Teachers' Attitude and Competence in the Use of Assistive Technologies in Special Needs Schools

This study examined teachers' attitude and competence in the use of assistive technologies in special needs schools. The descriptive survey method was employed for the study among 100 teachers who were drawn using purposive sampling technique from special needs schools in Osun State, Nigeria. Six research questions were generated while four hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. A researcher-constructed questionnaire tagged "Teachers' Attitude and Competence in the Use of Assistive Technology Questionnaire" ("TACUATQ") was used for data collection. The instrument was administered on 20 selected teachers outside the sample location through test-retest method; it yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.85 through Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistics. Data were analysed with percentage, mean and rank order, t-test and ANOVA statistical tools. The findings revealed that teachers have a positive attitude towards the use of assistive technologies. However, teachers were not competent in the use of assistive technologies. Gender and teaching experience did not influence teachers' attitude and competence in the use of assistive technologies. It was recommended among other things that teachers should be trained and re-trained on the use of assistive technology for students with speech disorders, visual impairments, hearing impairments, physical impairments and emotional and behavioural disorders.

Publisher: Babes-Bolyai University