Session Information
04 SES 10 A, Teacher Attitudes and Perceptions
Paper Session
Time:
2009-09-30
14:45-16:15
Room:
NIG, HS A
Chair:
Joel Kivirauma
Contribution
As educating children with special needs in regular schools became an important goal in many countries, many authors have investigated what contributes to the implementation of successful inclusive education. Teachers are seen as key persons to make inclusion happen, in which it is argued that positive attitudes play a considerable role to implement this educational change successfully. Therefore, many studies have examined what attitudes teachers hold toward the inclusion of pupils with special needs. Results of those studies present a confusing picture. Some researchers established positive attitudes, whereas other authors state that teachers have concerns about inclusive education. Furthermore, their attitudes seems to be related to several variables like the students’ type of disability. Next to elucidating teachers’ attitudes and relating variables, it also seems interesting to address the effects of having certain attitudes. Because parents’ main motive to chose a regular schools is on behalf of the possibilities for social participation for their child, the social dimension plays an important role in inclusive education. To investigate if inclusive education is successful, we argue this should be measured - next to academic outcomes - in terms of students’ social outcomes.
A review study was set up in order to examine 1) what attitudes regular primary school teachers hold towards inclusive education, 2) which variables are related to their attitudes, and 3) the effects of teachers’ attitudes on the social participation of pupils with special needs.
The three component theory of Eagly and Chaiken (1993) provides a useful framework to present the results of the studies. According to this theory attitudes consist of a cognitive, an affective and a behavioural component. The cognitive component reflects teachers’ beliefs and/or knowledge about inclusive education. Feelings of teachers refer to the affective component and teachers’ behavioural intentions reflect the behavioural component.
Method
The browser 'EBSCOhost COMPLETE' (which includes databases like: ERIC, PsychInfo, MEDLINE and SocIndex) was used to search for references. Moreover, eight journals in the field of special needs education have been used in the search. The search resulted in 459 references. Several selection criteria have been used to select relevant studies, which resulted in a final database of 27 studies. In the analysis of the studies it became clear that none of the selected studies used the Eagly and Chaiken framework and defined their questionnaires in terms of cognitive, affective or behavioural. Careful analysis of the type of questions or statements was performed to reveal on which component the questionnaire had focused.
Expected Outcomes
The results of the study showed that teachers hold predominantly neutral or negative attitudes towards inclusive education. With regard to the three components of attitudes, teachers hold neutral or negative beliefs, and do not rate themselves as having knowledge. Also, they do not feel confident and competent in teaching special needs pupils and they would reject pupils with special needs more often compared with typically developing pupils. Experience and training in inclusive education are variables relating to teachers’ attitudes. One of the selected studies investigated if teachers' attitudes affect the social participation of pupils with special needs in regular classrooms.
References
Eagly, A. H. & Chaiken, S. (1993). The Nature of Attitudes. In A. H. Eagly & S. Chaiken (Eds.), The psychology of attitudes (First ed., pp. 1-21). Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
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