Professional competencies of intellectual disabilities teachers in early childhood stage as perceived by them

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the level of professional competencies for teachers of intellectual disability in early childhood from their point of view in the Riyadh region and to identify the differences at that level according to the variable years of experience, academic qualification, and location of the program. The study sample consisted of (92) teachers of intellectual disability in early childhood in the Riyadh region, who were selected by random sampling method. To achieve the study's objectives, the researcher prepared a scale of competencies for teachers of intellectual disability in early childhood. The scale consisted of (47) items distributed over six sub-dimensions, which were responded to using the five-year Likert scale for the level of proficiency. After their psychometric criteria were verified, they were applied to the sample of the study in order to extract the results that showed that the level of possession of professional competencies by intellectual disability teachers in early childhood was generally at a high level. The arithmetic mean of the scale as a whole was (3.87).