Pre- and In-Service Teachers' Attitudes Toward Students With Learning Difficulties and Challenging Behavior.

Mireille Krischler,Ineke M Pit-Ten Cate

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00327

Mireille Krischler, Ineke M Pit-Ten Cate

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00327

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Abstract

The implementation of inclusive policies is largely dependent on teachers’ willingness to accommodate students with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream classrooms, which is affected by their perceived competence and attitudes. This study investigated attitudes of pre- and in-service teachers toward students with two types of SEN: challenging behavior and learning difficulties. The three components of attitudes (affective, cognitive, and behavioral) were assessed using indirect and direct measures. Results revealed that teachers held negative implicit attitudes toward challenging behavior and learning difficulties, however, implicit attitudes did not vary as a function of the type of SEN. Ratings of the stereotypical dimensions warmth and competence and overall ratings of scholastic achievement were affected by professional status and type of SEN. Professional status, implicit attitudes, and stereotypical knowledge together explained 52 and 43% of the variance in teachers’ ratings of academic proficiency for students with challenging behavior and learning difficulties, respectively. Results are interpreted within the theoretical framework and implications for teacher training are discussed.

Highlights

Following the worldwide movement toward the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN), education systems across the world are changing
Our results concerning stereotypical beliefs and judgments of scholastic achievement showed that ratings of competence as well as academic proficiency in Mathematics and German were below average for both students
The three component model of attitudes (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993) suggests associations between the affective, cognitive and behavioral components of attitudes, results of this study showed that only stereotype ratings significantly contributed to the prediction of teachers’ judgments of scholastic proficiency, only partly supporting our fourth hypothesis

Summary

Introduction

Following the worldwide movement toward the inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN), education systems across the world are changing. Research has shown that students with and without SEN benefit from inclusion in terms of improved learning outcomes, including students’ social skills, academic achievement, and personal development (Cara, 2013), educational professionals have not automatically accepted the concept of inclusion or implement inclusive practices on a daily basis (Avramidis and Norwich, 2002). Reviews of empirical research have shown that teachers hold positive attitudes toward the ideological concept of inclusive education, whereas their attitudes toward the inclusion of individual students with specific SENs vary (de Boer et al, 2011). Teachers expressed more positive attitudes toward the inclusion of students with physical or visual impairments or learning difficulties and more negative attitudes toward the inclusion of students

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