Assyfa Journal of Multidisciplinary Education, vol. 1(1), pp. 01-04, 2024
Received 01 Jan 2024/ published 06 Jan 2024

Teacher Problems on Children with
Special Needs, Special
Intelligence/Special Talents in
Learning Process
Helfi Liani, Jeni Mardiana, Sephia Hermaliza, Sri Devi Fitri Ananda, Opi Andriani
1. Program Studi Pendidikan Guru Sekolah Dasar Universitas Muhammadiyah Muara Bungo
2. Program Studi Pendidikan Guru Sekolah Dasar Universitas Muhammadiyah Muara Bungo
3. Program Studi Pendidikan Guru Sekolah Dasar Universitas Muhammadiyah Muara Bungo
4. Program Studi Pendidikan Guru Sekolah Dasar Universitas Muhammadiyah Muara Bungo
E-mail correspondence to: opi.adr@gmail.com

Abstract
The declaration of inclusive education that focuses on facilitating the
educational needs of children with special needs (ABK) has been running
in many areas in Indonesia, especially in big cities such as Jakarta,
Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Malang. However, many problems arise for
its implementation. This study aims to determine the problems
experienced by the teachers and schools using qualitative methods and
an indigenous approach that involved 112 teachers from 18 inclusive
schools in Tanjung Agung Kecamatan Muko – Muko Bathin VII as
subjects. Data was collected through an open-ended questionnaire and
was analyzed by coding techniques. The results showed a wide range of
problems faced by the teachers and schools, such as lack of competence
in dealing with students with special needs, lack of parental awareness
of children with special needs, the number of students with special
needs in each class, lack of cooperation of various parties such as
professional government and society.
Keywords: Children with Special Needs, Inclusion Education, Indigenous
Psychology.

Introduction
Children with special needs have become an interesting
phenomenon to study in the last two decades in almost all
countries (Irawan & Febriyanti, 2018). The use of the term children
with special needs still needs to be more popular among the public.
Only those involved in the world of special education, as well as
those who have received courses in education for children with
special needs, are starting to understand and be able to explain the
concepts. However, their understanding of the concept of children
with special needs is often misunderstood, even for those who have
become teachers at school.

The number of Children with Special Needs (ABK) in Indonesia
is increasing yearly. According to BPS data in 2005, it is estimated
that there are approximately 4.2 million crew members in
Indonesia. Based on BPS data from 2007, there were 8.3 million
crew members in Indonesia, so from year to year, the number of
crew members is increasing. Most of the crew members have yet
to receive an education. Based on Law No. 20 of 2003, Article 5
states, "Every citizen has the same right to receive education, and
citizens who have physical, emotional, intellectual, mental and
social disabilities have the right to receive special education."
The Indonesian Government is trying to facilitate the
educational needs of ABK by organizing special schools (SLB), which
are spread throughout Indonesia. Still, compared to the number of
ABK increasing yearly (Anditiasari, 2020; Pratiwi et al., 2020), the
number of SLBs cannot accommodate ABK. In connection with this
problem and related to Law No. 20 of 2003, the Indonesian
Government has implemented inclusive education to facilitate and
provide rights to children with special needs. In 2001, the
Government began piloting inclusive schools in the Special Region
of Yogyakarta and the capital city of Jakarta. In 2004, the Indonesian
Government officially announced the "Indonesia Towards Inclusive
Education" program through a declaration in Bandung. However, in
implementation, many obstacles were found in several cities, such
as inclusive school management still not being optimal and the
workforce not being able to teach ABK children. Still considered
inadequate (such as teachers not knowing the characteristics of
ABK and methods for dealing with them), lack of class support
teachers, schools not being ready to accommodate ABK, still many
students in class, and bullying of ABK children by their classmates
(Khairun Nisa et al., 2018; Rezieka et al., 2021).
.

© 2024 Liani et al (s). This is a Creative Commons License. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommertial 4.0 International License.

Liani et al, “Teacher Problems on Children with Special Needs,... Assyfa Journal of Multidiciplinary Education, 1 (1), 01-04, 2024
Inclusive education in Indonesia has been implemented since
the elementary school level. According to data from the distribution
of Inclusive Education Organizing Education Units (PSI) in 2021,
17,134 inclusive education at the elementary school level spread
across 511 districts/cities (Kemendikbud, 2022). Education for
children with special needs at the elementary school level is critical
to increase their self-confidence in participating in the education
process according to their level of intelligence. However, in the
implementation of inclusive education at the elementary school
level, there are still many things that could be improved. The main
problems that occur in the field relate to aspects of implementing
inclusive schools.

understanding of psychological phenomena. In this research,
researchers used qualitative methods, such as analysis with coding
techniques.
Data obtained from open questions will emerge themes.
According to Hayes (Darmayanti et al., 2023)(Kitching, 2020), the
steps used to analyze emerging themes are as follows: (a) prepare
the data to be analyzed, (b) identify specific items of information
that appear relevant to the topic being researched, (c) sorting the
data based on emerging themes, (d) examining emerging themes
and creating a definition formula, (e) paying attention to each
theme separately and carefully reviewing each transcript with the
material relevant to the theme, (f) using all materials related to
each theme to create a construct, the final result of which will
contain category names and definitions with supporting data, and
(g) selecting relevant data to be used as an illustration in describing
each -each theme. After the data is collected, the data analysis
process is carried out. In more detail, the data analysis process.

