Student Teachers' Attitudes and Concerns about Inclusive Education in Ghana and Botswana.

Introduction The governments of Ghana and Botswana since the 1990s have made various attempts at meeting their commitment to the inclusive education goals as enshrined in the Salamanca Declaration of 1994. In Ghana, apart from the implementing the Community-Based Rehabilitation program which led to the initiation of inclusive education programs in participating districts, some attempts have been made to collaborate with non-governmental organisations to organise inclusive education programs in other districts. In addition, some effort has been made at increasing teachers' knowledge of inclusive education through in-service training programs and new courses in teacher training colleges. Teacher education in Ghana takes place at two levels: Initial Teacher Training Colleges (ITTCs) and Universities. The ITTCs--numbering 20--provide training for teachers in primary and Junior High Schools, while Universities provide training to teachers in Senior High Schools. Historically, the ITTCs were part of the second tier of education until 2007 when they were redesignated as tertiary level institutions. They now award a professional Diploma of Education (Teaching) qualification instead of a professional teaching certificate. The University of Cape Coast and University of Education, Winneba provide professional teacher education undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Prior to the inclusive education initiative under the Community-Based Rehabilitation program, only the Advanced College of Special Education in Mampong-Akwapim delivered courses in special education at an intensive and more specialised level. Many ITTCs provided fairly limited introductory knowledge of special needs education. In 1989, the government introduced special education content into the curriculum of initial teacher programs beginning with an in-service training for 40 tutors drawn from the 20 ITTCs in Ghana. Trainees were required to design new curriculum materials and to deliver such units to their students, beginning in 1990 (Kuyini, 2004). This effort was part of the recommendations of the UNESCO Consultative Committee On Special Needs, which endorsed the concurrent implementation of a CBR and Inclusive education program in 1988. The UNESCO Teachers' Resource Pack (RP) on Special Needs in the Classroom was used for the training of the teachers for inclusive education during the initiation phase. The package was also used for the Pilot Action Research Project (PARP); a teacher training program aimed at sustaining the inclusive education knowledge and skills in the ITTCs and schools. The PARP reinforced the incorporation of inclusive education content into the curriculum of initial teacher training colleges in Ghana, beginning 1995 (Kuyini, 2004; Ofori-Addo, Worgbeyi & Tay,1999). Furthermore university-based teacher education courses at the Universities in Cape Coast and Winneba, increased offerings of special education electives at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In Botswana, the government's commitment to inclusive education--defined narrowly here as the process of admitting children with disabilities and special learning needs to the local school, to be educated alongside their local community peers--saw the recent opening of a special education outfit in the office of the president. This follows earlier policy actions on teacher education that led to large numbers of regular education teachers being sponsored to pursue special education courses in various countries and the establishment of the special education unit in the Ministry of Skills and Development in Education (GoB, 1994). Further, The Revised National Policy in Education (RNPE) (1994), which emphasised access to education for the disadvantaged and students with disabilities (Dart, 2007), also sought to capacitate teachers to implement school reforms such as inclusive education. To this end, the training of teachers for special education received considerable attention. …