Jurnal Pendidikan Bitara UPSI

Work Readiness Skills for Students with Learning Disabilities in Special Education Vocational Schools: A Conceptual Framework

Nur Maslina Mastam — 2024-06-19

This research introduces a theoretical structure for addressing the work readiness skills of students with learning disabilities in vocational schools for special education. Individuals with learning disabilities have distinct obstacles in gaining and showcasing the crucial skills desired by employers in today's highly competitive employment market. The paper's conceptual framework seeks to close this gap by offering a systematic strategy to preparing these students for seamless absorption into the workforce. The framework prioritizes certain crucial aspects, such as the cultivation of fundamental talents specifically designed for students with learning difficulties. These abilities encompass communication, adaptability, and self-advocacy. The text underscores the significance of implementing well-organized work experience programmers that provide practical training and exposure to authentic work settings, hence augmenting students' practical skills and employability. In addition, the framework emphasizes the importance of addressing accommodation needs by providing appropriate accommodations and assistive technology, which enables students to efficiently carry out their job responsibilities. The conceptual framework seeks to cultivate a nurturing and all-encompassing learning atmosphere, with the goal of enhancing students' assurance, self-assurance, and ability to bounce back from challenges. Ultimately, this framework intends to equip students with the skills and mindset needed to surmount obstacles to employment and thrive in the professional sphere. By facilitating collaboration among educators, employers, and policymakers, the framework provides a holistic strategy to enhance opportunities for individuals with learning disabilities and promote diversity and inclusion in the labor market.

A Bibliometric Study on Special Educational Needs (SEN): The Growth Trajectory

Ya Nan Wang — 2024-06-19

Students with special educational needs (SEN) are the ones who struggle more than most kids their age to study or access education because of their disabilities or learning challenges. Since SEN became an official research topic in 1971, its significance in scholarly discussions has expanded tremendously, which has led to an increase in its research output. The database Web of Science, for example, has 4057 publications related to the subject of SEN. This study uses the core database in WOS as a data source and screens 2599 of these high-quality publications (including articles, conference papers, and reviews) to summarize the growth trajectory of the SEN field. Two key findings were identified. First, the global publication trend reveals a rise in scholarly interest in SEN research, with an especially noticeable increase in publications since 2005. While SEN research have been slowly rising across Asia over decades, this tendency became more obvious in 2013. Second, there has been a growth in keywords related to SEN provision in both global and Asian trend patterns.

Exploring Preservice Teachers' Behavioural Affection for Inclusive Education in Malaysia: A Validity and Reliability Study of the PTBAIES

Kie Yin Teng — 2024-06-19

To learn more about teachers' perceptions of including students with disabilities in regular classrooms, the Multidimensional Attitudes towards Inclusive Education Scale (MATIES) was first created. For the purposes of the current study, MATIES (Mahat, 2008) was being cross-culturally modified. In order to better support the learning outcomes for preservice teachers who pursued the inclusive education course during the relevant semester, the current study is focusing on the two dimensions namely, affection and behaviour. A cross-validation and reliability study on the behavioural affection of 254 preservice teachers was undertaken using the Rasch Measurement Model (RMM) Item Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). The Preservice Teachers' Behavioural Affection towards Inclusive Education Scale (PTBAIES), according to the findings, is a dual-dimensional scale with two components (affection and behaviour). The reliability coefficient for Cronbach's alpha was .802 at the time. Results indicated that the 10-item-PTBAIES can be used as a valid and reliable tool for preservice teachers to examine their demeanour towards inclusive education in Malaysia.

Gender Polarisation and Preservice Teachers' Behavioural Affection towards Inclusive Education

Teng Kie Yin — 2024-06-19

In light of the fact that one gender predominates in Malaysia's teacher training programmes and teaching profession, it is evident that research on attitude and gender is vital. This study looked at the behavioral affinity preservice teachers have for inclusive education in regard to gender. This study used the survey method with a quantitative research methodology. A series of questionnaires was distributed to the respondents, who comprised 189 females and 65 males. Descriptive statistics and the independent sample t-test were employed. The results demonstrated that the preservice teachers' behavioral attachment for inclusive education was not gender-related [t(252)=1.499, p=.137]. It follows that preservice teachers' attitudes on inclusive education are not significantly influenced by their gender. The findings of this study suggest that gender-based interventions should not be the exclusive focus of initiatives to support inclusive education among preservice teachers. Rather, focus should be placed on other characteristics, such as exposure to inclusive education techniques. Furthermore, by shedding light on preservice teachers' perceptions of inclusive education, this study adds to the corpus of research already available on the subject. These results can be used by educators and policymakers to create teacher training programmes that effectively support inclusive teaching methods.

