Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood disorder affecting approximately 5% of primary school-aged children. The disorder is characterised by severe difficulties in one or more of three areas; inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Considering that school teachers are often the first to notice behavioural difficulties in children, it is surprising that relatively little research has assessed teachers' knowledge, attitudes and behaviour toward this disorder. The limited research which has been conducted has shown knowledge about ADHD ranges from about 50 to 70%, and most attitudinal research has merely assessed knowledge rather than attitude per se. Further, there is a dearth of research assessing teachers’ classroom management of children with ADHD, and very little emphasis has been placed on understanding the links between teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour within a theoretical context. The proposed paper details two studies which were aimed at understanding the links between teachers’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour using two social psychological theories – the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The major premise of these theories is that before acting, people think about the implications their behaviour may have, and thus act accordingly (Ajzen, 1985; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). The TRA and the TPB are two of the most influential and widely used behaviour models in psychology, and there is a wealth of data showing the utility of the theories in predicting numerous behaviours (Manstead & Parker, 1995). The first study involved an investigation of primary school teachers’ knowledge about and attitudes toward ADHD, as well as their behavioural intentions. The second study assessed teachers’ behaviour toward students with ADHD.

Participants The sample for the first study consisted of 120 (91 female, 29 male) Australian (Victorian) primary school teachers from 10 Catholic and 6 private schools. The age of teachers ranged from 22 to 59 years, with a mean age of 39.2 years (SD = 10.2 years). A sub-sample of 25 teachers (17 female, 8 male) completed an additional activity which involved recording the types of strategies they used in their classroom over a one-week period to manage the behaviour of a child with ADHD. The mean age of these teachers was 40.7 years (SD = 9.4 years). A further sub-sample of teachers was selected from the sub-sample of 25 teachers to complete a detailed behaviour diary for one-week. There were 12 (10 female, 2 male) teachers who completed this phase. The age of these teachers ranged from 25 to 55 years, with a mean age of 42.3 years (SD = 10.8 years). Procedure and Materials After all relevant ethical clearances were granted, the author sent a letter to the principals of 13 Catholic and 6 private primary schools in the City of Greater Geelong and Surf Coast Shire (Victoria, Australia) to introduce herself, provide a brief description of the study, and to inform the principal that she would telephone later in the week to determine if the school wished to participate. The telephone call that followed ensured that principals had received the initial introductory letter, and enabled the researcher to make an appointment time to visit the school and deliver the questionnaire packages. Three principals declined the invitation to participate. The researcher visited the remaining 16 schools to deliver the questionnaire packages. She returned two weeks later to collect the completed questionnaires. Of the 161 questionnaires delivered to teachers, 120 were returned, giving a response rate of 74.5%. Following the collection and analysis of the data derived from this study, all schools who participated were sent a summary of the main findings. A self-report questionnaire was developed to measure teachers’ ADHD knowledge, attitudes, and behavioural intention. Beliefs about the usefulness of behaviour modification in the classroom, subjective norm, and perceived control were also collected. There were 27-knowledge items, and teachers were asked to indicate if each was correct, incorrect, or they did not the answer. Teachers were also provided with a 10cm visual analogue scale and were asked to indicate how much they thought they knew about ADHD (i.e., perceived knowledge). Finally, teachers were asked to rate their level of agreement with each of 31 attitude items using a 10cm visual analogue scale. The questionnaire also assessed the strategies teachers might use in the classroom to manage problematic student behaviour (i.e., behavioural intention). Teachers who were currently teaching a student with ADHD were asked to complete the classroom management recording sheet complete. Of the 42 teachers who were currently teaching a student with ADHD, 25 completed and returned the classroom recording sheet, giving a response rate of 59.5%. Eight months after the questionnaire was conducted, the author telephoned each of the 16 schools who participated in the first study to recruit teachers for the second study. Twenty-four teachers agreed to participate. These teachers were sent the relevant information and were asked to return their completed diary in the mail. Of the 24 diaries sent out, 13 were returned. One diary was not useable because of substantial missing data, which left a useable response rate of 50%. The instruments used to assess teachers’ classroom management of students with ADHD were the classroom management recording sheet and the behaviour diary. The classroom management recording sheet asked teachers to record the strategies they had used over a one-week period to manage the behaviour of a student with ADHD. Teachers placed a tick in the respective column for each strategy each time it was used. The behaviour diary was designed to assess teacher's behaviour, as well as any possible antecedents for, and consequences of, implementing the particular behaviour management strategy. The diary also enabled an assessment of the accuracy of teachers’ identification of the strategies they reported using during the week. Teachers were asked to record (a) what they did (i.e., what was involved in the behaviour management strategy used?) (b) what the child did to warrant the use of this particular behaviour management strategy, and (c) what the outcome was of using the particular behaviour management strategy, for a one-week period. Each time a strategy was detailed, teachers were also asked to record which one of the five strategies they had just used.

