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Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and their self-efficacy for inclusive practices as predictors of willingness to implement peer tutoring

Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and their self-efficacy for inclusive practices as predictors of willingness to implement peer tutoring
Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and their self-efficacy for inclusive practices as predictors of willingness to implement peer tutoring
The attitudes teachers hold towards inclusion are one of the most widely researched themes in the field of inclusive education. Contrary to most attitudinal studies which are solely focusing on examining the impact of a host of factors in the formation of teacher attitudes, the present study sought to link reported attitudes towards inclusion and teachers’ self-efficacy for inclusive practices with an actual inclusive instructional approach, that of peer tutoring. Participants were 225 Greek general teachers and 69 special education counterparts who responded to a questionnaire consisting of the Core Perspectives Scale from the MTAI scale, the TEIP scale, and other scales measuring their attitudes towards peer tutoring. Results indicated that general teachers held neutral attitudes towards inclusion while their special education counterparts held significantly more positive ones. General teachers were found to be less positive in their self-efficacy for inclusive practices than the special education counterparts with the exception of the managing behavior dimension. General teachers emphasized mainly the social gains achieved by students participating in a peer tutoring program. Moreover, they considered peer tutoring as an effective means for including students with diverse needs in their classrooms. Importantly, this study found that teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and their self-efficacy for inclusive practices largely predict their willingness to implement a peer tutoring program in their classrooms. The paper concludes with highlighting the need to offer teachers professional development courses that positively influence their attitudes and enhance their sense of self-efficacy in implementing peer-tutoring.
1471-3802
49-59
Avramidis, Elias
3dd9390a-a271-4073-918a-fa8ec8d5d0f2
Toulia, Anastasia
4aa585b6-e042-44d1-9456-06d4f531ef6d
Tsihouridis, Charilaos
7a134fa6-a298-4818-b663-0786a26813b1
Strogilos, Vasilis
c3f5776e-d0b6-420f-9e65-730028e939b6
Avramidis, Elias
3dd9390a-a271-4073-918a-fa8ec8d5d0f2
Toulia, Anastasia
4aa585b6-e042-44d1-9456-06d4f531ef6d
Tsihouridis, Charilaos
7a134fa6-a298-4818-b663-0786a26813b1
Strogilos, Vasilis
c3f5776e-d0b6-420f-9e65-730028e939b6

Avramidis, Elias, Toulia, Anastasia, Tsihouridis, Charilaos and Strogilos, Vasilis (2019) Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and their self-efficacy for inclusive practices as predictors of willingness to implement peer tutoring. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 19 (S1), 49-59. (doi:10.1111/1471-3802.12477).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The attitudes teachers hold towards inclusion are one of the most widely researched themes in the field of inclusive education. Contrary to most attitudinal studies which are solely focusing on examining the impact of a host of factors in the formation of teacher attitudes, the present study sought to link reported attitudes towards inclusion and teachers’ self-efficacy for inclusive practices with an actual inclusive instructional approach, that of peer tutoring. Participants were 225 Greek general teachers and 69 special education counterparts who responded to a questionnaire consisting of the Core Perspectives Scale from the MTAI scale, the TEIP scale, and other scales measuring their attitudes towards peer tutoring. Results indicated that general teachers held neutral attitudes towards inclusion while their special education counterparts held significantly more positive ones. General teachers were found to be less positive in their self-efficacy for inclusive practices than the special education counterparts with the exception of the managing behavior dimension. General teachers emphasized mainly the social gains achieved by students participating in a peer tutoring program. Moreover, they considered peer tutoring as an effective means for including students with diverse needs in their classrooms. Importantly, this study found that teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and their self-efficacy for inclusive practices largely predict their willingness to implement a peer tutoring program in their classrooms. The paper concludes with highlighting the need to offer teachers professional development courses that positively influence their attitudes and enhance their sense of self-efficacy in implementing peer-tutoring.

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Accepted/In Press date: 5 August 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 December 2019
Published date: December 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 434445
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/434445
ISSN: 1471-3802
PURE UUID: 3e38ea89-4e6e-498a-adb9-afe4f11706fc
ORCID for Vasilis Strogilos: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1754-4306

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Date deposited: 24 Sep 2019 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 08:13

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Contributors

Author: Elias Avramidis
Author: Anastasia Toulia
Author: Charilaos Tsihouridis

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