School Social Workers in Inclusive Schools and Assistive Technology: Awareness, Barriers, and Perceived Training Needs

This article reports the results of a survey of school social workers (SSWs) at inclusive schools in select Asian and African countries (N = 1,061), exploring their awareness of assistive technology, competencies in use, perceived barriers, and training needs. Close to two-thirds of the SSWs reported being aware that assistive technology devices provided equal opportunities to children with disabilities. The majority (four-fifths) of SSWs suggested that the perceived barriers in the use of assistive technology included issues of affordability, accessibility, lack of qualified personnel, and limited social acceptance. Results of the discriminant correspondence analyses identified gender as a sole and significant predictor contributing to variations in SSWs’ awareness and perceptions. Male SSWs confirmed they could identify varied assistive technology devices and were aware of local and international agencies providing services. Female and gender-nondisclosing SSWs felt more competent than male SSWs to use assistive technology to facilitate instruction. An estimated two-thirds of the total respondents proposed the need for training in community-based rehabilitation to reach most vulnerable groups for facilitating inclusion. Other training needs of SSWs working at inclusive schools in Asian and African countries included learning ways to collaborate with rehabilitation professionals, mastering strategies of estimating student needs and mapping resources, gaining awareness of ongoing research and development in assistive technology, and getting access to accredited training programs.