Botswana's Agriculture Teachers' Attitudes Towards Inclusion of Students With Physical DIsablities in Mainstream Classes

I. Title - Botswana's Agriculture Teachers' Attitudes Towards Inclusion of Students With Physical Disabilities in Mainstream Classes

II. Author - Dorothy Brandon, Matoteng M. Neube

III. Author's Purpose for Writing - Although children may be included physically, they may remain socially and academically excluded because of teacher's and student's attitudes.

IV. What are the points made in the review of the literature? The teachers in the study had a negative attitude toward accepting students with disabilities into their classrooms, but their attitude toward the students' classroom behavior was positive. They also agreed that the presence of disabled students would promote acceptance of diversity among the non-disabled.

They felt that the extra attention that these students would require would be a detrement to
those who were not disabled. They felt that they did not have adequate training to deal with these challenges.

Do they support the need for the study? Yes

V. Author's Inquiry Question - What are teacher attitudes toward teaching physically handicapped children ?

A. Who is being studied ? Agriculture teachers in Botswana, Africa

B. Over what length of time? 10 days

C. What data is being collected? Survey of attitudes toward students with disabilities

D. How is it being analyzed? Statistical Package for Social Sciences

E. List any other pertinent data - These teachers had concerns because of the physical, hands-on nature of an agriculture class.

VII. How the author collected information - Surveys were delivered to the school, then picked up after 10 days.

VIII. What the author discovered or conclusions/ implications - Teachers attitudes were mixed. They reacted negatively to the idea of these students, but in reality, had few or no problems with them in this classroom setting. The teachers cited that thye had inadequate training and expertise to deal with these students. The attitude suggests that the Ministry of Education should focus more on providing training for teachers in working with students with special needs. It was also recommended that teachers with disabilities be hired to improve student
and teacher attitudes toward the disabled.