Professional Development and Teacher Perception of Efficacy for Inclusion

<p>This study was designed for the purpose of quantitatively examining the significant elements of reform-based professional development and their relationship to teachers’ self-efficacies for inclusion. The theoretical frameworks for this study were drawn from Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy and social cognitive theory in addition to pre-existing research pertaining to professional development and teacher efficacy for inclusion.</p> <p>A web based survey was developed and made available for voluntary participation to a total population of 385 elementary school teachers in one East Tennessee school district. Data were collected from 79 elementary school teachers in 14 of the district’s elementary schools.</p> <p>Findings included no significant statistical correlation between teacher self-efficacy for inclusion scores and the amount of professional development completed during the current school year. Respondents did report a perception that inclusion was not significantly emphasized during professional development activities. Self-efficacy for inclusion scores of teachers with 11+ years of overall teaching experience were found to be significantly higher than teachers with 1-10 years of overall teaching experience. Additionally, there was no significant difference between self-efficacy scores of teachers who were required to take 1 or 2 special education courses for initial certification and 3 teachers who were required to take more than 2 special education courses for initial certification.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

EdD (Doctor of Education)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - unrestricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Lee, Susan E

• Professional Development
• Inclusion
• Teacher Efficacy
• Education
• Elementary Education and Teaching
• Special Education and Teaching
• Teacher Education and Professional Development

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1131

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-2295