Teacher, Parental and Administrative Support for Pupils with Special Educational Needs in Regular Education Classrooms in the Cape Coast Metropolis

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine teacher, parental and administrative support for pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in regular education classrooms in the Cape Coast Metropolis. The study was guided by seven research questions. The study adopted a quantitative approach with a descriptive survey research design. Multistage sampling technique was employed to select participants for the study. That is, proportional sampling (297 teachers), purposive sampling (60 parents), and simple random sampling (63 school administrators). Questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. Descriptive statistics specifically, frequency counts and percentages, means, and standard deviation were used to analyse the data. The results of the study revealed that teachers used remedial teaching to support pupils with SEN. It was further found in the study that parents provided relevant information about their children to the schools. Also, the results of the study revealed that school administrators provided guidance and counselling services in schools. The challenges parents, teachers, and school administrators faced are: inadequate benefits from capitation grants, large class size, and inadequate resource room and resource teachers respectively. Based on the findings drawn from the study, it is recommended that the District Assemblies and Local Government Authorities should channel capitation grants to benefit parents who have children with SEN. The Ministry of Education should build more classroom blocks and appoint more regular education teachers (RETs) to minimise the high pupil-to-teacher ratio in the classrooms. The Ghana Education Service should provide schools with resource centres and resource teachers to assist RETs in managing pupils with SEN in their classrooms and in the resource room.