This study examined implicit and explicit attitudes of teachers toward the Emotional Disturbance (ED) label, the strength of association between implicit and explicit ratings, and the variance in attitudes between different types of teachers or among teachers in different settings. Ninety-eight teachers (52 regular education and 46 special education teachers), from a mix of urban and rural school districts in central Indiana, completed three computer-based attitudinal measures: an implicit association test (IAT), a Social Distance Scale (SDS), and the Scale of Attitudes toward Disabled Persons (SADP). Results indicated that teachers possess a significant preference for the category of Learning Disability (LD) compared to ED, and the correspondence between implicit and explicit attitudes toward those two labels was strong. This data supports the notion that the ED label is perceived far too negatively by educators to serve as an effective category of services for children with serious mental health issues. / Department of Educational Psychology

Special Educational Needs (SEN) in Jordanian schools appears to be in a state of confusion. Numerous obstacles exist that hinder teachers from providing sufficient services for children with learning difficulties. This study investigates the current service provision for students with learning difficulties in Jordanian schools. Semi-structured interviews (N=31) with SEN teachers were conducted in two phases (23 and 8 respectively). Goffman (1963) was utilised as a theoretical framework, to interpret and understand the data, especially concerning that of social stigma. The analysis revealed that SEN teachers in Jordan faced various difficulties responding to the needs of their students with learning difficulties (LDs), which inevitably had a negative effect upon their performance. The results indicated that the difficulties arose from: parents who denied the disability of their children, classroom teachers who refused to cooperate with resource room teachers (responsible for teaching children with LDs), pre-service teachers who had little training in SEN, non-disabled peers who bullied their disabled peers, school administrators who had little understanding of the needs of children with LDs, and finally the Ministry of Education’s supervisors who were better equipped to support the educational needs of typically developing children. These negative attitudes are rooted strongly in local culture and seem to overlap with expressed religious values. Negative attitudes also varied among parents according to their socio-economic class and the type of school (public and private) their child attended. It appeared that the services provided in private schools were more in tune with the needs of children with LDs than those in public schools. Ultimately, I conclude that there is an urgent need for the reconstruction of services in Jordan to support children with LDs. Teacher training should be aimed specifically at equipping resource room teachers to cater effectively for students with LDs, and legislation should facilitate a shift of responsibility to the Jordanian Ministry of Education and away from the Ministry of Social Development. Most importantly, there is a need to facilitate a dialogue that seeks to amend attitudes towards disability in general and LDs in particular.

M.Ed. / The African National Congress' (ANC) victory of the 1994 elections in South Africa, and the consequent establishment of the Government of National Unity, led to far reaching changes in many facets of South African lifestyles. The changing political climate resulted in many policy documents, both of a political and professional nature, coming to light. It seems from these documents that all resources (including educational-, health-, and other professional resources) should be redistributed. The changes that may originate from this redistribution, have implications at both meso- and macro-level of society. In the context of Education, training and practical implementation are directly effected. Suggestions in favour of progressive mainstreaming have already been put forward, and it is clearly stated that mainstreaming together with inclusion are seen as specific medium- to longterm goals. The new South African government sees education as a basic human right and the government aims to make education accessible to all learners. Consequently a need for a system which is more effective and accessible, complying with the needs of a post-apartheid South Africa has developed. Inclusive education is seen as a way of complying with educational needs, also with regards to learners with special educational needs. This implies that all schools will eventually be able to accommodate all learners, including those learners who to date received education in schools for special education. Teachers are seen as the key figures in the change to inclusive education policy. Should the teacher have a negative conception with regards to the new policy, the successful implementation thereof may be threatened. When personal negative conception does not change, motivation is lacking and there is no correlation between what happens in practice and the theory of the policy makers. To investigate and gain insight into the conception of teachers and other remedial personnel with regards to the new education policy is indispensable research for the implementation of the new policy. In the light thereof, the over-all aim of this study is to describe the conceptualization of a group of remedial practitioners, which may serve as a point of departure in developing a new approach to training, and test and expand existing literature.

