Attitudes of teachers towards learner diversity and inclusive education at basic education level in Lesotho

Abstract

The 21 st century learners can present challenges to regular education school contexts as they come from diverse cultural, religious, and socioeconomic status backgrounds; have different abilities or disabilities, gender orientation, ethnicity etc. This study looks at teachers’ attitudes towards learner diversity and explores how teachers accommodate diverse learners in mainstream primary and secondary schools in Lesotho. Data for the study was collected using a qualitative approach utilising a case study design and was analysed through an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Thirty teachers participated in the study through focusgroup discussions and semi-structured interviews. Results reveal that teachers understood in theory what inclusive education is but had no idea how to implement it in their classrooms. Teachers explained the following as some of their barriers to accommodating learner diversity in schools: lack of in-service training, inadequate support from Ministry of Education and Training, the nature of learners’ disability for which they were not trained to support and there was lack of resources to enable such support, high learner-teacher ratios, and as well as unclear policy which mandate them to accommodate learner diversity. The study recommends that the MOET establish teachers’ need for training, develop an inclusive education policy which should describe how learners should be supported and what resources would be needed for the support.