Managing the Curriculum to Meet the Needs of Learners with Special Needs Education in Nigeria Rural Communities: Teachers as Critical Stakeholders in Inclusivity

Abstract

Learners with special educational needs are faced with multiplicities of challenges in and outside school environments. These challenges range from social, psychological, emotional to academics. The problems are often compounded when learners with special needs find themselves in rural communities where knowledge, understanding and pedagogical skills are lacking by teachers. It then beholds on teachers to advance his or her teaching by creatively managing the curriculum to meet the diverse needs of students with special educational needs under his or her instructional watch. This work anchors on Rogers’ diffusion theory in education. This theory was used as a conceptual model to understand how teachers implement the innovations they had learned. The basic element of Rogers’s diffusion theory in education hinged on innovation decision process namely: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation. In view of these, teachers as critical stakeholders should prepare to manage curriculum to meet needs of learners with special needs in Nigeria rural communities through creative adaptation of curriculum in view of diverse learners, flexible pedagogical application, in-depth knowledge of instructional contents, resilience, encouraging and managing innovation as well collaboration and accommodation to promote all-inclusiveness in instructional delivery and knowledge acquisition by the students.