Abstract:
Administrative support is key in inclusive education and more so in the integration of
adaptive technology for visually impaired (VI) student teachers. Integration of adaptive
technology improves the quality of education, removes learning barriers and ensures that
the visually impaired student teachers graduate as skilled, confident and competent
primary school teachers. This study assessed the college administration’s support in the
integration of adaptive technology for visually impaired student teachers. The study was
guided by the diffusion of innovation theory by Rogers which gives a basis for the
adoption of innovations in institutions and other settings. The study adopted a
descriptive survey research design. The study population included administrators and
tutors in three primary teachers training colleges which admit student teachers with
visual impairment in Kenya. The purposive sampling technique was used to select three
deans of the curriculum while simple random sampling was used to select nine heads of
departments and 93 tutors making a sample of 105 respondents. Data collection
instruments were questionnaires and interview schedules. Descriptive statistics like
frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the quantitative data. A qualitative
procedure was applied to information from interviews where respondents’ answers were
presented in words and interpretations made. The findings of this study revealed that the
college administration’s support for the integration of adaptive technology was low. The
recommendation made was that the college administration of public primary TTCs
should fully support the integration of adaptive technology for VI student teachers in the
primary TTCs by availing resources and training tutors on the integration of adaptive
technology.
