INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF PRE-SERVICE AND IN-SERVICE TEACHERS

Authors

  • Sashapra Chakrawarty Department of Education, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tezpur University, Assam, India
  • Pratima Pallai Department of Education, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tezpur University, Assam, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v12i9.6173

Keywords:

inclusive education, children with special needs, teachers’ attitude, pre-service teachers, in-service teachers

Abstract

Inclusive Education advocates for equitable access to mainstream activities for all learners while using intentional and suitable methods to guarantee high-quality education for everyone. The present school system is progressively moving towards inclusivity. A crucial aspect in the successful inclusion of children with special needs is the attitude of both pre-service and in-service teachers toward integrating these students into their classrooms. This study aims to explore the perspectives of teachers on the integration of children with disabilities and to compare the attitudes of pre-service and in-service teachers toward inclusion. Further, it also seeks to mention some of the significant challenges that come across in classroom transactions and interviews with teachers. For the present study, a sample of 70 consisting of 35 pre-service and 35 in-service teachers has been taken from Tezpur city of Assam. In the present study, a standardized instrument titled the “Teacher Attitude Scale towards Inclusive Education,” developed by Dr. Vishal Sood and Dr. (Mrs.) Arti Anand was utilized to assess teachers' attitudes towards including special needs children. The results indicated that most teachers have positive views regarding the integration of children with special needs, and there were no notable variations in their attitudes. However, there exist significant challenges to implementing inclusion during classroom transactions. Henceforth, investigators have tried to highlight a few suggestions for the successful implementation of inclusion.

 

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Author Biographies

  • Sashapra Chakrawarty, Department of Education, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tezpur University, Assam, India

    Dr. Sashapra Chakrawarty currently serving as Associated Professor and Head in the Department of Education, Tezpur University (A Central University), Tezpur, Assam, India. She has 15 years of teaching and research experience. She completed Master in Botany from Ranchi University, M.Ed from R.I.E, Bhubaneswar, and Ph.D. in Education from  Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. Her few major areas of interest are pedagogy of Biological Sciences, ICT in education, Teacher Education, Inclusive Education, Curricular Studies to mention a few.                                         

    Institutional webpage: https://www.tezu.ernet.in/dedu/faculty/doc/Dr.SC.pdf

    ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2147-5642

  • Pratima Pallai, Department of Education, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tezpur University, Assam, India

    Dr. Pratima Pallai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at Tezpur University (Central), India. She holds the following qualifications: M.A, B.Ed., M.Ed., UGC -NET (Education) and PhD in Education. Her areas of interest are pedagogy of social sciences, ICT in education, teacher education and measurement and evaluation in education to mention but a few. She has widely published articles both at national and international accredited journals on the aforementioned research interests. Apart from acting as a resource person at different levels, she has also participated and presented research papers both at national and international seminars.                                             institutional webpage: https://www.tezu.ernet.in/dedu/faculty/doc/pratima.pdf

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Published

2025-07-31

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 9 (2025)

Section

Articles

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