Inclusive Education Practices in the 5IR as a Correlate of Sustainable Development Goal 4 in Public Junior Secondary Schools in Rivers State

Abstract

This study investigated inclusive education practices in the 5ir as a correlate of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) in public junior secondary schools in Rivers State. The study was guided by three objectives with corresponding research questions and hypotheses. The study adopted a correlation research design. The population of the study comprised of 7,492 teachers of all the 354 public junior secondary schools in Rivers State. A sample size of 749 respondents representing 10% of the total population was drawn through stratified sampling technique. The instrument for the study was a questionnaire of two sets titled: Inclusive Education Practices in the 5IR Assessment Scale (IEP5IRAS) and the Sustainable Development Goal 4 Assessment Scale (SDG4AS). The instrument was validated and the Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine its reliability, which yielded coefficients of 0.85 and 0.83 for IEP5IRAS and SDG4AS, respectively. Research questions were answered using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) statistics, while the hypotheses were tested with the same statistics at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is a very low and insignificant relationship between assistive technology, inclusive curriculum content, accessible learning environments as inclusive education practices in the 5IR and Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) in public junior secondary schools in Rivers State. Based on the findings, it was concluded that a very low and insignificant relationship exist between assistive technology, inclusive curriculum content, accessible learning environments as inclusive education practices in the 5IR and Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) in public junior secondary schools in Rivers State, and this suggests a significant gap between policy intentions and practical implementation of inclusive education practices. Consequently, it was recommended among others that the government via the Ministry of Education should make deliberate efforts to integrate assistive technology into teaching and learning processes through adequate funding, training, and policy support to advance the achievement of SDG4 in the 5IR context.