers in the sample school were purposively selected to complete the questionnaire: The Thai Preschool Teachers’ Perceptions on Inclusive Education Rating Scale. In this study, 535 from a total of 589 preschool teachers returned the questionnaire. The response rate was 90.83%. There were 528 completed questionnaires for further analysis. In the second phase of this study, 20 preschool teachers who had the top 10 and bottom 10 scores from section B of the questionnaire ranked in order from the high score to low score were selected and invited to be interviewed to get a deeper understanding of teachers’ perceptions. A four-point Likert scale of items in the questionnaire indicated Thai preschool teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion for young children with disabilities were slightly positive. The interview results indicated the Thai preschool teachers have shown their preference for a child with mild disability rather than a child with a severe disability disabilities. This study has underlined the role of cultural and religious factors along with teachers’ explanations about the cause of disability and the reason for working with children with disabilities. Thai preschool teachers expressed their need for training regarding teaching children with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. This study also found that there were some significant positive and negative relationships between the teacher’s needs, teachers’ attitude and their personal characteristics. The finding of this study indicate that educational preparation, collaboration and teaching experience with children with disabilities are the predictors of Thai preschool teachers’ attitude toward inclusive education for young children with disabilities. Recommendations are made for changes in practice and for future research. Inclusive education policy should be promoted at preschool level. Effective follow up strategies from the government agency are necessary to ensure successful implementation of this inclusive education policy. Providing quality in-service training for teachers should be based on teachers’ suggestions. It is hoped that the present study can contribute to a systematic plan in implementing inclusion in the Thai educational system and thus improve the teaching and training for Thai preschool teachers as well as positive educational outcomes for young Thai children with disabilities.
- Subject
- perceptions; inclusive education; preschool teachers; Thailand
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1036905
- Identifier
- uon:13379
- Rights
- Copyright 2013 Sasipin Sukbunpant
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Abstract | 83 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Thesis | 7 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |