School Counselor Participation Degree in the Inclusive Education Process for Students with Learning Disabilities in Normal School

Abstract

Objectives: The current study aimed at investigating the school counselors’ participation degree in the process of including students with learning disabilities in regular schools, and whether it differs according to variables of qualification and years of experience. Methods: The study followed a survey descriptive approach, the study sample was composed of (111) school counselors working in regular schools under the provision of the AlQasabah Education Department in Irbid, who were selected by a convenient method during (2021-2022). The researchers used a developed version of Erhard & Umanksy's (2005) scale after ensuring its validity and reliability. Results: The results showed that the participation degree of the educational counselors in the process of integrating students with learning disabilities was moderate, and it revealed that their participation in such process was higher among those with Bachelor’s degrees on the indicators of administration, students with learning disabilities and multidisciplinary teams, and among those with less than 10-years of experience on the indicator of students with learning disabilities. Conclusion: The necessity of developing in-service training programs to increase school counselors’ skills in meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities in regular schools.

Keywords

• Educational counselor
• inclusive education
• learning disabilities