Towards Inclusive Education in Art and Design Programmes: An Enquiry into the Availability of Resources and Support Systems

Abstract

Inclusive education represents the idea of recognising diverse students with disabilities and special needs who were hitherto traditionally educated through special education systems, the right and privilege to be fully educated in the mainstream schools alongside their regular peers. It also requires that, learners with disability and special-needs be provided with adequate resources and supports to meaningfully access the mainstream schools. This study therefore sought to examine the resources and support systems available for the implementation of inclusive education in one of Ghana’s public universities. The researchers adopted the phenomenological paradigm of the qualitative design and case study approach, which involved the Departments of Graphic Design and Art Education, with the Department of Special Education used to complement data. To gather compelling data in accord with the overarching aim of the study, in-depth interviews and observations were conducted along with simple frequency counts from the students’ questionnaire. The findings from the study suggest that the lecturers and their students with special-needs/disabilities mostly agreed they were under-resourced, and this negatively affected the effective implementation of inclusive education in the University. Amongst the thoughts proffered as a way out was the need for the university authorities to formulate and operationalise a strategic plan toward the provision, regular impact assessment and maintenance of resources and support services for students with special-needs and disabilities.