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Note: I am of the thought that the topic the attitudes of teachers in Nigeria are negatively impacting special needs students needed some bit of rephrasing. That is because of the following reasons: First it’s not ‘attitude but ‘negative attitudes’ of teachers that negatively impact special needs students. Secondly, I think it’s good to specify which ‘impact’ we are talking about (could be academic, social interaction or another problem that these teachers impact on their students). In that case, I am of the idea that the topic is ‘How do the positive/negative attitudes of teachers impact the performance of students with special needs in Nigeria? Apparently, to my judgment, this topic conforms to the main topic ‘the challenges and prospects for students with intellectual disabilities in Nigeria.’ I thus chose the following title

Topic: How do the positive/negative attitudes of teachers impact the performance of students with special needs in Nigeria?

Introduction

The study will be focused on investigating whether the negative attitude of regular and special teachers negatively impacts students with special needs in Nigeria. A qualitative and mixed method will be adopted as modes of inquiry to the identified candidates/ participants of the study.  Further, the case study approach will be used where the bottom line of the academic performances of students with special needs will be compared to that of regular students.

Problem statement

Much has been said about how the attitude of teachers, peers, parents and the society affect the development and special needs children. Many researchers have found undeniable evidence that students with special needs are vulnerable to attitudes of the individuals named above. Most researchers have identified that whenever these children are subjected to discriminations and ill articulations, the result is self-pity, low morale, and loss of esteem that dwindles their academic performances and socialization. However, little has been explored about how the negative attitudes of teachers contribute to academic failures and failure in the life of students with special needs. Apparently, teachers ought to play a larger role in the contribution to the healthy cognitive growth and development of students with special needs. However, the researcher identifies that most of them fail to play this role immensely. 

Purpose

The study will point out the major areas in which teachers fail to play their role sufficiently to help students with special needs garner academic success through promoting negative attitudes towards these students. The study will also give recommendations of how teachers in conjunction with the society and the government can remedy the situation and eliminate harmful atrocities towards students with special needs helping them to reap academically and socially.

Research Questions and Hypothesis

Research questions

The study will aim at answering the following research questions.

1.        What are the attitudes of teachers towards students with special needs in public secondary schools in Nigeria?

2.        What are the impacts of such attitudes towards the academic performance of special needs students in Nigeria?

3.        What might be the implications of negative/positive attitudes of teachers to the later life of students with special needs?

Research Hypotheses   

1.        The attitudes of teachers towards students with special needs positively or negatively affects the academic performance and the later life of these students.

2.         There is a positive correlation between positive attitudes of teachers and better performance of students. Negative attitudes lead to poor performance.

Review of literature

The act of Individuals with Disabilities (IDEA) stipulates that students with special needs should be educated in an environment that conforms to Least Restrictive conditions or (LRE). Wiener (2009) is of the view that they also should be educated with their non-disabled peers and only separated if the accommodations, aides, and other essential services fail to be viable to the student with disabilities. However, when educated together with their ‘normal’ friends, these students have been identified to face a lot of problems and issues with teachers. Idol (2006) asserts that general education teachers have been found to hold the belief that the inclusion of students with special needs negatively affect the dynamics of the classroom. In their research, Idol (2006); Wiener (2009) found that most teachers fail, to master the art of teaching both categories of students. These teachers use discriminatory language and terms (such as slow learner!) and fail to take time with the special needs students. According to () some teachers aim at clearing the syllabus rather than ensuring students understand the concepts. As such, a student with learning and cognitive deficiencies who lacks the capability of moving alongside the teacher fails to gather or benefit from anything the teacher teaches.

Zambelli and Bonni (2004) are of a similar opinion and assert that “when teachers differentiate between students and sees the incapability of some students as deficits rather than normal characteristics of a classroom, it may lead them to relinquish responsibility for the academic success of all learners” (124). IDEA provides that all students with or without special needs are all individuals with different learning styles. Whenever unequal consideration is fostered, the students with disabilities are denied their deserving education and later in life denied the opportunities to succeed.

