Which Inclusive Teaching Tasks Demand the Highest Teacher Efficacy in Primary and Secondary Schools?
Author(s):
Kuen Fung Sin (presenting / submitting) Chih Nuo Chao Tsz Tsun Lai Mingxia JI
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
10. Teacher Education Research
Format:
Paper

Session Information

10 SES 10 E, Teacher Efficacy, Movement and Well-being

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-24
15:30-17:00
Room:
K5.02
Chair:
Rachel Shanks

Contribution

Inclusive education has become an important long-term goal in education policies and reforms in many countries. Inclusion refers to educating children with special education needs (SEN) according to their specific needs in regular schools that they would attend if they did not have a disability (Rafferty, Boettcher & Griffin; 2001). Typical daily teaching practices include the use of inclusive instructions, managing student behavior, as well as collaborating with others in the context of inclusive education. Implementation of inclusive education has been reported to be highly challenging to teachers. 

There is very little knowledge about demands on teachers in relation to specific inclusive teaching tasks and the related efficacy level. We initiated the present study with an aim to derive the hierarchy of inclusive teaching tasks in terms of demanded teacher efficacy for primary and secondary school teachers. 

Method

The hierarchy of inclusive teaching tasks in terms of teacher efficacy required was constructed using Rasch rating scale model. The sample consisted of 536 in-service teachers (212 primary and 324 secondary school teachers) who attended a teacher professional development course. Measuring instrument used was the Teacher efficacy in inclusive practices (TEIP) (Sharma, Loreman & Forlin, 2012), which consists of three aspects of inclusive teaching, namely using inclusive instruction, collaboration and dealing with managing behaviors. There are 18 items in TEIP; for each item a six-point Likert rating scale from ‘strongly disagree=1’ to ‘strongly agree=6’ was used. The questionnaire was self-administered and completed by the participating teachers at the beginning of the training sessions. The Rasch analytic framework was employed to estimate the level of teacher efficacy required for each domain using Winsteps 3.81.0 (Linacre, 2014).

Expected Outcomes

It was found that collaboration tasks demanded the highest level of teacher efficacy in both primary and secondary school teachers. Managing behavior required the lowest level of teacher efficacy but slightly more in primary than in secondary school teachers. In this study, a more reliable hierarchy of tasks has been established. Results of the study also indicate that teacher training regarding inclusive practices should be revised and refined and specific to school level, i.e., primary or secondary. Future research could focus more on 3-way collaborations between school, parents and the community. Through achieving these, a bigger impact on the educational system could be made for enhancing future teacher training and ultimately benefit different stakeholders in our pursuit of inclusive education.

References

Linacre, J. M. (2014). Winsteps® Rasch measurement computer program. Beaverton, Oregon: Winsteps.com. Miles, S., & Singal, N. (2009). The Education for All and inclusive education debate: conflict, contradiction or opportunity? International Journal of Inclusive Education. Retrieved from http://0-www.tandfonline.com.edlis.ied.edu.hk/doi/abs/10.1080/13603110802265125 Rafferty, Y., Boettcher, C., & Griffin, K. W. (2001). Benefits and Risks of Reverse Inclusion for Preschoolers With and Without Disabilities: Parents’ Perspectives. Journal of Early Intervention, 24(4), 266–286. http://doi.org/10.1177/105381510102400403 Sharma, U., Loreman, T. & Forlin, C. (2012) ‘Measuring teaching efficacy to implement inclusive practices.’ Journal of Research in Special Education Needs, 12, pp. 12–21.

Author Information

Kuen Fung Sin (presenting / submitting)
The Education University of Hong Kong
Special Education and Counselling
Hong Kong
Chih Nuo Chao
The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R. (China)
Tsz Tsun Lai
The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R. (China)
Mingxia JI
The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R. (China)

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