Investigation of Principals’ Attitude towards Inclusion of Special Needs Students in Public and Private Secondary Schools in Rivers State, Nigeria

The study examined principals’ attitude and factors that influence their attitudes towards implementation of inclusive education in secondary schools in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State, Nigeria. A survey design was used and samples of 116 principals through stratified random sampling were selected. Data on principals’ attitude towards inclusion regarding their knowledge of special education, type of school, gender and years of service in general education setting were collected using an adapted instrument titled: Scale of Teachers’ Attitude Towards Inclusive Classroom (STATIC) developed by Cochran (1997). The instrument has a reliability coefficient of 89. Data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Result indicates that high percentage of school heads had positive attitude towards inclusion. Principals with knowledge of special education showed high positive attitude towards inclusion than those without prior knowledge. Gender, years of service, and the type of school they head (public/private) did not produce significant difference. Every Principal should have fair knowledge of inclusive education for proper implementation of inclusive education because the principals’ role cannot be overemphasized. This study will spur more research on the role of principals’ attitude in the implementation of inclusive education in Nigeria and the need to improve their knowledge on special education.