Knowledge and Attitude of Teachers' Toward Students with Learning Disabilities in Senior Secondary Schools in Rivers State, Nigeria

The study investigated teachers' knowledge and attitude towards students with learning disabilities in regular secondary schools in Rivers State" Descriptive research design was used for the study. Two research questions (2) and two hypotheses (2) were formulated to guide the study.The population of the study comprised all the public secondary school teachers in Rivers State estimated at 7,179. Stratified random sampling technique was used to draw a sample size of 400 Secondary School Teachers for the Study. A self-structured questionnaire titled Teacher's Knowledge and Attitude towards Students with Special Needs Questionnaire (TKASNQ) was used to collect data for the study. TKASNQ was validated by two other experts in Special Needs Education. The reliability index of TKASNQ was established by Cronbach Alpha method and the indices were α=0.75 for (KTASNQ),(TKQ)a=0.86 and (TAQ)a=0.84.The research questions were answered using mean score and standard deviation while independent t-test were used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study indicated that majority of the teachers showed good knowledge of students with learning disabilities in regular secondary schools in Rivers State, Consequently, the revealed shows that teachers from Pentecostal religion had a higher mean rating than their counterparts from the Orthodox religion concerning their attitude towards students with learning disabilities in secondary schools in Rivers State. There is no significant difference in the mean rating of teachers' knowledge towards students with learning disabilities in regular secondary schools in Rivers State based on gender, and there is significant difference in the mean ratings of teachers' attitude towards students with learning disabilities in secondary schools in Rivers State based on religion. Hence, the null hypothesis eleven was rejected at 0.05 level of significance.Based on the findings, conclusions were made. The following recommendations were made; Schools should implement inclusive practices to ensure that all students, including those with learning disabilities, receive appropriate support and accommodations to succeed academically, and the Rivers State government should prioritize providing continuous training and professional development opportunities for male and female teachers to enhance their knowledge and skills in supporting students with learning disabilities.