In Indonesia, inclusive education is officially defined as follows:
Inclusive education is intended as an educational service system
that involves children with special needs studying together with
children their age in regular schools closest to where they live.
Implementing inclusive education requires schools to adjust
curriculum, educational facilities, infrastructure, and learning
systems tailored to students' needs (Calvert, 2021; Steinbrenner,
2022).
Based on Article 1 of the Regulation of the Minister of National
Education of the Republic of Indonesia Number 70 of 2009
concerning Inclusive Education for Students who Have Disabilities
and Have Potential Intelligence and Special Talents, it is stated that
Inclusive education is an education delivery system that provides
opportunities for all students who have disabilities. They also have
the potential for intelligence and unique talents to participate in
education or learning in an educational environment with students
in general.
Meanwhile, article 2 of the regulation explains that inclusive
education aims to (1) provide the broadest possible opportunities
to all students who have physical, emotional, mental, and social
disabilities or have the potential for intelligence and unique talents
to obtain a quality education. According to their needs and abilities;
(2) realizing the implementation of education that respects
diversity and is not discriminatory to all students.
For this reason, it is essential to conduct a more in-depth study
regarding the problems elementary schools face in implementing
inclusive education to obtain a comprehensive and in-depth picture
of the obstacles or issues schools and teachers face in implementing
inclusive schools. Especially for children with special needs, unique
intelligence/special talents are found in several schools, especially
at State Elementary School No. 06/II Tanjung Agung.

Figure 1 : 7 Theme Analysis of indigenous psychology

Results and Discussion
Teacher competence in dealing with ABK students
Some problems in implementing inclusive schools are based on
teachers' perceptions. In terms of issues related to teachers based
on the categories that emerge, there are ten categories of problems
expressed by teachers. The main issues that many teachers
complain about are the lack of Class Support Teachers (GPK), lack
of teacher competence in handling ABK, teachers having difficulty
in Teaching and Learning Activities (KBM) (Khairun Nisa et al., 2018;
Rezieka et al., 2021), lack of teacher understanding about ABK and
Inclusive Schools, inappropriate teacher educational background,
burden administration is increasingly difficult for teachers, teachers
are lacking patience in dealing with special needs students, and
finally, teachers are experiencing difficulties with parents.

For this reason, it is essential to conduct a more in-depth study
regarding the problems elementary schools face in implementing
inclusive education to obtain a comprehensive and in-depth picture
of the obstacles or issues schools and teachers face in implementing
inclusive schools. Especially for children with special needs, unique
intelligence/special talents are found in several schools, especially
at State Elementary School No. 06/II Tanjung Agung.

Research Methods
This research uses an approach directed at pursuing
indigenousness. (Blume, 2020; Gone, 2022) define indigenous
psychology as the scientific study of native (native) human behavior
or thoughts, which are not transported from other regions and are
designed for the community. Indigenous psychology emphasizes
the discovery of phenomena in society according to their context.

Apart from the problems experienced by teachers, schools also
play a vital role in this inclusive education. Schools also experience
the need to be ready for the inclusive school program in terms of
administration and the teaching and learning process, which is not
running optimally with human resources and lack of adequate
facilities and infrastructure. (Avramidis, 2000; Chadwick, 2022)
Supports the implementation of inclusion, the lack of involvement
from all parties (academics, experts, teachers, schools, parents, and
government) regarding the implementation of inclusive schools,
the predicate of inclusive schools makes schools lose intelligent
students, and there is no understanding regarding the
implementation of inclusion between various parties.

Indigenous psychology is part of the tradition of scientific
approaches, where an essential aspect of this approach is the effort
to find appropriate methods to uncover phenomena in an
investigation (Gone, 2022; González, 2022). Indigenous psychology
uses multi-methods analysis. Indigenous does not prevent the use
of specific techniques. Indigenous psychology advocates using
qualitative, quantitative, experimental, comparative, and
philosophical analysis methodologies. Results from multiple
methods should be integrated to provide a more comprehensive

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Liani et al, “Teacher Problems on Children with Special Needs,... Assyfa Journal of Multidiciplinary Education, 1 (1), 01-04, 2024
Teachers are the primary key in the teaching and learning
process, shaping attitudes and personalities and developing the
potential of children without exception. All teachers should have
more knowledge and knowledge in teaching in inclusive schools.
The teacher's job here is to provide services according to the needs
of ABK . Unlike teachers in regular schools, being a special needs
teacher is a calling because the task is challenging and requires total
commitment. ABK teachers must devote all their abilities,
creativity, skills, and thoughts to educating extraordinary children
so that they become proud children of the nation.

