Knowledge, Perceptions and Attitudes of Pre-Service Teachers Toward Inclusive Education in Lagos State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study evaluate the knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes of the pre-service teachers toward the inclusive education in Lagos State, Nigeria, at a time when the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 and the revised National Policy on the Inclusive Education (2023) have created a very strong legislative mandate for the inclusion that classroom practice has yet to meet up with. Rooted in a post-positivist paradigm and employing a descriptive cross-sectional survey design, the study collected data from 34 final-year pre-service teachers across universities and the colleges of education in Lagos State using the adapted Pre-Service Teacher Inclusive Readiness Questionnaire (PTIRQ). Data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and frequency distributions. The outcomes indicate that pre-service teachers hold a moderate-to-strong theoretical knowledge of inclusive principles, a generally optimistic, rights-based orientation toward inclusion, and positive attitudes toward teaching learners with disabilities, while expressing some apprehension about their practical readiness to manage changing classrooms. The findings suggest that an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Lagos State is succeeding in transmitting the conceptual and moral case for an inclusion but leaves the graduating teachers under-prepared in the applied competencies differentiation, behavioral management, and collaboration with specialists that translate their belief into classroom practice. The study recommends a curriculum reform in ITE programme, expanded practicum placements in an inclusive settings, and closer attention to the limitation that this early-career optimism may not survive using the first contact with an under-resourced schools.