Enhancing quality of life for individuals with disabilities in Saudi Arabia: Teachers' perspectives on the role of leadership in inclusive education.
Saudi teachers say inclusion breaks down when principals ignore disability basics and keep decisions secret—give those same bosses short Arabic BST on transparency and teaming to unlock the door.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Alkhunini et al. (2025) asked Saudi primary-school teachers why inclusive education feels stuck.
They ran small group chats and one-to-one talks. No tests, no scores—just teacher words.
Teachers named three blocks: bosses who don’t know disability basics, teams that rarely meet, and Ministry guides left on the shelf.
What they found
Teachers said kids with disabilities lose out when principals skip the official inclusion manuals.
They also said placement choices happen behind closed doors, so staff can’t plan or give feedback.
How this fits with other research
Starling et al. (2021) sketched a fix: add OBM lessons to principal training so leaders run better meetings and cut teacher burnout. The Saudi pain points match the sketch—knowledge gaps and weak teaming—so the OBM plan looks like a ready tool.
Jalili et al. (2024) show the flip side: when bosses trust staff, families later report higher quality of life for adults with ID. The Saudi data warn that low trust and opaque choices block the same QoL path for school kids.
Maliki et al. (2025) proved Arabic-language BST works for UAE facilitators. Saudi teachers want the same idea—local-language, skill-heavy training—aimed at principals instead of parents.
Why it matters
If you coach schools, push for short, Arabic BST modules that teach principals three moves: read the Ministry inclusion guide, share the student placement reason with the team, and hold a weekly 15-minute stand-up. One small pilot with a single school can test if these moves loosen the logjam Abdulmalik et al. describe.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Inclusive education is pivotal to enhancing the quality of life of individuals with disabilities by ensuring equal access to educational opportunities, fostering social inclusion, and providing necessary support and resources. Successful implementation depends on a range of systemic factors, such as policy, resources, teacher training, and leadership. AIMS: The goals of the study were to obtain insights from elementary school teachers on the role of school leaders in implementing IE and to identify the challenges these teachers identify to successful IE implementation. METHODS AND PROCEDURE: Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with teachers recruited from three public primary schools. These data were supplemented by field notes and document analysis. RESULTS AND OUTCOMES: Analysis of the data identified several themes: school leaders have limited knowledge and understanding of those with disabilities, administrators lack adequate professional development and training on IE, lack of emphasis on collaboration between special and general education teachers, lack of transparency regarding how teachers are chosen for assignment to inclusive classrooms, and limited or no use of the official materials developed and provided by the Ministry of Education to implement inclusion. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Certain steps should be taken to improve the implementation of IE in Saudi Arabia, including professional development on IE for administrators, greater collaboration on IE across school staff, and greater emphasis on the official IE manuals to ensure consistent and effective implementation of inclusion throughout the Saudi educational system.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2025 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2025.105114