How Does the Teacher's Self-efficacy for Teaching Children with Special Needs in a Catholic School Setting Relate to Perceptions of Inclusion in Special Education? PDF Download

Author: Becca Torregrossa
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Catholic schools
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between Catholic school general education teachers’ feelings of self-efficacy regarding teaching children with special needs and their attitudes or beliefs toward inclusive education. The inspiration for this work came from the findings of Jacobs and Sharma (2016), as well as the finding of Sharma, Loreman, and Forlin (2012). By evaluating this correlation, this research may be useful in providing information to help assess the need for advanced professional development programs for teachers focused on increasing teachers’ efficacy regarding work with special needs children in Catholic school general education settings. The researcher hopes this work will be helpful in creating more effective inclusive experiences for their students. This mixed-methods multisite research study was conducted from June 2017 to December 2017. With the scale creators’ permission, this study included semistructured interviews as well as a replication of the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice (TEIP; Sharma et al., 2012) Scale and the Attitudes to Inclusion Scale (AIS; Jacobs & Sharma, 2016). After the researcher conducted a survey with the TEIP and the AIS, individual audio-recorded interviews were arranged with 10 teachers who participated in the study. Online surveys were administered to approximately 65 Catholic schoolteachers employed within the Diocese of Scranton that consented to participate in the study. Surveys were used to assess teachers’ self-efficacy in the area of teaching children with behavioral and educational difficulties.