Massouti, A.; Al-Rashaida, M.; Alhosani, M. A Qualitative Study on Dubai’s Inclusive Education Policy from School Leaders’ Perspectives. Sustainability2024, 16, 1252.
Massouti, A.; Al-Rashaida, M.; Alhosani, M. A Qualitative Study on Dubai’s Inclusive Education Policy from School Leaders’ Perspectives. Sustainability 2024, 16, 1252.
Massouti, A.; Al-Rashaida, M.; Alhosani, M. A Qualitative Study on Dubai’s Inclusive Education Policy from School Leaders’ Perspectives. Sustainability2024, 16, 1252.
Massouti, A.; Al-Rashaida, M.; Alhosani, M. A Qualitative Study on Dubai’s Inclusive Education Policy from School Leaders’ Perspectives. Sustainability 2024, 16, 1252.
Abstract
Inclusive education recognizes the diverse needs of students and ensures that each student is pro-vided with equal opportunities to learn and succeed. The Dubai government has implemented an inclusive education policy aimed at promoting equity and inclusivity in schools. This study aimed to investigate school leaders' understanding, implementation, and perspectives on the Dubai Inclusive Education Policy Framework (DIEPF). To gather data, a qualitative research study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with ten school leaders from private schools located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The findings show that school leaders have a strong understanding of the policy and deem it to be significant. The study also found evidence of effective strategies implemented by school leaders to promote inclusive education. However, there are challenges in the UAE that resonate with those worldwide such as inadequate funding, high student-teacher ratios, shortage of specialized staff, and limited training opportunities for teachers. These findings emphasize the significance of ongoing professional development and training of educators who are involved in inclusive education. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are provided.
Keywords
inclusive education; policy practice; school leaders; Dubai
Subject
Social Sciences, Education
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
