TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR PREPAREDNESS FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN ONE INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE SCHOOL IN ASTANA

Abstract

Inclusive education has received increasing prominence both globally and nationally in the past couple of decades. Today, students previously referred to special education are educated in mainstream classrooms in Kazakhstan. General educators are in charge of educating students with diverse educational needs regardless of their abilities and their role is critical in the discourse on the realization of inclusive education. This qualitative phenomenological research explored how prepared teachers feel to address the needs of a diverse student body. Additionally, it examined teachers' present knowledge base for effective classroom instruction and uncovered challenges teachers face in inclusive classrooms. The study's central research question asked how teachers perceive their preparedness to educate students with diverse educational needs? The researcher used semi-structured interviews to collect the data from eight study participants...