Willingness of Regular and Special Educators to Teach Students with Handicaps

Abstract

A mailed questionnaire containing 99 demographic and attitudinal variables regarding handicap integration drew responses from 128 regular educators and 133 special educators in 21 school districts. Separate discriminant function analyses using “I would be willing to teach a student with (a handicap)” as the criterion variable were conducted for the two groups of educators. A comparison of the group profiles revealed few similarities. Regular educator willingness depended more heavily upon demographic variables; special educator willingness, upon attitudinal variables. Teacher group membership could be predicted from the profiles with 96% accuracy in each case. The results are discussed in terms of implications for consultants and inservice and preservice programs.

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