Browsing by Author "Mkongo, Joyce"

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    Attitude towards inclusive education and self-efficacy as determinants of academic performance of students with disabilities in Tanzanian inclusive primary schools
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2009) Mkongo, Joyce
    Inadequate learning for students with disabilities (SWD) depicted in learning provided for the SWD is evidently an educational problem in Tanzania. The study explored self efficacy and attitude toward inclusive education as correlates of academic performance among students with disabilities in Tanzanian inclusive primary schools. This study was guided by three specific objectives which were; first to examine the relationship between self efficacy of students with disabilities and their attitudes toward inclusive education. Second to examine the relationship between attitudes of SWD towards inclusive education and general academic performance. Third to explore the relationship between SWD’s self efficacy and general academic performance. Purposive and random sampling procedures were used to select a sample of 160 participants in the study. Correlation design was used in guiding the study. The study observed that there was a significant difference in self efficacy between students with a negative attitude towards inclusive education and students with a positive attitude towards inclusive education χ2 (2, n =160) = 15.96, p = 0.0005, Phi = 0.34. An effect size of Phi = 0.34 indicated that the association of the variables was moderate. Students with high level of self efficacy had a positive attitude while those with low self efficacy had a negative attitude toward inclusive education. In addition, the study found out that there was no correlation between attitude toward inclusive education and general academic performance, as the statistics reveals that there was no significant difference in mean scores for students with a negative attitude towards inclusive education (M=43.03, SD=20.28) and students with positive attitude towards inclusive education [M= 45.43, SD=18.62; t (160) = -8.12, p = 0.418]; with small difference in the means (eta squared= 0.036). [r=.00, n=160]. It was observed that there was a moderate positive correlation but significant [r=.38**, n=160, p=0.05] between self efficacy and general performance among students with disabilities. The results revealed that the general performance of SWD was not good as most of them (77.6 %) performed below average. The study recommended that education specialists need to rethink ways of improving academic performance among students with disabilities. Teachers, parents and society at large need to train SWD on self efficacy in order tom raise the level of their self efficacy. Also, students should be aware of the association between their self efficacy and their performance, as this might lead to their improvement in attitude and ultimately in their general performance. Special Education Units at Universities, Ministry of Education and Teacher Education Institutions in Tanzania should develop programme aimed at training students with disabilities on self efficacy in order to improve it from low to high for the improvement of their academic performance. The study recommended more studies to be carried with improved instruments. There is a need to conduct research to explore the controversial link revealed in this study between attitude and academic performance and to find out what determines the attitude of students with disabilities toward inclusive education