Collaboration with the Government, Community, and
Professional Experts
The government has responsibility for professional
development/increasing teacher competency. However, this
system of responsibility is sometimes partly handed over to school
organizations because schools also have a role in making changes
in their schools, especially school principals . Still, it does not only
focus on teachers or teachers. Employees and people involved in
school implementation must also increase the community's social
awareness of inclusive schools. This shows that schools can improve
school quality through teachers and the parties involved. Schools
also must increase community awareness with support from
various parties, especially the government.

The problems that arise are also related to the government
regulating the curriculum and using it as a reference in
implementing inclusive education in schools . Some of the issues,
some of which originate from the government, are related to
inclusive education; the policies related to the implementation of
inclusive schools are not yet clear, there has been no modification
of the curriculum specifically for inclusive schools, there is a lack of
training on inclusive education for teachers, the government's
attention to professional staff who support inclusive schools is not
good in terms of numbers and welfare, the programs carried out by
the government are not sustainable, there is no extraordinary
institution that handles crew mentoring training.

Since the government introduced and implemented inclusive
education in schools, the discourse about inclusive education has
attracted the attention of many groups, especially education
administrators. The increasing attention to inclusive education
does not automatically mean its implementation will run smoothly.
However, the various views and attitudes that can hinder the
implementation of inclusive education are increasingly diverse.
Therefore, the question of the extent to which the implementation
of inclusive education in Indonesia has occurred deserves attention.

If studied further, the problems that arise between each other
will be related to each other. Firstly, regarding teacher problems,
teachers complain that they lack competence in handling ABK
(Muslim et al., 2020; Qomariyah et al., 2023). This is due to a need
for teachers to understand government policies regarding ABK and
inclusive schools, which then impacts the next problem, namely,
teachers needing help in teaching and learning activities. This is also
supported by the fact that several teachers have an inapproprneed
to date appropriate backgrounds and a lack of Class Support
Teachers, which further adds to the heavy workload of teachers,
both administrative and teaching loads (Calvert, 2021; Mapes,
2020). This also indirectly impacts how teachers handle students in
the classroom. The school could be more optimal. So that the
students' learning process could be better and learning outcomes
could be more optimal. The research results also show that many
problems arise regarding implementing inclusive schools, especially
those teachers.

Until now, the implementation of inclusive education,
especially in schools, has not been widely reported. Apart from
that, implementing inclusive education is also influenced by many
factors, such as government policies, existing sources of support,
attitudes, knowledge, and understanding of educational
practitioners towards inclusive education (O’Brien, 2020;
Stanford, 2020). This research aims to describe the inclusion values
that exist in elementary schools that have students with special
needs in the city of Bandung. The inclusion values in question are
the practices carried out by teachers while teaching in class.

Conclusion
Based on the research results, teachers are the main factor in
the inclusive education process. Still, without assistance from other
parties, the implementation of inclusive schools cannot run
optimally, so apart from the teachers who are handled, it is also
necessary to foster an inclusive school culture both within the
school itself and in the community outside. Of these schools, apart
from that, government policy also dramatically determines the
implementation of inclusive schools. This initial research still needs
to be in-depth. This research has limitations in the absence of
further data elaboration. The problems related to the
implementation of inclusion are related to teachers, students,
parents, schools, communities, and government, as well as the lack
of infrastructure that supports the implementation of inclusive
schools. This is also due to a lack of cooperation from various
parties.

Lack of parental concern for ABK
The existence of children with special needs (ABK) in the family
brings many consequences, especially in parenting. Mental
readiness is needed for parents to care for ABK children (Khairun
Nisa et al., 2018; Rezieka et al., 2021). The results of the author's
observations of several ABK parents show that there are still
parents who are less able to accept the existence of their children
with special needs, which affects the way they are raised and causes
parenting stress. Caring for crew members is quite tricky because
parents or caregivers do not just serve but also handle the tasks.
Lack of access to appropriate information makes parents
unable to handle it properly. Another reaction can also be in the
form of providing excessive protection, which causes emotional and
other behavioral problems in children with special needs. Parents
who care will pay attention to their child's development details, so
they immediately consult an expert if something feels odd about
their child's growth or development. This way, diagnosing the
child's disorder will be known more quickly, so the treatment will
also be appropriate. On the other hand, parents who are less
involved tend to ignore the symptoms shown by their children, so
that knowledge that their children have special needs is also
obtained late. Parents' awareness of the condition of their children
with special needs dramatically influences the quality of care they
provide. The earlier it is discovered that a child has a particular
disability, it is hoped that the treatment will be accelerated so that
the child can grow and develop optimally according to their capacity
(Asbury, 2021; Benn, 2012).

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