Special Education Department, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
Res Dev Disabil. 2024 May;148:104720. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2024.104720. Epub 2024 Mar 12.
Research has indicated that the attitudes of principals toward students with disabilities may affect the success of the implementation of inclusive programs in schools. This study was designed to address a gap in the research regarding Saudi principals' attitudes toward inclusion. Relationships between attitudes and a number of variables were analyzed (i.e., gender, years of experience, level of school, type of student disability, personal relationships with individuals with disabilities).
The study sample was drawn from the 600 public general education elementary, middle, and high schools with special education programs in Riyadh (n = 366 schools) and Jeddah (n = 234 schools) in Saudi Arabia. Each of the principals of these schools for AY2022/2023 was sent an email invitation to participate. A total of 403 respondents (67.17% response rate) successfully completed Bailey's (2004) Principals' Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education (PATIE) scale via electronic survey link.
Overall, the research found that Saudi principals of public general education schools have positive attitudes toward inclusion. The factors of training in special education, personal experience with individuals with disabilities, and years of experience as principal were found to be significant in regard to more positive attitudes. Conversely, the variables of gender, level of school, and type of student disability were not found to correlate with more or less positive attitudes.
While the findings of the study bode well for the implementation of inclusion in Saudi public schools, certain limitations exist, including that the study sample was entirely drawn from the two largest cities in the country. In addition, the Saudi Ministry of Education has created an incentive plan that provides financial bonuses to principals at public schools who implement inclusive and special education programming in their schools. This indicates that the target population of this study might be more inclined to be positive toward inclusion than their colleagues at private schools. The findings have implications for expanding special education training in university teacher education programs and the creation of public awareness programs designed to improve understanding of disabilities and how inclusion positively impacts society as a whole.
研究表明，校长对残疾学生的态度可能会影响学校实施融合教育计划的成功。本研究旨在填补沙特校长对融合态度研究的空白。分析了态度与许多变量之间的关系（即性别、工作经验年限、学校级别、学生残疾类型、与残疾人的个人关系）。
研究样本来自沙特阿拉伯利雅得（n=366 所学校）和吉达（n=234 所学校）的 600 所公立普通教育小学、中学和高中，这些学校都有特殊教育项目。2022/2023 学年，每所学校的校长都收到了参与的电子邮件邀请。共有 403 名（67.17%的回应率）校长通过电子调查链接成功完成了 Bailey（2004）的《校长对融合教育的态度》（PATIE）量表。
总的来说，研究发现沙特公立普通教育学校的校长对融合持积极态度。发现特殊教育培训、个人残疾经历和担任校长年限等因素与更积极的态度显著相关。相反，性别、学校级别和学生残疾类型等变量与更积极或不那么积极的态度无关。
尽管研究结果对沙特公立学校实施融合教育是个好兆头，但仍存在一定的局限性，包括研究样本完全来自该国最大的两个城市。此外，沙特教育部制定了一项激励计划，为在学校实施融合和特殊教育计划的公立学校校长提供经济奖励。这表明，本研究的目标人群可能比私立学校的同事更倾向于对融合持积极态度。研究结果对扩大大学教师教育项目中的特殊教育培训以及创建旨在提高对残疾的理解以及融合如何积极影响整个社会的公众意识计划具有意义。
