CURRENT SPECIAL EDUCATION CLASSROOM AND ITS LIMITATIONS TOWARDS TEACHING PROCESS

Classroom atmosphere has a major role in producing a good learning activity. Therefore, various aspects need to be considered before a special education classrooms are built or renovated. Small classroom will make learning environment bland and less effective. Special education classroom should be planned to meet the characteristics of special education children. For example, classrooms for special education program should have built in latrines, allow access for children with physical disabilities, and furniture with storage space of teaching aids. This is because classrooms that are appropriate, comfortable, cheerful and attractive can foster interest in learning. In Malaysia, there are still many classrooms built and modified without complying to the characteristics of a classroom for special education students. There are certain agencies who are responsible but were not concerned about it. Therefore, this study aims to determine the suitability of the infrastructure of schools and special education integration program across the country. A total of 319 respondents consists of special education teachers have given their views. The majority of them are not satisfy with the special education classroom infrastructure in their schools. They also stated that the classrooms are overcrowded and not suitable for the large number of students. Other problem faced by them is the lack of teaching aids and limited facilities for special education students. The study also found that multimedia insufficient equipment is still insufficient. On the whole we can conclude that the classroom infrastructure and integration of special education programs in Malaysia still need further improvement according to the standard specification issued by the organisation concerned.