ISSN: 2226-6348
Open access
Section 28 of Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 provides children with disabilities shall not be excluded from pre-school, primary and secondary schools on basis of their disabilities and should be treated equally with children without disabilities. Since they are disabled children, they need special treatment, special tools and facilities to accommodate their education and therefore they have been categorized as children with special needs. Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development are responsible for the education for these children. To provide education for children with special needs efficiently, the teachers must have legal knowledge and awareness of these children educational rights. Therefore, this research has been conducted to study the level of legal knowledge and awareness of the school teachers on the educational rights of children with special needs in Malaysia. This research adopts a mixed-method approach which involves the collection, analysis, and integration of qualitative and quantitative data. Questionnaires have been distributed to the teachers of the Integrated Special Education Program to examine their legal knowledge and awareness on the educational rights of children with special needs. Respondents have been selected randomly from several primary and secondary government schools in Selangor. The analysis of variables is categorized into demographic characteristics of the teachers and their knowledge and awareness on the rights of children with special needs on therapy, facilities, and special module. Result of this study reveals that the teachers have a moderate knowledge of the educational rights of children with special needs, but they are very aware of these children educational rights.
Abdul Nasir, M. N., Efendi E. A. N. A. (2016). Special education for children with disabilities in Malaysia: Progress and obstacles, Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 12 (10), 78 – 87.
Abdul Rahim, A., Abd Samad, N. A., Said, I., & Seman, W. M. A. (2017). Malaysian Plan of Action for People with Disabilities 2016-2022: Way Forward. UIA 2017 Seoul World Architects Congress, 2.
Adnan, A. H., Hafiz, I. A. (2001). A Disabling Education: The Case of Disabled Learners in Malaysia. Disability & Society, 16 (5), 655-669.
Cheng, S. C., & Loh, S. C. (2011). Perceptions of Pre-School Special Educators and Parents towards Learning through Play. Journal of Special Education, 1 (1), 23-36.
Disabled children, The situation of differently-abled children.
https://www.humanium.org/en/disabled-children/accessed 12.2.2019 Education Act 1996
Farrell, P. (2001). Current issues in special needs: Special education in the last twenty years: have things really got better? British Journal of Special Education, 28 (1), 3-9.
Mullane, G. R. (1998). Evidence of Social Science Research: Law, Practice and Options in the Family Court of Australia, Australian Law Journal, 72, 434.
Glidewell, C. (2012). A survey of teacher knowledge and understanding of special education law. Curriculum and Instruction, Undergraduate Honors Theses. 7. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/cieduht/7
Heward, L. W. (2000). Exceptional Children: an introduction to special education, (sixth edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Human Rights Commission of Malaysia. (2015). The Right to Education for Children with Learning Disabilities: Focusing on Primary Education. Kuala Lumpur: Human Rights Commission of Malaysia.
Ismail, N., Zaman, H. B. (2011). Self-Voicing Browser Enhancing Accessibility in Virtual Learning Environment for the Blind. Journal of Special Education, 1 (1), 72-85.
Kang, P.P., Saad, S. (2011) Dyslexic: Self-Intervention. Journal of Special Education, 1 (1), 6-22.
Kurniawati, A. D. (2017). Evaluating the effect of a teacher training programme on the primary teachers' attitudes, knowledge and teaching strategies regarding special educational needs. An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology, 37(3), 287-297.
Lee, L. W., Low, H. M. (2014). The Evolution of Special Education in Malaysia. British Journal of Special Education, 41 (1), 42-58.
Loke, J. D., Zakaria, A. R., & Lau, P. L. (2013). Pendekatan Terapi Lukisan dalam Kalangan Kanak-kanak Autisme. Journal of Special Education, 3 (1), 92-108.
Maiese, M. (2003). Distributive Justice: Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Preschool to Post-Secondary Education), Ministry of Education Malaysia
Malaysian Federal Constitution
Mazlan, N. H., & Daud, S. M. (2011). Electronic Signing Storybook (CODREAD) for Deaf Students. Journal of Special Education, 1 (1), 63-71.
Ministry of Education (MOE). (2013a). Garis Panduan Program Pendidikan Inklusif Murid Berkeperluan Khas (Edisi Percubaan). Bahagian Pendidikan Khas, Putrajaya: Malaysian Ministry of Education.
Mottan, K. (2015). A Pilot Study into an Integrated Special Needs Programme using the CIPP Model (M2015). International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation in Education, 5, 57-66.
O’Connor, E. A., Yasik, A. E., & Horner, S. L. (2016). Teachers’ Knowledge of Special Education Laws: What Do They Know? Insights into Learning Disabilities, 13(1), 7-18.
Omar, S. R., & Sulaiman, A. Z. (2018). Implementation of Inclusive Education Programme for Special Education Need Students with Learning Disabilities in Malaysia. International Journal of Civilizational Studies and Human Sciences, 1(4), 85-95.
Persons with Disabilities Act 2008
Rawls, J. Theory of Justice, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Baqutayan, S. M., Khalil, S. A., Baharum N. A., & Abu Hassan, N. (2016). Special Education for Children with Disabilities: A Review of the Current Policy and Practice in Malaysia, Journal of Advanced Review on Scientific Research, 25(1), 1-10.
Shakespeare, T. (2010). The Social Model of Disability. The Disability Studies Reader. Ed. Lennard J. Davis. New York: Routledge.
Hesse-Biber, S. N. (2010). Mixed Methods Research: Merging Theory With Practice. The Guilford Press New York.
Teng, K. Y. (2016). Contributions of Inclusive Education Programme, Teachers’ Attitudes and Efficacy on Social Skills Among Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia.
Turnbull, H. R., & Turnbull, A. P. (1998). Free Appropriate Public Education: The Law and Children with Disabilities. Fifth Edition. Love Publishing Company.
Eni, U. U., & Arit, M. (2016). Knowledge of Education Law and Human Rights Violations among Secondary School Personnel in Nigeria, International Journal of Education, Learning and Development, 4 (5), 38-47.
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (1992). Research Methods for Business: a Skill Building Approach. U.S.: John Wiley & Sons.
UNESCO. (1994) The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education.
World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality Salamanca, Spain, 7-10 June 1994
Zainol, M., Majid, R. A. (2013). Pelaksanaan Terapi Carakerja Demi Penguasaan Kemahiran Motor Halus Murid Bekeperluan Khas di Sekolah. Journal of Special Education, 3 (1), 81-91.
Zainon, H., & Ghani, M. Z. (2012). Tekanan Emosi Guru Pendidikan Khas di Sekolah Integrasi. Journal of Special Education, 2 (1), 138-149.
In-Text Citation: (Rahmat et al., 2021)
To Cite this Article: Rahmat, N. E., Mahmood, A., & Othman, M. F. (2021). Legal Knowledge and Awareness of The School Teachers on The Educational Rights of Children with Special Needs in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 10(3), 579–590.
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode