Stolber, K.C., Gettinger, M., Goetz, D. (1998). Exploring factors influencing parents' and early child practitioners' beliefs about inclusion. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 107-124.
- inclusion - systems-level change in many ECE programs
- beliefs of people need to be in focus
- what do parents and practitioners believe?
- professional organizations - have position statements about inclusion - some differ from others in their endorsement
- debate influences what people beliece about inclusion
- literature review - a) importance of examining beliefs; b) how are beliefs measured relative to inclusive education?
- importance of measuring beliefs
- research - how and what influences our practice?
- beliefs - one facet that figures prominently in decision-making
- beliefs form based on personal experience
- form expectations of children in the classroom
- influence the way we think and act
- can also influence outcomes
- our framework for action
- it's expected that parents and teachers will differ in beliefs
- also that education and experience will also influence beliefs
- specific-belief dimensions
- research - there are domains in beliefs for parents and educators (categories of beliefs)
- three constructs
- core perspectives - perceptions of concepts, ethics and what is best practive
- expected outcomes - beliefs influence practices and outcomes - linked to behavior
- classroom practices - how do beliefs impact day-to-day life in the classroom and practices?
- research questions
- parents and ECE beliefs about inclusion
- situational and experience influences
- parents and ECE providers differ?
- perceptions of preparation and need of training
- barriers to inclusion and how to fix them?
- methods
- 415 parents, 128 ECE
- 10 inclusive programs in Wisconsin
- geographic sampling - representative sample
- none IDed as having students with autism....
- Parents - all had children attending inclusive programs
- asked to complete a survey
- DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION IS ON THE PAPER
- Measures
- My Thinking About Inclusion Scale - this study was also a validation study
- brief version - 12 items
- extended version - 28 items
- demographics
- education
- community
- income
- marital status
- children
- child's disability
- level of education
- years of experience
- beliefs were taken from the mainstreaming literature as opposed to the inclusion literature
- adaptations were made to be consistent with the language of inclusion, to tap beliefs, or to tap beleifs about typically developing children
- piloted with 50 practitioners
- comprehensive - pragmatics section
- were asked to rate the ease of accommodations by disbility
- rate the level of preparedness
- what might interfere with inclusion
- Procedure - surveys were given to the parents and practioners
- practitioners - 92% return rate; parents 85%
- Results
- high correlations among the constructions
- intercorrelations were moderate
- parent beliefs
- parents of kids with disabilities were more positive towards inclusion
- socio-economic status - higher more favorable
- not related to income level when education was controlled for
- college educated - more positive
- married - more positive
- community settings - no difference
- ECE beliefs
- used comprehensive instead of short version
- gen ed and SPED more likely to be positive than paras
- level of education related to Classroom Practices
- high school - less positive
- years of experience - 15 or more years more positive
- practitioners were more positive than parents
- perceptions of accommodations, preparation and barriers
- easy accommodations
- speech and language
- LD
- mild cognitive
- greatest amoung
- autism
- neuro impairments
- challenging behavior
- less experience - rated more difficult to accommodate
- felt least prepared to accommodate
- neuro disorders
- visual/hearing impairments
- autism
- most prepared
- speech language
- LD
- Mild cognitive
- special educations more confident with ADHD and autism than gen ed
- ED compared to gen ed and related services
- Hearing impairment to paras
- mild moderate cognitive, LD, speech and language compared to paras and gen ed
- related service - better prepared
- TBI and neuro compared to gen ed
- hearing compared to gen ed and paras
- speech and language compared to paras
- master's degrees - more preparation than those with high school for
- barriers
- time for collaboration
- direct teahching, peer observations and inservices were preferred
- reading the literature was the least preferred
- Discussion
- good reliability and consistency - MTAI
- brief - comparative studies of beliefs
- comprehensive - awareness and acceptance of inclusion
- limitations of the study
- does not capture the nuances of conceptions
- only one way to look at things
- important patterns were noted
- parents of children with disabilities respond more positively than parents of children without disabilities
- different from Vaughn's work
- lower incomes and lowed education - less positive - more about education than money
- socialization influences beleifs - more opportunities to examine the benefits of inclusion
- community did not influence
- more proximal factors than distal factors
- more research is needed
- differences in elementary and secondary parents?
- parents who have more contact are more positive?
- experiences seem to influence beliefs
- more specialized training have more positive beliefs
- greater experience have more positive beliefs
- contextual?
- different from Vaughn
- practitioners tended to have more positive beliefs
- hardest to accommodate
- challenging behavior
- neuro problems
- autism
- more easily accommodated seemed to be directly related to amount of preparation
- time and collaboration were barriers - consistent with other literature
- need to train preservice teachers in collaboration and communciation
- hands-on experience crucial
- one-shot inservice isn't going to do it
- does knowledge develop over time? Future research needed
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