INCLUSIVE SKILL DEVELOPMENT FOR CHEMISTRY EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Abstract

This article aims to inform the reviewers of Chemistry Education curriculum on the need for inclusive skills in chemistry education programme. Chemistry Education itself is a pseudo-scientific research field, studying the process of teaching and learning of chemistry through the procedural connections among research, theories and practices. Recently, the introduction of Inclusive Education Policy (IEP), into the entire education system where special need students with physical, hearing and visual impaired must be accommodated to learn with conventional students, requires that pre-service teachers be empowered with coping skills. It has also become a reality that many chemistry education graduates are working in various organizations other than schools including; banks, social media, advertisement industries, etc. This reality requires that students be guided towards diverse career prospects. They need training not only in the technical skills required by the teaching profession but also soft skills such as emotional intelligence, digital literacy, and interpersonal skills among others. These skills are not only imperative to becoming professional teachers but also transformative leaders in their future organizations. Consequently, this study describes the benefits of inclusive skills and suggested their inclusion into the curriculum to accommodate special need students, and increase post-graduation employability ratio.