TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE AS PREDICTORS OF INCLUSIVE SPORTS PARTICIPATION AMONG SPECIAL NEEDS PUPILS IN SPECIAL SCHOOL FOR THE HANDICAPPED OYO

RASHEED, M. A. (Ph.D)

Abstract

This study was designed to ascertain teacher qualification and experience as predictors for
inclusive sports participation among special needs pupils in special school for the handicapped
Oyo, Oyo State. The population consisted of teachers and pupils in Oyo special school for the
handicapped. Two hundred and sixteen (216) respondents were stratified and purposively
selected. The instrument used for data collection was self developed questionnaire with three
scales that yielded the following reliability values through Cronbanch alpha; Teacher
Qualification Scale (TQS) = 0.77, Experience Scale (ES) = 0.79 and Inclusive Sports
Participation Scale (ISPS) =0.71. Frequency counts and percentage were used for demographic
data while multiple regression statistic was used to test the hypotheses. The null hypotheses
tested at 0.05 alpha level were rejected which implying thateducational qualification and
experience were relatively and compositely significant to predicts sports participation among
special needs pupils in special school for the handicapped Oyo, Oyo State. Based on the results,
it was recommended that academically sound and knowledgeable teacher on inclusive sports
should be employed to enhance sports participation among pupils in special schools. In addition,
in-service training should be organized for the existing teachers on area of special sports for the
special needs in all special schools