Inclusive teaching practices and challenges encountered among mainstream elementary teachers in public school

Abstract

This study determined the relationship between the inclusive teaching practices employed by mainstream elementary teachers and the challenges encountered in implementing inclusive education at Mainggit Elementary School in the Division of Toledo City during the School Year 2025–2026, as a basis for a proposed Teachers’ Development Plan. A descriptive-correlational research design was employed from 36 teachers using a validated 4-point Likert-scale questionnaire adapted from the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices (TEIP) Scale developed by Sharma, Forlin, and Loreman (2012). Descriptive and inferential statistics at a 0.05 level of significance were used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that in terms of the profile of the respondents, the majority of the teachers were aged 31–40 years (38.38%), female (83.33%), teaching for 21 years and above (33.33%), with a Bachelor’s degree and masteral units in education (77.78%). The majority of teachers are teacher III (72.22%), and 36.36% have not attended seminars or training on inclusive education. In addition, the teachers’ teaching practices are categorized at a “very high” level, while the challenges encountered in implementing inclusive education are rated at a moderate level. Further, pointed out that there is a significant relationship at α=0.05 in teachers’ profiles and inclusive teaching practices. There is a strong negative relationship between inclusive teaching practices and the challenges encountered; thus, it is recommended that teacher development plans, training, and seminars be implemented to reduce teachers’ burden with large class sizes, lack of teaching materials or adaptive tools, and limited SPED resource teachers.