Who Does What? An Initial Needs Analysis Study on Enhancing Transition Guideline for Mainstream and Special Needs Educators

Abstract

This study presents an initial stage of a larger research to enhance the existing inclusive Guideline for Inclusive Education for Students with Special Needs, specifically on the roles and responsibilities of educators in supporting inclusive transitions into Malaysian primary schools. The following study represents the needs analysis phase of the research to examine the scenario of educators’ knowledge on their roles and responsibilities in supporting inclusive transitions, through the lens of a multi-stage and multi-role transition process. The study seeks to challenge the understandings of inclusive education and reconceptualise the inclusive process as a process of transition, rather than a singular “event”. The authors identify three important stages in inclusive transitions, namely Pre-Transition Stage, During Transition Stage, and Post-Transition Stage. The study was conducted on both mainstream and special needs educators in primary schools (n = 608) across Malaysia. A Likert scale questionnaire was constructed. Findings were analysed and grouped in percentages according to low, moderate and high levels of knowledge. Findings demonstrated that there is a general lack of knowledge of educators, and this indicates that both groups of educators are clearly not proficient and skilled enough to support transitions into mainstream classrooms. The analysis demonstrated that the special needs educators were marginally more knowledgeable in their roles and responsibilities in supporting students with special needs than the mainstream educators in all three levels of transition. The findings draw links between low knowledge levels, increasing resistance and attitude levels in inclusive education, as well as possible explanations of how the traditional job roles of mainstream and special needs educators interfere with positive attitudes and willingness to embrace the paradigm shifts in the educators’ inclusive job roles.