General and Resource Class Teachers' Feelings of Personal Efficacy and Attitude towards Classroom Collaboration

Abstract

The feelings of personal efficacy and attitude towards the newly advocated collaborative/supportive roles of resource personnel were investigated in a sample of general and resource teachers by means of a questionnaire. The variable of type of teacher was found to have significant effect on the perception of personal efficacy. Interaction effects between teacher type and special training were also found on feelings of personal efficacy and the total questionnaire score. Supplementary correlation results showed a slightly negative orientation of resource teachers towards the new supportive role functions. The new questionnaire items on efficacy of the present study were found to have high internal validity, but the ecological validity of the items on supportive roles would need further research. Suggestions for future research into other fundamental factors affecting collaboration are given.

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