An Investigation into the Attitudes of Headteachers and Teachers
towards the Inclusion of Children with Special Educational Needs in the
Regular School in Four Education Regions of Zimbabwe

The study was aimed at investigating the extent to which attitudes of Headteachers and teachers in four education regions of Zimbabwe were amenable to the policies and practices of inclusion of children with special educational needs into the ordinary schools. This investigation was impelled by observations of trends in international educational developments that tend to bring the education of children with special needs for into the fore, than let it remain in the periphery of the main education system. The Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture in Zimbabwe subscribes to various international conventions, that address inclusion in education, it was therefore, felt that to investigate the attitudes of those directly involved with the implementation of educational policy would, in a way, reveal whether or not such pedagogic policies and practices, can be well received. The approach to study these attitudes followed Spooncer's (1992) tripartite model to the study of attitudes.

The methodology to undertake this study involved the researcher having to travel to Zimbabwe. Both the questionnaire and the interviews were used as a means of data collection. The use of a mixed approach was arrived at after evaluating the pros and cons of both the qualitative and quantitative approaches. The data processing of the questionnaire was done electronically by computer. Inferential statistics produced results from which could be derived discussions. Interviews were held initially while the researcher was in Zimbabwe. However, further interviews were conducted by telephone from England to interviewees in Zimbabwe.

Most of the tests done between and among the identified groups, produced results which showed non-significant differences in attitudes. The results seem to show that overly, teachers and headteachers have fairly positive attitudes towards the inclusion of children with Special Educational Needs into the regular school. The prevalence of these attitudes seems also to be randomly fairly widespread in the four identified regions.