Enhancing quality of life for individuals with disabilities in Saudi Arabia: Teachers’ perspectives on the role of leadership in inclusive education

Background

Inclusive education is pivotal to enhancing the quality of life of individuals with disabilities by ensuring equal access to educational opportunities, fostering social inclusion, and providing necessary support and resources. Successful implementation depends on a range of systemic factors, such as policy, resources, teacher training, and leadership.

Aims

The goals of the study were to obtain insights from elementary school teachers on the role of school leaders in implementing IE and to identify the challenges these teachers identify to successful IE implementation.

Methods and procedure

Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with teachers recruited from three public primary schools. These data were supplemented by field notes and document analysis.

Results and outcomes

Analysis of the data identified several themes: school leaders have limited knowledge and understanding of those with disabilities, administrators lack adequate professional development and training on IE, lack of emphasis on collaboration between special and general education teachers, lack of transparency regarding how teachers are chosen for assignment to inclusive classrooms, and limited or no use of the official materials developed and provided by the Ministry of Education to implement inclusion.

Conclusions and implications

Certain steps should be taken to improve the implementation of IE in Saudi Arabia, including professional development on IE for administrators, greater collaboration on IE across school staff, and greater emphasis on the official IE manuals to ensure consistent and effective implementation of inclusion throughout the Saudi educational system.