Attitudes of Primary School Teachers towards Inclusive Education in Belize: A Systematic Review

For the last three decades, the remarkable practice of inclusive education has been supported and carried out in many countries across the world. Belize however, continues to face many challenges in implementing inclusive education, making the process very slow in its development. The aim of this qualitative systematic review was to determine the attitudes held by Belizean primary school teachers towards inclusive education in general education classrooms. The study utilised the PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews, document and thematic analysis as the research methods for collecting and analysing empirical data relating to Belizean primary school teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education. A total of four documents were included in this review. According to the study's findings, primary school teachers in Belize have varying attitudes towards the inclusive education of children with special needs. Such results provide many implications for further development in inclusive practices in the country. However, a few teachers indicated negative or neutral attitudes towards the process. The latter attitudes were influenced by various factors related to the student, teacher and educational environment. The findings also indicate chief challenges that hinder the implementation of quality inclusive education such as the lack of knowledge by the teachers, the lack of educational resources and the lack of parental involvement in the children's education. The author concludes that primary school teachers in Belize have varying attitudes towards including students with special needs into their classrooms. There is still much more work to be done in improving the attitudes of some teachers and creating more effective inclusive educational environments.