Ethiopian Principals' Perceptions Towards the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities in Primary Schools

The purpose of the study is to explore an international development assistance project in the education sector in Ethiopia, with an explicit focus on inclusive education for students with disabilities. In particular, the author explores the critical role of the principal as a leader who has the ability to maximize his or her school's ability to include and develop the capabilities of students in Ethiopia. Findings from this study can derive lessons that could be useful for designing and implementing locally tailored and driven inclusive education programs in other resource-lean contexts. The author will specifically examine perceptions of principals towards students with disabilities in Ethiopian primary schools. The perceptions will be used to better understand the conditions, including supporting factors, necessary to successfully implement an inclusion program in Ethiopian schools, many of which have no history of inclusion and are resource poor. Thick and rich description of principal perceptions will be provided through a qualitative case study approach. The case was bounded by the participation in an Assistive Technology Capacity Building Initiative (ATCBI), situated within a larger mother tongue education development project in Ethiopia. Principal participants were interviewed twice during this initiative. Each of the principals had at least one teacher at his/her school who was participating in the ATCBI and these teachers in the initiative were interviewed and observed by the researcher as part of this study and the larger project.