We present a summary of the rationale, methods, and preliminary data from an on-line survey of special education teachers and administrators in rural districts of northeast Tennessee, western North Carolina, and southwest Virginia regarding stress, burnout and professional development. Data will be used to design positive behavior supports for teachers.

A review of the literature indicated that critical skills needed by educators of students with autism had not been sufficiently identified. Research efforts using survey instruments appeared to offer a method for gathering data in order to develop and analyze a comprehensive list of critical skills for educators of students with autism. A survey instrument was developed in bifurcate format that required respondents to rate 118 skill items according to Importance and Proficiency. Two Likert-type scales were provided to enable respondents to record their perceptions of Importance and Proficiency. The instrument was mailed to a nationwide stratified sample of educators of students with autism. A total of 90 surveys were mailed with 52 (57%) returned. Four hypotheses and two research questions were developed. Data were analyzed using MANOVA to test for significant differences among the four geographic regions of the United States and within ten skill areas. The findings did not support the hypotheses; therefore, all hypotheses were rejected. In further analysis utilizing the ANOVA and Chi-Square procedures, significant differences among some regions and within some of the skill areas were found. The findings suggest that educators from the four regions tended to differ in regard to Importance and Proficiency for certain skill items. Findings led to recommendations being given relevant to future research on critical skills needed for teachers in the field of autism.

No description available.

The poor retention of special education teachers negatively impacts student academic outcomes. Special education teachers commonly cite burnout as a primary reason for leaving the field; however, there is a deficit of literature available to validate claims concerning special educators and their level of burnout. This study analyzed the psychometric properties of the Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators' Survey using a sample of 349 special education teachers from schools across the nation (201 resource room special education teachers and 148 self-contained special education teachers). The Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators' Survey measures three factors (e.g. subscales) emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. A confirmatory factor analysis, an exploratory factor analysis, and a multi-group measurement invariance confirmatory factor analysis were conducted. The results showed measurement invariance between the two groups of teachers. During the exploratory factor analysis, a significant fourth factor, collaborative stress, emerged. These findings suggest the current factor structure of the Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators' Inventory needs to be modified when measuring burnout among special education teachers. This includes the need to further explore how collaboration stress relates to special education teachers and how to implement formative collaboration practices to retain special education teachers.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Psychology) in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, University of Zululand, 2007. / Inclusive education, in its broader sense, is bout acknowledging diversity of learners' needs and providing appropriate support. This happens when the education system is characterised by a shared responsibility among all the stakeholders to collaboratively provide a continuum of specialised support to address different needs of all learners. The needs range from cognitive, physical, emotional and cultural needs just to mention a few of them. Learners in the inclusive system therefore take a full and active part and are perceived as the full members of the institution as well as classroom community. Thus it is about creating a welcoming and supportive institutional culture that accepts and respects diversity of learners unconditionally. In inclusive education the whole system is custom-made; this includes curriculum and assessment standards, to meet the needs of learners not the predetermined needs of the curriculum. The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of attitudes that teachers hold towards inclusive education and how teachers as a group perceive different disabilities. There were two aims that the study has tried to address. They are: • The nature of attitudes teachers from different backgrounds hold towards inclusive education. • How teachers as a group perceive different disabilities. The questionnaire was administered to teachers from historical Black; Coloured; White primary schools as well as teachers from special schools and the results showed that the nature of attitudes that teachers from different backgrounds hold towards inclusive education differ. Teachers from historical Black and Coloured primary schools hold more positive attitudes towards inclusive education than teachers from historical White primary schools and special schools. The study further showed that the majority of the participants in this study are not in favour of inclusion of learners with the following disabilities: blind; deaf; wheelchair confined and cerebral palsy. Teachers from historical White primary schools came up as the most apprehensive group towards including learners with behavioural problems than any other racial group.

Bullying has plagued U.S. public schools: special education students become victims on a consistent basis and their academic outcomes may be adversely affected. Few studies have focused on the collaboration of teachers to reduce bullying. The purpose of the qualitative study of 12 special education teachers and counselors was to understand the process they use when they collaborate on reducing the bullying problem in a small Midwestern school in the United States. Montiel-Overall's theory of collaboration and Shulman's model of pedagogical content knowledge reflected the focus of the 2 research questions that informed this study. Participants described their collaboration and the influence it had on their knowledge, pedagogy, and curriculum. Analysis of open coding of interviews led to 5 themes. The value of collaboration in special education theme defined and described collaboration from the teachers' perspectives. The theme of the dynamics of the collaboration described the school's unique collaborative culture. Specific pedagogy and implementation of school curricula and initiatives were influenced by collaboration on bullying. Limitations of the study include the school culture influenced by frequently transferring students. The implications for action include the potential for the findings to be used as a guideline to formatively evaluate special education teachers' collaboration to reduce bullying. Implications for further research suggest observing collaborations about bullying, as this study only included interviews. Implications for positive social change include using a collaborative, cyclical social process to prevent bullying and to support students in order to contribute to a more peaceful and inclusive society based on civil behavior and a civil society.

