A person-centred examination of inclusive teachers’ beliefs about teaching students with intellectual and developmental disabilities: profiles and relations to teacher efficacy

Abstract

In a person-centred approach, this study investigated profiles of inclusive teachers’ beliefs about teaching students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their relations to teacher efficacy for inclusive practice. Eight hundred eighty-seven inclusive teachers in China responded to the Inclusive Teachers’ Beliefs Questionnaire and Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice Scale. Results revealed four belief profiles of inclusive teachers: limiting, transitional, mixed and constructive. For teachers with limiting, transitional and constructive belief profiles except for mixed belief profiles, beliefs about inclusive instruction and beliefs about students with IDD were significant predictors of teacher efficacy for inclusive practice. The findings enrich international literature on inclusive teachers’ beliefs and have practical implications for inclusive teacher education based on different belief profiles.