Inclusive Education in Zimbabwe: the Need for Teachers to Be Trained in Assisting Learners with Learning Disabilities in Mainstream Primary Schools of Bulawayo Province

Abstract

The study sought to establish the impact of teachers' training in the implementation of inclusive education for children with learning disabilities in primary schools of Zimbabwe.  A survey design which was fundamentally quantitative in nature was used. Two hundred and fifty primary school teachers from five different provinces of Zimbabwe were randomly selected and participated in the study. The data were collected using a questionnaire. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 was used to perform the descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. The results revealed that primary school teachers in primary schools of Zimbabwe lacked training in the implementation of inclusive education for children with learning disabilities. The findings also indicated that most of the teachers in schools do not have the expertise to deal with learning disabilities in a teaching learning-situation mainstream class. It also emerged in the current study that teachers in the mainstream primary schools are not adequately trained to identify children with learning disabilities in their classes and how they should assist them.