Abstract:
Teachers serve a very crucial role to every educational development. Their
experiences can influence right educational policies for the entire educational system.
This study aimed to explore teachers’ experiences in teaching the deaf at the Ashanti
School for the Deaf. Following the principle of saturation data was gathered from 14
teachers through a face-to-face interview. The collected data were analysed
thematically. The study found that not all teachers posted to the school for the deaf
had training on how to teach the deaf. Inservice trainings which could have served as
an alternate means to offer teachers with missing skills for deaf education was again
found missing or out of focus. Further findings indicates that teachers found the
teaching of deaf students to be very difficult, exhausting, and time-consuming, again
since GhSL is limited in terms of vocabulary using it to teach every topic to the deaf
become a hurdle for teachers of the deaf. Despite the stressful experiences in deaf
education, teachers do not get any form of external motivation. Furthermore, the
findings from the study revealed that teachers found various strategies including; first
winning the attention of the deaf student before lesson commence, using activitybased
method, collaborating with both teachers and students to be much effective in
deaf education. Moreso, the study indicates that teachers for the deaf encounter some
challenges in their endeavors to educate the deaf among these noted by teachers were
rigid curriculum, inattentiveness among the deaf students and lack of teaching and
learning materials. The findings from the study shows that most teachers for the deaf
do not support inclusive education for the deaf base on their experiences. The
findings clearly suggest that deaf education is less prioritized on government agendas.
The long-term effect might be that the already insufficient professionals for deaf
education might leave the field. Therefore, the study recommend that Special
Education Divion under the Ministry of Education should develop a policy on deaf
education. The policy should be clear on who qualifies to teach in the school for the
deaf school. incentives to retain teachers in the school for the deaf should be outline in
the policy. Also, the government as well as the public should be educated on the
dynamics in deaf education. This should be done by SPED together with GNAD. In
doing so the government should be made to understand that deaf education is different
from general education. Hence, allocations of resources including teaching and
learning materials should be done to reflect such understanding.
Description:
A thesis in the Department of Special Education, Faculty of Educational Studies, submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for award of the degree of Master of Philosophy (Special Education) in the University of Education, Winneba
MARCH, 2022