Consciousness on Special Education: The Case of Secondary General Education Teachers in the Philippines

Abstract

The descriptive-survey research determines the consciousness of special education of the twenty-five purposively selected secondary general education teachers in the Philippines that caters to learners with special needs in the mainstreamed learning environment through a validated instrument. Descriptive statistical mean, t-test, frequency, percentage, and One-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data and interpreted based on the given scale. Results revealed that the secondary general education teachers' level of consciousness is Average. In addition, age has significantly contributed to the secondary general education teacher’s level of consciousness. The young’s ages 20 to 30 have a High Level than those who are older ages 41 years old and above. Whilst, it is contrary to the sex as it was found that it has no significant difference where females are more aware than males. Moreover, participants’ length of service showed a significant difference. Those new in service (0-5 years) were more aware than those who are already in service for a longer period (11 years & above). It showed further that the majority of the participants were familiar with some of the special needs like hearing impaired, visually impaired, and physical special needs, but they were unaware of autism, learning disability, intellectual disability, and traumatic brain injury. Based on the findings, intensive development on the consciousness of secondary general education teachers on special education should be given priority so that learners with special needs can access quality and meaningful education side by side with able learners.