Among the benefits of positive attitudes towards students with special needs in classrooms is that it creates in them confidence and sense of acceptance (Wiener, 2009). That will also help their typically developing counterparts to get to know their peers with disabilities thereby confronting and dismissing stereotypes they may have held. Students do not only learn from their teachers; they learn more from each other collaboratively. If the teacher fosters s positive attitude towards all students, the results are free interaction and elimination of social barriers between students. The short or long run results is a better learning environment that will contribute to the better academic performances and sociability of all students like Wiener (2009) says each is a subset of all (each student will contribute to the success of the other). 

Olson, Chalmers, and Hoover (2007) report that teachers hold a wide  range of attitudes towards students with disabilities and special needs. While some of these attitudes are positive and optimistic, others are cynical and doubtful. These three continue to say that each of these attitudes affects children during their educational career. According to Sapon-Shevin (2008), the teacher’s attitude towards students with special needs can set the tone for the entire classroom. The negative attitudes of teachers are reflected by the highly intelligent students who in turn will treat them with dismay. That makes the learning environment harder learn especially for students with intellectual disabilities. In that case, the teachers’ attitudes towards students with special needs affect the relationship and influence the attitudes of non-disabled students thereby affecting the coherence and social and academic performance of the special needs students (Zambelli & Bonni, 2004). According to Olson, Chalmers and Hoover (2007), the most epic reason for the development of negative attitudes by teachers is the lack of education about students with special needs. Idol (2006) argue that there is a desperate need for teachers to learn about students disabilities that may enhance their relationships with them

Methodology

This study will adopt a qualitative research design. Specifically, the case study and the mixed methods will be used during inquiry or data collection. In this context, the term case study is taken to mean a mode of inquiry that involves studying a phenomenon within its natural context. A mixed research is that which incorporates more than one method or tool of inquiry.   The mixed design is chosen due to the need for collecting and analyzing both numerical and non-numerical data.

Qualitative data will be collected using interviews. The researcher shall thus visit the study participants in a predefined date at their working/living contexts to collect their views. Questionnaires will also be distributed to the participants who will be expected to feel them, after which the researcher will collect the questionnaires. If need be, some questionnaires will be mailed to some participants who will in return send the filled questionnaires to the researcher through email. Nevertheless, the qualitative technique is more preferred to quantitative due to the following reasons. Firstly, it’s cheap as the researcher will not incur such costs as printing questionnaires. Secondly, the interview is more exploratory as the researcher connects directly with the respondents and lastly but not least, qualitative data is simpler to analyze. 

Sample and Participants

Participants of this study shall be students, a few parents in regular and teachers from regular education classrooms in special education classrooms. A total of 70 participants will be included in a preferred gender ratio of 1:1.  Out of these, 35 will be teachers, 25 students, and ten parents. The selection criteria will be the simple random where each participants conforming to selection conditions has equal chances of being included.

Expected findings

Among the expected results is that many regular teachers find it difficult teaching students with special needs. Some of them might even show reluctance teaching them.  Some proportion of these teachers is expected to feel like students with special needs are incapable of coping academically with the mainstream schools like their non-disabled counterparts. Another expected finding is that the negative attitudes of teachers towards students with special needs affect the relationship between non-disabled and special needs students sharing a classroom. Finally, the researcher might find that there is a positive correlation between the negative attitude of teachers to special needs students and the academic performance of these students in addition to their life after school.

References

Idol, L. (2006). Toward inclusion of special education students in general education: A program evaluation of eight schools. Remedial and Special Education, 27(2), 77-94.

Olson, R., Chalmers, L., & Hoover, H. (2007). Attitudes and attributes of general education teachers identified as effective inclusionists. Remedial and Special Education, 18, 28-35.

Sapon-Shevin, M. (2008). Teachable moments for social justice. Independent School, 67(3), 44-47.

Wiener, J. (2009). Fostering social acceptance in inclusive classrooms. Education Canada, 49(4), 16-20

Zambelli, F., & Bonni, R. (2004). Beliefs of teachers in Italian schools concerning the inclusion of disabled students: A Q-sort analysis. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 19(3), 351-364.

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in custom essay research paper if you need a similar paper you can place your order from online research paper writer.