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.

The purpose of this study was to determine special education teachers' perceptions of goals used to teach secondary mildly handicapped students and to identify hindrances to adopting these goals. A questionnaire was developed and attitudes were assessed by collecting data from secondary special education teachers who taught in the areas of learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, and educable mental retardation. A large suburban school district located in the southeastern united states comprised the survey (census) population. Repeated measure analysis of variance tested for significant differences across teaching exceptionalities toward perceived acceptance and implementation of selected goals. Chi-square analyses tested for any relationships between acceptance and implementation of these goals, as well as teacher relationships toward classification of goals. The findings of this study indicated that teachers of secondary mildly handicapped students exhibited very high acceptance for remedial, maintenance and functional goals for special education. Maintenance goals were perceived to be most important to LD teachers while functional ones were important to EMR instructors. Remedial goals were equally accepted by the LD, ED, and EMR sectors. There was a relatively high rate of implementation for remedial goals for all the teaching groups with no difference in the degree of implementation across the three exceptionalities noted. LD teachers implemented remedial and maintenance goals more than functional ones. ED instructors implemented remedial goals most often, while EMR teachers instructed the most in the functional area. In some instances, especially in the functional area, teachers did not implement specific goals which they perceived to be acceptable. Lack of time was the greatest instructional barrier for LD teachers while parent support hindered ED instructors the most. Diploma. requirements were the most formidable instructional hindrance for the EMR sector. Classroom teachers did not always classify instructional goals in the same manner as experts in the field, and this trend was noted more often in the classification of remedial goals. / Ed. D.

Disproportionality in special education has been examined from various perspectives over a 50-year period. English Language Learner (ELL) students have been included in the discussion among researchers in the past two decades as a disproportionate number of ELL students are referred to special education. Though the problem of disproportionality has been acknowledged, documented and discussed over a period of decades, there is a lack of research from the voices of special educators. The purpose of this study was to describe special education teachers' experiences teaching students currently or previously enrolled in an English language learner program who are receiving special education services. This study explored teachers' views of what supports, resources and strategies contribute to student success and their views of the eligibility determination and referral process. In order to address this gap in the literature, an exploratory descriptive qualitative study was conducted by interviewing special educators. The results indicate the participants lacked support in all areas examined including professional development, resources, instructional strategies and the referral and assessment process. This study indicates structural inequity, a systematic bias in the form of a patterned and differential distribution of resources, contributing to limited opportunities for students who are English language learners who are receiving special education. Implications of the study to address structural inequity include the use of culturally responsive pre-referral strategies and knowledge of the acculturation process when considering the needs of an ELL student who is struggling academically and incorporating culturally responsive teaching methods in both general and special education.

Researchers have described the special education identification process for students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) as "muddled and confused" (Bocian, Beebe, MacMillan, & Gresham, 1999) and "haphazard" and "capricious" (Shinn, 2007, p. 603). Bocian, Beebe, MacMillan, and Gresham (1999) proposed the theory of competing paradigms as a way to explain why researchers and school-based eligibility teams identify different groups of students as SLD. This qualitative study had two research questions: a) To what extent did interviews of secondary resource teachers reveal the concepts of relativity, acceptability, and profitability as they reflect on the SLD process? and b) What other themes regarding SLD eligibility determination emerged from interviews with secondary resource teachers? Utilizing the modified constant comparative method (Lincoln & Guba, 1985), the author revealed that there was moderate support for the paradigms of relativity and acceptability, but less support for the paradigm of profitability. In addition, the author identified other themes, such as difficulties with evaluating English language learners and the benefit of case management, that can be used to expand Bocian’s theory. The author also argued that the paradigms overlap with one another during the special education identification process, rather than proceeding in a sequential order. Finally, the author discussed the implications of her findings in terms of improving school-based and policy practices.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education