TEACHER’S PERCEPTIONS OF FUNCTIONAL CURRICULUM FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Abstract

The current research investigated the perceptions of special education teachers regarding the use of functional curriculum with children who have special needs in Faisalabad District in Pakistan. The research design used was a quantitative descriptive research design whereas data were collected by the use of a self-developed questionnaire that was administered to a conveniently selected sample of 66 special education teachers. Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation). The results showed that there were exceedingly positive teacher attitudes towards functional curriculum. Teachers strongly believed that students should be able to work independently (M = 4.52, SD = 0.53), and students should be prepared to work in society (M = 4.45, SD = 0.56), which should be facilitated by the practical skills. On the same note, the role of functional curriculum regarding social interaction and peer participation (M = 4.45, SD = 0.50), confidence in managing daily activities (M = 4.39, SD = 0.52), and acquisition of meaningful life skills (M = 4.41, SD = 0.53) had high values of the mean scores. Functional curriculum was also valued by teachers the same as the academic one (M = 4.32, SD = 0.53). Even with these positive perceptions, there were implementation issues which were eminent. Poor training proved to be of high priority with the mean score significantly low (M = 1.95, SD = 1.14), whilst lack of sufficient resources and time were reported to be a major obstacle (M = 4.29, SD = 0.58). In general, the findings provide evidence of a high level of teacher support of functional curriculum and critical shortcomings in the facility of training and institutional supporting conditions, which reflect the necessity of specific professional development and allocation of resources to ensure the successful implementation.