Inclusive School Management: Transforming Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

It is widely accepted that inclusive education provides equal opportunities for special needs students to learn alongside many other students in the same environment, fostering an attitude of respect for differences and providing services to each child based on their specific needs. However, poor infrastructure, such as network issues, power outages, inaccessibility and unavailability, and a lack of digital skills, impedes online education. Therefore, the current study was aimed at finding out the differences in learning after and before the COVID-19 pandemic. This study adopted a mixed-method design, with a qualitative phenomenological method employing in-depth interviews and a crosssectional design employing a pre-posttest design for quantitative data, with a population consisting of all-inclusive school teachers from settings. The samples of this research were special assistant teachers teach with a total of three teachers per inclusive school for quantitative data and a minimum of eight teachers per inclusive school until for qualitative data. The data analysis was undertaken both quantitatively and qualitatively. In terms of quantitative analysis, a t-test was run to determine the difference in learning before and after the COVID-19 and a descriptive analysis for qualitative data. A triangulation was also employed after the data were collected for validation. Based on the findings, it is possible to conclude that the administration of inclusive schools has begun to adapt to the current pandemic conditions, which necessitate the completion of all teaching and learning activities online. The current study has a number of implications and limitations.