Inclusion of children with special education needs into public classrooms in United Arab Emirates applied in 2006. The application of inclusion programs started in high schools, and followed by elementary schools and preschools. Teachers' attitudes toward inclusion evaluated among high school and elementary teachers but not among preschool teachers. The effect of the cultural background of teaching staff on inclusion education not evaluated in a UAE preschool. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effect of educational specialty and culture on teachers' attitudes toward an inclusion education system in United Arab Emirates. The theory of planned behavior of Ajzan (1991) used in this study to explain teachers' attitudes. This quantitative study evaluated teachers' attitudes toward inclusion education through a distributed questionnaire, including a demographics form and a STATIC scale for evaluating teachers' attitudes. A two-factor ANOVA used to test the effects of teachers' specialty and cultural background on STATIC scores. Findings showed a main effect of preschool teachers' cultural identity on their attitudes toward inclusion education. Teachers with Asian identity showed better attitudes toward inclusion education than Gulf identity or African identity teachers. No differences found between preschool teachers' specialty (general and special education teachers) on their attitudes toward inclusion education. This study will contribute to social change by providing valuable knowledge about UAE preschool teachers' attitudes toward the application of inclusion education to improve the inclusion classrooms settings and environment.

Research indicates that a teacher's sense of efficacy or capacity to teach directly affects student-teacher interaction and student achievement. Recent demographic changes affecting California public schools require educators to rethink teacher training to meet linguistic, cultural, and academic needs of an increasingly diverse population, especially teachers who directly instruct Hispanic students with mild to moderate learning disabilities who are English language learners. This study examines and analyzes the sense of efficacy of secondary special education teachers of the study population and determines their staff development needs. Thirty-six Sweetwater Union High School District Special Day Class and Resource Specialist teachers participated in the study. They completed demograpihc, teacher efficacy, and staff development questionnaires, which investigated these needs in three areas: (a) pedagogy, (b) crosscultural awareness, and (c) language acquisition. Vll Eleven ofthe 36 teachers participated in a structured interview. Traditional quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis were used. For each questionnaire item, descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations, and frequencies were calculated. The qualitative data analysis, QSR NUD.IST (Non-numerical Unstructured Indexing Data) program was used for final analysis of interview transcripts. Respondents of the Teacher Efficacy Questionnaire reported a high sense of efficacy with little variance across questionnaire items regarding personal and professional efficacy. Teachers reported a high sense of efficacy on pedagogy, crosscultural awareness, and language acquisition. Respondents also reported satisfactory preparation in awareness, knowledge, and application level training in pedagogy, crosscultural awareness, and language acquisition provided by the local district. Classroom technical assistance and collaboration received poor ratings. Correlation results between teacher efficacy and staff development revealed no significant relationship. Teacher interviews revealed that current staff development practices seem unconnected to daily classroom practice. Recommended for future investigation is a research-based staff development program which focuses on narrowing the achievement and equity gaps for these students.

No description available.

Dyslexia is one of the more common disabilities in Sweden; between 5-10 per cent of thepopulation can be considered having dyslexia. The difficulties they face in their educationstems from a disability to decode written language. English poses a problem, as the buildingblocks in terms of orthography and phonology are seldom compatible. This paper have, usingqualitative interviews with four (4) special education teachers, identified ways in which theseinformants support learners with dyslexia in English. The findings indicate that the advice andmethods the informants use are not specific to the subject of English. Instead the informantsadvocate organizational measures such as close cooperation with colleagues and alsocompensatory learning aids (such as audio versions of books, movies and pictures). Thefindings have been analysed viewed through the theoretical perspectives: SocioculturalPerspective, Systems Theory and Orthographical Depth. As most of the advice given by theinformants where of a general nature – the findings might indicate that there is a gapsomewhere in the education of teachers in Sweden regarding how to specifically supportlearners with dyslexia in the English subject.