Inclusive Education? Disability, Culture, Teaching and Classroom Management in Libya
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University of Huddersfield Repository Ethabti, Mohamed Inclusive Education? Disability, Culture, Teaching and Classroom Management in Libya Original Citation Ethabti, Mohamed (2015) Inclusive Education? Disability, Culture, Teaching and Classroom Management in Libya. Doctoral thesis, University of Huddersfield. This version is available at http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/27177/ The University Repository is a digital collection of the research output of the University, available on Open Access. Copyright and Moral Rights for the items on this site are retained by the individual author and/or other copyright owners. Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. For more information, including our policy and submission procedure, please contact the Repository Team at: [email protected]. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/ INCLUSIVE EDUCATION? DISABILITY, CULTURE, TEACHING AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT IN LIBYA MOHAMED HMID ETHABTI A thesis submitted to the University of Huddersfield In partial fulfillment of the requirements for The degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Huddersfield 2015 ABSTRACT Inclusive education is a recent phenomenon in the education system in Libya. It is about giving equal educational opportunities to all students, whether with disabilities or, not in the mainstream school or classroom. Schools are considered as social institutions that should endeavour to enhance all children’s lives through appropriate teaching and learning practices. However, the school culture, which is generally defined as ‘how things are done here’ is vital for the promotion of inclusive education. The aim of this study were to explore teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards inclusive education practice in supporting children with disabilities in Libya taking into account the findings of the General People’s Committee of Education report (GPCE,2008). Teachers appeared to play a vital role in enhancing inclusive education through their practices. In order to achieve this aim, the study includes a focused literature review of areas including inclusive education, disability and school culture. Given the nature of this research an interpretive epistemological position was adopted. This study adopts qualitative analysis to collect and analyse the data and present the findings. Content analysis was used for analysing qualitative data gathered via semi-structured interviews. A total of 36 interviews were conducted, with 12 teachers from special schools, 12 teachers from primary schools and 12 teachers from secondary schools. Results from the qualitative data indicated that teachers support inclusive education, however, they had reservations on the inclusion of students with severe disabilities. Several factors were identified to influence teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion. The most common factors were the severity of disability that the students had, inadequate training of teachers on teaching students with disabilities, inadequate government funding, lack of specialised resource personnel, lack of appropriate equipment and resources to support students and teachers in the teaching and learning process. Limited commitment from the Ministry of Education and limited participation and consultation of teachers on policy and curriculum design were also identified as contributing factors for non-inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream schools. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Praise and thanks must be given first to Allah, who has provided me with health, patience, courage, and knowledge to complete this research. I want to acknowledge all those who have supported me in the completion of this thesis. It has been a challenging and exciting journey. I sincerely wish to give my deepest thanks and appreciation to my old supervisor, Professor Glenn Hardaker. His continuous encouragement and support are acknowledged. Special thanks to my two new supervisors Dr Denis Feather and Mrs Kathryn McDermott for their guidance and support throughout the writing of this thesis. Thanks Dr Denis, he has been always available and contactable for me any time. I have learnt a lot from his experience and I owe him a great deal. Words cannot express all I would have liked to say in gratitude to him. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Libyan Ministry of Higher Education and the Libyan Embassy in London. They gave me the chance of study leave to pursue my postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom. Very special thanks to all of them. Last but not least I would like to thank all members of my family, especially my parents, my sister, and my brothers; I owe a lot to their encouragement, support and prayers; To my wife and my daughters express my deepest and sincerest gratitude for their help, support, patience, understanding and encouragement during the entire PhD programme. I am also thankful to all my friends in Libya and I would also like to thank my friends at the University of Huddersfield and a number of other people who helped me. 2 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to: My beloved mother and father; I have tried to achieve their dream to complete my study. They encourage me to be the best I can be, to have high expectations and to fight hard for what I believe. They have also provided me with the best opportunities in life. My wife; the sun of my life was a great tower of strength during our time in the United Kingdom. She has always been waiting patiently for the last couple years for me to come to a successful ending in this PhD journey. Her practical and prayerful support, her confidence in me, taking care of the children, keeping the house together, comforting me and, most importantly, loving me, enabled me to cope with the changes and stresses that accompany life and study in another country. I could not have done it without her. She shares in my success and I will be forever grateful to her for her loving support. My beautiful daughters; the stars of my life. I do not forget them and thank my daughters for their patience during my study. 3 ABBREVIATIONS DfES Department for Education and Skills EFA Education for All GAIT The General Authority for Information and Telecommunication GPC General People’s Committee GPCE General People’s Committee of Education ICE International Conference on Education OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development NTC The National Transitional Council UN United Nations UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation WHO The World Health Organisation 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………….1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………………2 DEDICATION ……………………………………………………………………………….3 ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………………………………………………….4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………………………5 LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………………………11 LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………………………………………..12 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………...13 1.1 Short Overview of the Researcher……………………………………………………….16 1.2 Problems of the study ……………………………………………………………………17 1.3 Research Aim ……………………………………………………………………...........19 1.4 Research objectives ……….…………………………………………………...………...19 1.5 Literature Review......………………...…………………………………………………..20 1.6 Statement of Methodology.....……………………………………………………………20 1.7 The importance of research.……………………………………………………………...20 1.8 The Structure of the thesis ……………………………………………………………….21 CHAPTER 2 LIBYAN CONTEXT 2.0 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………...23 2.1 LIBYA …………………………………………………………………………………...23 2.1.1 The social environment in Libya………………………………………………….........24 5 2.1.2 Economic challenge.………………………………………………………..……….....26 2.2 Brief History of Education in Libya……………………………………………………...29 2.2.1 Libyan Education during the Turkish Rule (1520-1911)………………………………30 2.2.2 Education during the Italian occupation (1911-1943)………………………………….30 2.2.3 Education during the British administration (1943-1951)……………………………..31 2.2.4 Education after (1970)………………………………………………………………….33 2.3 Objectives of Education in Libya………………………………………………………...34 2.4 Structure of Education System in Libya………………………………………………….35 2.5 Compulsory Education…………………………………………………………………...36 2.5.1 Elementary Education………………………………………………………………….37 2.5.2 Preparatory Education (Junior High School Level)……………………………………39 2.6 Curriculum Aims of the Schools……………………………………………………........40 2.7 Persons with disabilities………………...………………………………………………..41 2.7.1 Background of child disabilities………………………………………………………..44 2.7.2 Schools for disabilities…………………………………………………………………44 2.8 Cultural perspective of inclusion in the in Libya………………………………………...45 2.9 Current vision of inclusive education in Libya……..……………………………………49 2.9.1 Segregation or inclusive education…………………………………………………….53 2.10 Summary of the chapter…………………………………………………………...…...54 CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEW 3.0 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………...56 3.1 Setting the Scene for Inclusive Education……………………………………………….57 3.1.1 Definition of Inclusive Education……………………………………………………...57 6 3.1.2 Principles of inclusive education……………………………………………………….62 3.2 Perspectives on inclusion of children