Teachers’ Knowledge of Curriculum Adaptation and Adaptation Strategies for Learners with Special Educational Needs in Zambia.

Abstract

This paper presents results of a study conducted to establish teachers’ knowledge of the concept of curriculum adaptation for learners with special educational needs and the strategies they used to adapt the curriculum. A total of 120 teachers from Southern Lusaka and North Western Provinces in Zambia were involved in the study. Forty (40) teachers were randomly selected from each of the three provinces. The study was anchored on two research questions: (1) Do special education teachers understand the concept of curriculum adaptation? (2) What strategies were teachers using to adapt the curriculum to learners with special educational needs? Data were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences version 16 to derive frequencies and percentages. Chi-square was used to determine differences between teachers’ geographical location and qualifications’ relationship with their understanding of the concept of curriculum adaptation. Results showed that majority of the teachers who were teaching learners with special educational needsdid not understand the concept of curriculum adaptation. However, teachers reported that they used several strategies such as giving extra time, giving different assessment tasks, reducing the amount of material and individualised teaching to adapt the curriculum although they were sceptical using content omission and substitution as strategies for curriculum adaptation. The study recommends teacher orientation and capacity building on the concept of curriculum adaptation to provide them with more strategies for implementing the curriculum to learners with special educational needs.