Authors : Adefunke Ayomide Olaoye

Volume/Issue : Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 9 - September

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/2fwrfth3

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26sep1176

Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.

Abstract : This study explain the knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, and the institutional preparedness of the practicing (in-service) teachers toward an inclusive education in Lagos State, Nigeria, against a backdrop of the enabling legislation the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 and the revised National Policy on the Inclusive Education (2023) that has not summarized into the same readiness gap on the ground. Grounded in a post-positivist paradigm and employing a descriptive cross-sectional survey design, the study got the data from 31 practicing teachers across public and private primary and secondary schools using the adapted In-Service Teacher Inclusive Readiness Questionnaire (ITIRQ). The Data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics and frequency distributions. The Results show that the in-service teachers hold a considerable knowledge of an inclusive education, often acquired informally through an experience rather than a structured training, alongside the generally positive attitudes toward an inclusion that are tempered by the pronounced pessimism about the usefulness of the implementation. A majority strongly agreed that an inclusion is unrealistic in the overcrowded classrooms, cited rigid curricula and scarce specialist support as the major disadvantages, and reported that their schools lack the basic facilities such as ramps and resource rooms. The study identifies this pattern as a form of "reality shock," in which the demands of an under-resourced system change the practitioners' perceptions even where their attitudes toward an inclusion remain broadly positive. The findings explains the need for a mandatory, sustained professional development, targeted infrastructure investment, and the stronger institutional support to close the gap between a policy intent and classroom practice.

Keywords : Inclusive Education; In-Service Teachers; Institutional Preparedness; Teacher Attitudes; Reality Shock; Lagos State; Nigeria.

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