Frank Owusu Sekyere

2 Publications in AERD

Author Publications

Teachers' Levels of Knowledge and Attitudes towards the Inclusion of Children with Special Educational Needs in Regular Classrooms

By Asare Kotor

Teachers' attitudes and levels of knowledge about inclusion and teaching children with special needs have become a sensitive issue over the past decades. The fact that a majority of teachers demonstrate limited knowledge and understanding of children with special educational needs (SEN), and thus have more negative attitudes towards teaching these children in mainstream classrooms, may significantly influence the quality of life and academic success of these children in schools. This cross-sectional study explored the levels of knowledge of and attitudes towards SEN among teachers in public basic schools in Ghana. Most participants had limited knowledge and understanding of teaching children with SEN and showed more negative attitudes towards children with SEN. There were significantly different levels of knowledge and understanding of children with SEN and attitudes towards children with SEN across baseline characteristics. The study results enrich the existing knowledge base on inclusion and contribute significantly to inclusive education policy development as well as indicating the potential for changes in practices.

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Managing conflictual teacher-child relationship in pre-schools: A preliminary test of the job resources buffering-effect hypothesis in an emerging economy

By Michael Osei Aboagye

As early childhood education in low- and middle-income countries experience (LMICs) rapid change, teachers’ wellbeing and the quality of their classroom relational practices have emerged as important issues. This study employed the energetic process of health impairment of job demands, and the buffering hypothesis of job resources of the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory in the stressor–strain–outcome framework, to examine (1) the relationship between teacher burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion “EE”) and conflict teacher-child relationship (TCR), and (2) the buffering effect of job resources (i.e., job autonomy “JA” and job reward “JR”) in the burnout–conflict TCR link. Data was collected from pre-school teaching staff in Ghana (N = 285). High EE was associated with high levels of conflict TCR, and high JA and JR buffered the EE–conflict TCR relation significantly. The findings provide critical preliminary evidence for teacher burnout preventive and treatment intervention programs (i.e., managing burnout effects on conflict TCR through strategic allocation of school-level resources) in pre-schools in LMICs, where children and youth education remain a major policy issue. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

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