This research concentrates on the newly established integrated primary school for girls which have been created to allow children with a range of special needs to work with mainstream children. The research investigates and analyses the experience of integration in Saudi primary schools from the perspective of head teachers, classroom teachers, and special needs teachers as they attempted to improve the primary school as an effective place of learning for both handicapped and nonhandicapped children. The fieldwork was conducted in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Outcomes of the study came from an examination of the existing literature and data collected in thirty integrated primary schools for girls. Data were gathered from a questionnaire and interviews. Questionnaire data were gathered from 240 integrated primary school staff, and interview data was collected from 24 of them. The study was confined to head teachers, the classroom teachers who were in charge of special needs in the classrooms they teach, and all the special needs teachers. An attempt has been made to set the Saudi experience against other Arab countries and the USA and UK through the research and educational literature. The thesis is organised into eight chapters: Chapter One: presents a brief introduction which includes a statement of the problem under review, the significance of the study and its purpose, the research hypotheses, limitation of the study and a definition of terms; Chapter Two: deals with the Saudi Arabian background-both its physical and cultural background and the organisation of the education system; Chapter Three: describes primary education in Saudi Arabia; Chapter Four: concerns the development of integration in Saudi Arabia; Chapter Five: presents an analysis of the research methodology; Chapter Six: this major section presents the questionnaire analysis; Chapter Seven: presents the interview analysis; Chapter Eight includes a review, conclusions and recommendations. The thesis considered the following main issues in relation to the difficulties in achieving successful integration in Saudi Arabia: educational policy and the powers of head teachers; the school itself and its facilities; the attitude of society; and the funds available; the attitudes of the staff to innovation. The thesis raises more precise issues related to the staff which seemed significant factors in the integrated primary schools. These issues are the age of staff, lack of experience; the level of training among the staff; and staff qualifications. Also, the thesis considered the necessity to improve staff morale and professionalism as one of the main criteria for successful integration. The study considered that the Ministry of Education and some other ministries in the country have a vital role in achieving successful integration. It was found that all of these aspects needed development. The thesis ends by drawing conclusions from the literature and from the evidence collected in the form of data and makes recommendations to the education authorities for making appropriate policy decisions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:569189 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Khusheim, Salwa Mostafa |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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