Teachers’ Competence On The Use Of Assistive Technology Devices In Teaching Pupils With Hearing Impairment In Tanzania: A Case Of Selected Inclusive Primary Schools In Mwanza Municipality

ABSTRACT

Background: currently, there is a progressive increase of students with disabilities, particularly children with hearing impairment who need assistive technology to enhance their abilities in information management and communication in their daily life activities. Objective: this study was guided by four specific objectives including; to assess teachers’ conceptions on the use of assistive technology, to assess teachers’ competences on the use of assistive technology devices, to explore teachers’ opinions on learning opportunities by using assistive technology devices and to determine the challenges facing special needs education teachers and pupils with hearing impairment in using assistive technology devices in teaching and learning process respectively. Methodology: It was a descriptive case study with a qualitative research approach having a minimum sample of 11 SNETs from inclusive primary schools in Mwanza, Tanzania. Convenient and purposive sampling were employed to the selected the region and participants. Data were collected by using interview, document review and focused group discussion and analyzed by themes. Results: indicated that the majority of SNETs had adequate knowledge (72.7%) and skills (81.8%) about AT devices used in teaching pupils with HI. However, it was revealed that most of them (63.6%) had low conception on the use of AT devices during teaching and learning process. This went hand by hand with their levels of using AT devices in which it was found that 36.4% of SNETs had low use of AT devices. Among the contributing factors to these finding were observed to be lack of motivation, recognition, on-job training and sometimes inadequate support from families, stakeholders and the government. Conclusion: it can be concluded that, there is a need to insist and motivate SNETs to use AT devices to teach pupils with HI to have good academic performance. Recommendation: a call from these finding is made to the policy makers, program developers, curriculum developers, professionals and families to join efforts of making sure that there is adequate supply of modern AT devices to all-inclusive primary school and thus, SNETs have motives to use them to help pupils with HI learn effectively and efficiently.