Dr. Carla Di Giorgio
January 9, 2009
Inclusion is
 The provision of educational services to students with
a full range of abilities and disabilities in the general
education classroom with appropriate in-class
support. (Schroth, Moorman & Fullwood, 1997)
The significance of teacher attitude
 A critical variable in the success of managing children
with special needs,
 to the life quality of people with disabilities
 And in the success or failure of the integration of
disabled students into the regular classroom.
Teacher as mediator
School and
community
(home)
Teacher attitude
(positive/negative)
Teacher behavior
(positive/negative)
Peers
Child (low
expectations, less
positive attention)
Inclusive teachers
 “don’t ask, ‘How does this student have to change in
order to be a fourth grader?’, but
 ‘How do we have to change in order to offer full
membership to our students with disabilities?’ (Burke
& Sutherland, 2004)
How are inclusive attitudes
formed?
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Self efficacy
Teacher efficacy
Pathognomonic vs. Interventionist approaches
School cultures
Personal experiences
the overt problem is not usually ‘why’ but ‘how’.
Attitudes-experiences-support-expectations
Internal vs. External locus of control
Ownership and responsibility; changing paradigms,
without necessary supports
 Age not necessarily indicative of conservatism
Overarching research questions
 How do teachers’ attitudes toward students with
exceptionalities affect their practice?
 How can teacher education programs (preservice and
inservice) influence their attitudes and practices?
Today’s presentation
 Literature review
 Research findings with students
 Analysis of our program
Literature review: Factors affecting
attitudes
• Experiences and knowledge of the disabled (interpersonal
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contact in addition to content knowledge)
Willingness and capability
Collaborative culture at school
Intense training
Student needs (behavior more negative than intellectual)
Field experience (inservice vs. Preservice)
Past education (eg master’s degree)
Factors cont’d
 Type of course, age, gender, language (EAL) and
frequency of contact with people with disabilities
 Discomfort, sympathy, embarrassment, vulnerability
 Early positive exposure (ie preservice or earlier)
 Culture: secular beliefs re. the responsibility to teach
all students
 Self efficacy declines over training and afterwards
Methodologies
 Questionnaires (Likert: amt, type of experience and
attitudes) comparing inservice and preservice teachers
 Documentation and analysis of field experience
 analysis of journals, focus groups, interviews after
coursework
 IDP scale (Interaction with disabled persons)
*something to keep in mind is the potential difference
between what teachers voice and what they do/think
(public roles vs. internal narrative)
Findings
 Preservice teachers have more knowledge of
disabilities than inservice teachers, more prepared,
stronger belief that inclusion has a positive effect on
students.
 Changes in student teachers’ attitudes minimal over
the course of a one year’s training course (sympathy
actually went down)
 Sympathy female and older, discomfort male and
younger (business faculty)
 Vulnerability: what does this mean with regard to
teaching students with disabilities?
Findings cont’d
 Classroom management and teacher instructional
skills
 Support for special education placements
 Cultures with a stigma conceptualization of disability
results in shame, fear of rejection by the community
and tendency to keep the child at home, and more
negative attitudes on the part of teachers
 Attitudes of special ed majors compared to generalists:
are generalists less prepared to teach students with
exceptionalities?
Findings cont’d
 Female: more tolerance
Implications
 Inadequate training for past student teachers
 Lack of support at the school level
 Inappropriate expectations in classroom composition
 Need to combine experience with updated knowledge
 Positive experiences lead to positive attitudes
 Need support from school leaders
 Reconcile standards based outcome expectations with
inclusion and attention to individual needs
Implications cont’d
 Methodology of using different scales problematic:
can’t compare samples between studies
 Is teacher efficacy about inclusion or much more?
How to extract the inclusive piece, or not?
Issues for teaching students with
exceptionalities
 Transition planning: future lives of students beyond
school
 Secondary education
 School-based collaboration
 Skills such as leadership, public relations, change
agent, collaboration, communication, and time
management
 Learning in and outside of school
Solutions
 Merge special and regular education teaching into the
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whole B.Ed. Program
Embed: learn about inclusive ed. practices while
specializing in area of study, eg. Math.
Dual certification: grade level and special education
*Give as much attention to secondary as elementary
Field study component, eg Campus Friends, interview
community members
Evaluate and explore efficacy throughout B.Ed. Program
Cross-cultural studies
Solutions cont’d
 More simulation/role-playing activities (experiential
learning)
 Specific topic project, eg Down’s syndrome
Parallel observations at UPEI
 Postgraduate program- too short to have impact with
one course?
 Significance of specialization
 Age
 Gender
 Cohort
 Experience
 Efficacy decrease over program and after
 Issue of support and individuality of schools
Cont’d
 Cultural factors
 Influence of ACE program
 Lack of knowledge due to non-categorical system
 How to reconcile inclusion with ‘standards-based’
expectations
 Perceptions versus reality for teachers (ie will they
always be negative when surveyed)
 Lack of equal gender representation in teachers
 Graduate work: all female
Cont’d
 Conflict between inclusion and special education
options and resources
 Need strong mentors in schools for preservice teachers
 School cultures vs. Ideal models
UPEI study: Preservice teachers’
beliefs about inclusion
Data was collected from:
 student journals from the 415: Inclusive Classroom course, 584: Collaboration
and Leadership course, and 497 Practicum (specializing in resource
placements): 2005-2007
 Students voluntarily submitted journals for analysis once the course was over
Themes were developed from reading the journals and noting commonalities and
differences among comments
Themes were also compared with those that arose in another study on students
with disabilities, including students in our program and other students who
want to be in our program.
