ASSESSMENT OF INPUT QUALITY IN SPECIAL EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OF PUNJAB: A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Although recent years have seen global attention on inclusive education, quality assessment remains understudied in context of special education institutions in developing countries. This study measures the quality of input in special education institutions across the Punjab, Pakistan. It comprised five major indicators of quality as including learners’ characteristics, human resources, infrastructure, teaching materials, and curriculum. This study adopts a quantitative approach, with a questionnaire based on UNESCO's quality education model, surveying special education teachers in Punjab. A multistage stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 360 teachers from 36 institutions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, and one-way ANOVA in SPSS. Results show that, overall, input quality is at moderate to unsatisfactory levels, mainly due to resource and institutional support constraints. Although gender, qualification, teaching experience and designation had no impact on teachers' perceptions, workload was a significant predictor in all aspects of input quality. These results indicate that quality deficiencies are systemically rather than individually driven, with policy implications for resource allocation, workload alleviation and systemic support for effective and inclusive special education programs in Punjab.