Head teacher-parent collaboration policies usefulness for the improvement of inclusive education in public primary schools in Meru county, Kenya

Abstract

Through head teacher-parent collaboration, Inclusive education can be improved. The purpose of the study was to analyse the usefulness of head teacher-parent collaboration policies for the improvement of inclusive education in regular public primary schools in Meru County. The objective of the study was to examine the usefulness of policies that govern head teacher-parent collaboration for the improvement of inclusive education. The significance of the study was to inform education policy makers, who need the study results to evaluate the current policies on inclusion and formulate appropriate ones for promoting head teacher-parent collaboration to improve the status of inclusive education for all learners. The study was guided by Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems theory and Peters’ input-process-outcome-context framework of Inclusive Education. Qualitative research approach method was predominantly used. The target population was 101,612. Through purposive sampling, 24 participants were selected. The study instruments used included; questionnaires, interview schedules, focus group discussion guide, observations and documents’ analysis schedules. Qualitative data analysis was done with the help of computer package, ATLAS. ti. The study findings were presented using narratives within themes generated from the collected data. The findings indicated that head teacher-parent collaboration policy context enhanced the improvement of inclusive education. Most of the schools used informal policies. It was concluded that, head teacher-parent collaboration policy context is crucial to the improvement of inclusive education. It was recommended that the Ministry of Education should formulate appropriate inclusive education policies.