Special Education Teachers' Experiences of Inclusive Practice for Students with Physical Disabilities in Punjab's Public Schools

Abstract

This qualitative phenomenological study aims to understand the lived experiences of special education teachers who are using inclusive practices with physically challenged students in public sector schools in Punjab, Pakistan. Although inclusive education is included in national and provincial policies, there is a gap between the national and classroom level, and special education teachers are key implementers of these policies but currently little known in the literature. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to gather data from 10 purposively selected special education teachers who had at least three years of special education experience teaching students with physical disabilities, using a descriptive Husserlian phenomenological design. Colaizzi's seven-step method was used to analyze the data. Five major themes emerged: teachers' varied understanding and interpretation of inclusive practices, structural and resource related challenges to implementing inclusive practices, expressions of emotional and professional challenges and/or resilience, informal coping and adaptive practices in the absence of formal practices, and inconsistent institutional and administrative support dependent largely on individual leadership rather than systemic enforcement. The results are discussed using the Social Model of Disability, which focuses on the barriers to inclusion in the environment and in institutions as opposed to the impairment of the student. The study provides practical suggestions for teacher training reform, allocation of resources and policy revision in order to bridge the gap between inclusive education policy and practice in public sector schools of Punjab.