Preservice Teacher Attitudes toward Mainstreamed Students with Emotional Impairments

Abstract

As a consequence of recent federal legislation and court decisions, preservice teachers need to be prepared for teaching children with handicaps in regular classrooms. One issue in the preparation of teachers relates to attitudes toward mainstreaming handicapped students. This study describes student teacher (n = 213) attitudes toward mainstreamed students with emotional impairments. Attitudes are conceptualized as being composed of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral intentions and are looked at in relation to overall attitude towards mainstreamed students with emotional impairments. Results indicate that the set of beliefs held by subjects are the most significant factor in predicting overall attitude toward mainstreamed students with emotional impairments. In keeping with the research findings, suggestions are given for designing preservice training programs to be more facilitative of positive attitudes toward the integration of these students into the regular classroom.