Self-Efficacy and Mindset in Students with and without Learning Difficulty

Wang Hao — 2024-06-19

Students with learning difficulty that have low self-efficacy and a fixed mindset which might further hinder their performance. This study aimed to investigate the unique characteristic of self-efficacy and mindset for a child with learning difficulty. The study consisted of two mini studies. Study 1 investigated self-efficacy and mindset in 30 primary school students without learning difficulty. Study 2 investigated self-efficacy and mindset in a student with learning difficulty. A research questionnaires and a score record were used in both studies.

Academic Achievement of Children with Deafness or Hard of Hearing (DHH) Inclusive Educational Setting: A Scoping Review

Aw Cheu Lih — 2024-06-19

Education for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) has resulted in various outcomes. In the move to inclusivity, scarce studies have been conducted to evaluate the academic achievement of DHH children, especially in the inclusive education (IE) setting. Therefore, this review aims to map the literature about the academic achievement of children with DHH within IE settings worldwide, including the assessment tools and interventions received. Data were searched from five electronic databases: EBSCOhost [Academic Search Complete (ASC), MEDLINE and CINAHL], Science Direct, SCOPUS, PubMed (PMC) and ERIC (Education Resources Information Centre). Six studies were found to fulfil the inclusion criteria: investigated the achievement of students with DHH academically and in inclusive educational settings. These studies were organised based on the Problem-Intervention-Outcome Meta-Model (PIO MM) conceptual model. In this model, the problem (population of children with DHH) with the intervention [hearing device(s) used, communication mode, classroom type, and therapy received] and outcomes (academic achievement) were analysed. The resulting studies were conducted in Taiwan, the United States, the Netherlands, and Canada. This study described academic achievement using different tools. This review also showed that most of the studies focused on students with a cochlear implant(s) who usually had severe to profound hearing loss. Communication had been rated as a lower achievement by the classroom teachers and formal examinations. With the mapped findings from the scoping review, future research could focus on various degrees of loss, the hearing devices used, and their relationship to educational outcomes, especially in the IE setting.

Assessing the Usability of Personalised-Multilingual AAC 'Mysuara' Mobile Application

Kalaimathi Rajagopal — 2024-06-19

The 'MySuara' app is a personalised augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) mobile application designed for Malaysian special education classrooms, offering multilingual support and a unique dual-screen modelling feature to enhance teacher-student communication. Besides, it allows the customisation of symbol sets to meet individual student needs, providing a personalised solution for teachers and caregivers. This study aims to assess the usability of the 'MySuara' mobile app using a developed questionnaire, as usability is quantifiable and crucial for user satisfaction. Conducting such evaluations can unveil flaws in the system and reveal user demands, which is vital for successful app development. Usability testing is essential during development to ensure high user satisfaction and successful app usage. However, limited usability models exist for assessing mobile application features. Therefore, 'MySuara' was evaluated using a questionnaire developed based on the Mobile Learning Application Usability model and the People at the Centre of Mobile Application Development (PACMAD) model. Two questionnaires adapted from Parsazadeh et al. (2018) and Marcial et al. (2018), were combined to create the augmentative and alternative communication usability questionnaire (AACUQ) for 'MySuara' app. The PACMAD was deemed the most suitable for evaluating 'MySuara' due to its tailored focus on mobile application usability, encompassing attributes identified as crucial factors impacting usability. The AACUQ usability questionnaire comprised eight attributes: effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction, learnability, memorability, error handling, cognitive load, and timeliness. Permissions were secured from the authors before integrating the questionnaires, with adjustments made by removing unsuitable items and modifying others. The AACUQ, comprising 40 items on a five-point Likert scale, was administered via Google Forms, including a consent form, demographic section, and questionnaire for participant response. Fourteen participants, 12 special education teachers and two speech therapists, voluntarily participated in the survey. Data collection occurred after participants tested the 'MySuara' app. Overall, participants expressed satisfaction with the app, with mean values for each attribute above average. The study discusses limitations and implications, concluding 'MySuara' is suitable for its intended purpose.