Exploring teachers’ perceptions of effective inclusive practices with students with ASD: a structural equation modelling approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT The role of teachers is considered one of the most decisive factors in the success or failure of a child with Special Educational Needs being taught and learning alongside their peers in mainstream settings. The objective of this study is to analyse the perceived efficacy of inclusive practices in achieving quality educational inclusion, and the intensity with which they are implemented in mainstream schooling contexts. The aim is also to study whether there is a positive effect of this perceived efficacy in achieving quality inclusion on pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Similarly, it is analysed whether there is a mediating effect in this relationship of the variable related to the intensity of use (understood as the degree of use that teachers make of inclusive practices). To this end, 454 teachers from the Spanish education system completed an online questionnaire. Use of structural equation modelling reveals that the efficacy teachers perceive of the inclusive practices has positive effects on achieving the inclusion of these pupils. We found a mediating effect of the intensity with which the practices are implemented on this achievement of inclusion. The implications of these results are discussed with a view to introducing improvements in prior teacher-training programmes.