Inclusive education practices and its implication to quality, equity and access in primary schools of Southwest Oromia

Abstract

The study aims at identifying the extent to which inclusive education is effectively practiced and its implications on the quality, equity and access to education in primary schools of Southwest Oromia. A convergent mixed-method research design was employed, and primary data were collected from school leaders, teachers, students and woreda and zone education experts using questionnaires, focus group discussions and interviews. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse quantitative data, whereas the qualitative data were thematically analysed. The findings indicate that school leaders acknowledge their responsibility in fostering an inclusive environment (M = 3.6) and support inclusive teaching methods (M = 3.5). It was also found that adapting instructional strategies for students moderately practiced (M = 3.2), inflexible curriculum (M = 3.1), lack of teacher training (M = 3.6), insufficient funding (M = 3.5), lack of materials (M = 3.6), limited infrastructure (M = 3.7), and unclear policies (M = 3.9) were reported as the major challenges hindering the implementation of inclusive education practices. Thus, it is safe to conclude that inclusive education is not well practiced in primary schools of Southwest Oromia. To address the urgent gaps, the zone education office, in collaboration with the region education bureau and woreda (district) education offices, needs to provide comprehensive leaders and teacher training in inclusive leadership and pedagogies to meet the diverse learning needs of students. Besides, the government needs to provide schools with adequate finance, materials and infrastructure to make the schools responsive and inclusive