PRESCHOOL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN SAUDI ARABIA

Hibah Sultan Alharbi

doi:10.7273/000004447

The role of parents in early childhood special education is critical and highly discussed among researchers. Parental involvement is a fundamental factor in preschoolers’ education and their overall development. However, parental involvement of preschoolers with disabilities is still not fully discussed in Saudi Arabian research. This qualitative study Preschool Teachers’ Perceptions of Parental Involvement of Students with Disabilities in Saudi Arabia . Five research questions were developed to explore teachers’ perceptions regarding the ways of parental involvement, barriers, and solutions to improve parental involvement in preschool. The theoretical framework for this study was Epstein’s model of parental involvement. The data were collected from 20 teachers to be interviewed, the participant were 10 general education teachers and 10 special education teachers sampled from five different schools in the current academic year in Tabuk City, Saudi Arabia. The data were then analyzed and categorized into five main themes (a) teacher’s and parent’s roles and responsibilities, (b) ways of building effective parental involvement, (c) differences in parental involvement between parents of students with and without disabilities, (d) barriers to parental involvement, and (e) changes to improve parental involvement. The findings indicate that teachers and parents have critical duties and responsibilities to ensure parental involvement is active in preschools. The study also emphasized the benefits of parental involvement including setting a firm foundation for students’ educational achievement and enhancing collaboration between teachers and parents. The study highlighted barriers to parental involvement included teachers’ and parents’ lack of disability awareness and parents’ lack of resources. The result showed viable changes to improve parental involvement including creating awareness and sharing parental involvement expectations and improving university teacher preparation programs to include topics of parental involvement. The findings also suggested that the school represented by the administration staff role is very important to promote an effective parental involvement by organizing conferences meetings, seminars, and development programs for in-service teachers. The study also found that there is a need to develop an awareness of disability and special education to parents and general education teachers . Based on the study findings, several recommendations for future research are discussed.

PRESCHOOL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN SAUDI ARABIA

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