Sample questions for journals:
 What does inclusion mean to you?
 How has your experience related to this, and what issues do
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you want to address in this course?
How did today’s class activities relate to collaboration?
How can they be used in schools?
What is a challenge you found in your practicum with
regard to inclusion? How do you think you will start to
address it?
Read case studies and respond. What would you do in this
situation?
What adaptations have you tried and how have they
worked? How did the adaptations’ success depend on the
teacher and/or the students’ strengths?
Cont’d
 How have transitions been handled in your education
as a child/adolescent?
 What will you take to your teaching knowing what you
know now after studying transition planning?
Sample class activities and
assignments
 Simulations
 Role-playing
 Problem-based learning
 Case studies
 Reflection
 Team work
 Class discussion
 Video
 Resource access..
Findings from UPEI research
 Confirmation of personal experience affecting
attitudes/practices
 Conflict between ideas learned in course vs. Reality in
school/messages from staff
 Many students with exceptionalities in program (some
do not pre-identify). What is the effect on teaching?
Do we acknowledge this in our admissions process or
our program teaching?
 Effect of age and gender
Techniques that work
 Personal narratives
 Further education
 Specific strategies, eg INCLUDE
 School-uni partnerships
 Providing options for students within inclusive schools
 Training for leaders
 Collaborative skills
 Cohort mixing
 Specific skills for grade levels
Cont’d
 Guest speakers
 Projects on subject area and other individually determined
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challenges
Continuing education
Research reading strategies, eg. Book reviews
Field trips
Cross-disciplinary discussion, eg. SLP, medical, psychology,
EA, CYW, social work, transition planning, community
groups, etc.
Legal knowledge
Integration of inclusive work within a broader base of
teaching skill
Ideas for discussion...
 How do we build awareness of personal growth
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through continuous mentorship within the program
over time?
Should we have a specialization in inclusive education,
with electives open to all students?
Should we continue mixing cohorts?
Should we distinguish knowledge of exceptionalities
from application of teaching strategies (ie no choice,
but one flows from the other)
Should we incorporate more practical components
(specialization and course projects)?
Ideas cont’d
 How do we teach future teachers to connect life goals to
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school career for students with exceptionalities?
Should we develop policies for including students with
exceptionalities into the B.Ed. Program?
How do we address cultural influences in B.Ed. Students?
Should we address personal goals more directly through
the admissions process (in a way that gets to the heart of
prospective students’ aims and beliefs about inclusion)?
How can we better match/coordinate/lead partnership
with the school system toward a smooth transition
between uni and work for teachers?
Bibliography
Burke, K. & Sutherland, C. (2004). Attitudes toward inclusion: Knowledge vs. Experience.
Education, 125(2), 163-172.
Campbell, J., Gilmore, L., & Cuskelly, M. (2003). Changing student teachers’ attitudes
towards disability and inclusion. Journal of intellectual & developmental disability, 28(4),
369-379.
Gallagher, T., DiGiorgio, C., Bennett, S., and Antle, K. (2008). Seeking to understand
disability and culture while enhancing advocacy. Teaching and Learning, 5(1), available at
http://www3.ed.brocku.ca/ojs/index.php/teachingandlearning/issue/current.
DiGiorgio, C. (2008). Negotiating cultural and academic expectations in a modern
multicultural
school: The inclusive and exclusive effects of a principal’s vision.
International Journal of Leadership in Education, 11(2), 169-189.
DiGiorgio, C. (2008). Access of students with learning challenges to university: Perspectives
of students and professors. Journal of Applied Research on Learning, 3(1).
Jordan, A. (2007). Introduction to Inclusive Education. Toronto: Wiley and Sons.
Lambe, J. and Bones, R. (2006). Student teachers’ perceptions about inclusive classroom
teaching in Northern Ireland prior to teaching practice experience. European journal of
special needs education, 21(2), 167-186.
Lambe, J. And Bones, R. (2007). The effect of school-based practice on student
teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education in Northern Ireland. Journal of
Education for teaching, 33(1), 99-113.
Romi, S. & Leyser, Y. (2006). Exploring inclusion preservice training needs: A
study of variables associated with attitudes and self-efficacy beliefs. European
Journal of special needs education, 21(1), 85-105.
Schroth, G., Moorman, M. A., and Fullwood, H. (1997). Effects of training on
teachers’ stages of concern regarding inclusion (Report No. 020922).
Commerce, TX (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 406099).
Tait, K. & Purdie, N. (2000). Attitudes toward disability: Teacher education for
inclusive environments in an Australian university. International journal of
disability, development and education, 47(1), 25-38.
Turner, N. D. (2003). Preparing preservice teachers for inclusion in secondary
classrooms. Education, 123(3), 491-495.
Van Kraayenoord, C. (2003). The task of professional development. International
Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 50(4), 363-365.