The Importance of Identifying Students with Learning Difficulty in the School Context

Abstract

This research adopted the qualitative research methodology to study teachers’ ability to identify students with learning difficulties. The study was conducted in the Udawalawa region of the Ratnapura district of Sri Lanka and it provided teachers with a tool to help identify pupils with learning difficulties and facilitate their learning using adaptive instructions to meet their needs. The study highlights the challenges that pupils with learning difficulties face in the selected school. The findings provide insights into how teachers can identify pupils with learning difficulties in the classroom and provide suggestions for skill development of the teachers in the school. The sample studied included the two subject teachers and eight class teachers. The average age of the pupils studied was found to be eight years. The convenient sampling method was adopted for the study. Study revealed that teachers were aware of pupils with learning difficulties but not the specific type of learning difficulties that they experienced. Teachers also were not well equipped to use adaptive instructions to meet their needs. The study concluded that there was a gap as far as the teachers and their learners were concerned and that this needs to be further analyzed.