Of the 120 sampled teachers, 83% had taught a student with ADHD some time in their career. The number of students with ADHD taught ranged from 0 to 20, with an average of 5 students across a teacher’s career. While only 42 teachers were currently teaching a student with ADHD, an additional 33 had taught such a student in the previous 12 months. In addition, 57 teachers stated that they had taught at least one student whom they thought had ADHD but had not been formally diagnosed. Teachers’ knowledge about ADHD. The majority of teachers correctly answered the items ‘Children from any walk of life can have ADHD’ (96.7% correct) and ‘ADHD affects male children only’ (95.8% correct). Interestingly, it was more likely for teachers to indicate that they did not know an answer than to answer an item incorrectly. On average, teachers’ actual knowledge was lower than was anticipated from past research. However, actual knowledge was better than teachers’ perception of their own knowledge. Teachers’ mean perceived knowledge score was 47.7%, while their mean actual knowledge score was 60.7%. Teachers’ attitude toward ADHD. The item teachers agreed with most strongly was ‘ADHD is a legitimate educational problem’. Teachers also agreed strongly with the statements ‘ADHD is a valid diagnosis’ and ‘ADHD is diagnosed too often’. The most strongly disagreed with items were ‘Children with ADHD should not be taught in the regular school system’, ‘ADHD children misbehave because they are naughty’, and ‘Managing the behaviour of ADHD students is easy’. Teachers’ behavioural intentions. Ten hierarchical multiple regressions were performed in order to test the ability of the TRA and TPB to explain teachers’ intention to use the strategies (n = 120). The analyses showed that the TRA was able to significantly predict teachers’ intention to use each of the classroom management strategies. The TPB offered a significant improvement over the TRA for three of the five strategies. Interestingly, teachers’ intention to use negative consequences was significantly related to their attitude toward these strategies as well as a belief that external agents such as medication and policy may be required in the management of ADHD. This suggests that teachers perceive the use of negative consequences as being outside their level of skill, opportunity, and resources. Knowledge about ADHD did not significantly impact on teachers’ intention to engage in any of the behaviour management strategies. Teachers’ behaviour toward students with ADHD: Part 1. There were no significant differences in terms of age, sex, or teaching experience between the sub-sample of 25 teachers and the 95 who did not complete this party of the study. The age of students with ADHD ranged from 6 to 13 years, with an average of 9.2 years (SD = 2.1 years). Twenty-two of the ADHD students were male and 22 were taking medication to treat ADHD. The most commonly used strategy was reinforcement, with an average of 7.88 (SD = 6.29) instances of this strategy being used per teacher over the week. The least commonly used strategy was planned ignoring (M = 2.12, SD = 4.10). T-Tests showed that teachers used reinforcement significantly more frequently than negative consequences, planned ignoring, or emotional support. No other comparisons were significant. One-tailed Pearson correlation analyses were carried out to investigate the relationships between the four TPB predictors (attitude, subjective norm, perceived control, and intention) and each of the five behaviour management strategies. The main results of these analyses will be provided in the paper, and tabulated results will be provided in written format for conference delegates. Teachers’ behaviour toward students with ADHD: Part 2. In total, there were 96 examples of behaviour management strategies recorded. The author coded each of these examples, and had two assistants code them as well. Inter-rater reliability was 100%. On the whole, teachers were very accurate at identifying the types of strategies they used – of the 96 behaviour records there was only one instance where a teacher incorrectly identified a strategy. The most commonly used strategy was reinforcement, which was used 38 times over the one-week recording period. Each of the 12 teachers used reinforcement at least once. These teachers also commonly used strategies indicative of organising the classroom and curriculum, and the least commonly used strategy was planned ignoring. Conclusions. This paper has shown that Victorian (Australian) primary school teachers’ knowledge about ADHD was reasonable, though there is considerable room for improvement. Further, it was shown for the first time that there is a relationship between perceived and actual knowledge across in-service teachers, although not in the anticipated direction. Teachers perceived themselves to know significantly less than they actually know about the disorder, which may indicate that teachers are aware of their lack of ADHD knowledge. The multiple regression analyses showed that the ability of the TRA and the TPB to predict behavioural intention varied across the five management strategies assessed. The second study showed that positive reinforcement was the most commonly used strategy in the classroom management of children with ADHD, and that planned ignoring was the least commonly used strategy. Phase 2 showed that teachers were able to accurately identify the strategies they used. Teachers used reinforcement about once or twice a day however, which is unlikely to have a strong impact on altering the behaviour of a student with ADHD. Implications for the TRA and TPB include the importance of understanding an individual’s perceptions about their own skills, resources, and opportunities for performing a particular behaviour, and that assessing subjective norm as an individual factor is preferred to separating it into two components. Overall, the two studies detailed in this paper provide a much needed insight into primary school teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour toward children with ADHD.