Exploring the Facilitators and Barriers to Full Participation of Male and Female Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Saudi Elementary Inclusive Schools

Field: Social Sciences (Social Sciences)

Full participation of all students in inclusive schools has become a global concern in many countries as they move towards inclusive education and inclusive teaching. This study explored the current state of full participation of Saudi elementary students (6-12 years) who are deaf or hard of hearing and gained insights into the nature of the facilitators and barriers to full participation analysed through inclusive teaching concepts and practices, and Vygotsky‟s cultural-historical theoretical lenses. A sequencial explanatory mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative approaches, encompassing questionnaires and interviews were utilised to collect data from teachers, parents and students who are deaf/hard of hearing in Riyadh and Jazan in Saudi Arabia. The participants included 66 teachers from Riyadh and 82 teachers from Jazan who completed a 65-item questionnaire. In addition, eight teachers, six parents and five students participated in semi-structured interviews. A framework analysis of the data identified that the participants did not fully understand inclusive education, inclusive teaching and full participation. The participants referred to inclusion as integration and inclusive teaching as active teaching approaches. Again, full participation was conceptualised in terms of access to inclusive schools. In the participating elementary schools, while students who are deaf/hard of hearing expressed the desire to learn with their peers without a disability, they only had the opportunity to socialise with their peers during break and mealtimes, and were pulled out into disability groupings in their own self-contained classrooms or resource rooms. The schools thus treated students who are deaf or hard of hearing as an add-on to their student population on a socialising basis. Full participation of students who are deaf or hard of hearing and inclusive teaching are complex tasks that require support and a joint effort from a range of stakeholders. Key barriers identified in this study include: lack of specialised professionals and services to support students‟ communication, unfavourable attitudes towards the concept of full participation of students who are deaf or hard of hearing in the same classrooms and segregation of students into separate classrooms based on their disability. Others are inadequate professional knowledge of general education teachers to teach students who are deaf or hard of hearing, workload issues and inadequate technological resources to cater to the needs of all students. Effective communication between teachers and parents, clear policy guidelines for full participation, specialist provision and training of teachers were identified as key facilitators to enhance the implementation of full participation in inclusive elementary schools in Saudi Arabia. These findings have led to context-specific recommendations that may help transform inclusive education, inclusive teaching and full participation of all students, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing in Saudi inclusive elementary schools