Research to Practice Summit

Teachers' Perceptions of Inclusion: Emphasis on Art, Music, and Physical Education Teachers ¹

by Mark Wolery

• Investigator and Fellow (formerly)
• FPG Child Development Institute
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A great deal of attention has been given to the perceptions of general classroom teachers related to inclusion of students with disabilities (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 1996; Werts, Wolery, Snyder, Caldwell, & Salisbury, 1996; Wolery et al., 1997). Much of this work involves surveys using state, regional, and national samples conducted by different investigators at different points in time. These studies address questions, such as, are general education teachers receptive to inclusion, do they teach students with disabilities, what supports do they need, and what supports do they have? Based on these surveys, some consistent conclusions can be drawn about general education teachers' perceptions of inclusion.

1. On average, general education teachers are willing to include students with disabilities in their classes, although they are more willing to include some children than others.
2. For the primary grades, most teachers report having at least one student with disabilities in their classes.
3. Across studies, some consistent types of supports and resources are identified by teachers as being needed:
1. daily time to plan and talk with others,
2. training and consultation that is specific and relevant,
3. additional personnel to assist in their classes as well as daily contact with specialists,
4. adequate classroom materials and equipment,
5. reduced class size (e.g., 20 or less), and
6. consideration given in placement decisions to students' disabilities — students with more significant disabilities are thought to require more of the above supports and resources.
4. Given three groups of elementary teachers [(1) those who do not report having a student with disabilities in their classes, (2) those who report having a student with disabilities but who rate that student's disabilities as relatively mild, and (3) those who report having a student with disabilities and rate that student's disabilities as being relatively severe], two findings emerge:
1. the three groups report having nearly identical levels of resources and supports, and
2. for teachers with students who have disabilities in their classes, the group who rated their students as having more severe disabilities also reported needing more resources and supports.

Although experience suggests that art, music, and physical education teachers have regular contact with students who have disabilities, little research has focused on this group of teachers. The following findings come from the responses of 941 art, music, and physical education teachers in a national survey addressing the inclusion of primary-age students with disabilities.

1. At the primary level, nearly all art, music, and physical education teachers report teaching students with disabilities, and nearly all report teaching those students in classes with students who do not have disabilities.
2. Art, music, and physical education teachers also report having little involvement in developing, implementing, and evaluating IEPs-although physical education teachers are more involved than art and music teachers.
3. Most art, music, and physical education teachers report having seen less than 25% of the IEPs for students with disabilities in their classes. Nearly 40% of the art and music teachers and 23% of the physical education teachers do not know whether the IEPs for students in their classes have goals in their respective specialty areas; of those who knew, the majority report less than 25% of the IEPs have such goals.
4. Less than a quarter of the art, music, and physical education teachers report having parent-teacher conferences with families of children with disabilities, but about half will have such conferences if requested. Most report they have not met the families of the students with disabilities in their classes, the parents have never visit their classrooms, and the teachers receive few suggestions from parents about students with disabilities.
5. About half report they have never helped a family of a student with disabilities find or access community (non-school) programs in their specialty areas.
6. The vast majority of art, music, and physical education teachers report they have never had a conversation about students with disabilities with social workers, psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and physical or occupational therapists. They report having more frequent conversations with special education teachers, classroom teachers, and principals; however, a majority have 3 or fewer conversations per year with individuals from these positions.
7. The majority indicate no other school professional has visited their classes to observe students with disabilities.
8. From their perception, the most frequent difficulties they face are:
1. the characteristics of students with disabilities
2. the behavior problems of students with disabilities
3. the large number of students in their classes and the large number of classes they teach, and
4. the lack of information they have about the students with disabilities who are in their classes.
9. The recommendations they give for dealing with these and other difficulties are that schools should
1. provide more in-class help and support,
2. provide more training about students with disabilities, and
3. promote more teaming, sharing of information, and communication among staff.

In addition, they recommend that other special subject teachers use the successful teaching practices they have individually discovered.

10. The factors they say help them teach students with disabilities are:
1. having team meetings and opportunities to collaborate with other school professionals;
2. having received pre- or inservice training or related professional experiences;
3. their own personal attributes; and
4. their discovery and use of successful teaching practices.

References

Scruggs, T. E., & Mastropieri, M. A. (1996). Teacher perceptions of mainstreaming/ inclusion, 1958-1995: A research synthesis. Exceptional Children, 63, 59-74.

Werts, M. G., Wolery, M., Snyder, E. D., Caldwell, N. K., & Salisbury, C. L. (1996). Supports and resources associated with inclusive schooling: Perceptions of elementary school teachers about need and availability. Journal of Special Education, 30, 187-203.

Wolery, M., Bailey, D. B., Dunst, C. J., Schuster, J. W., Werts, M. G., McWilliam, R. A., Trivette, C. M., Hemmeter, M. L., & Maxwell, K. (1997). Year 2 Progress Report: Early Childhood Follow-Through Research Institute. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina.

¹  Presented at the Research to Practice Summit, July 30-31, 1998, Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Early Childhood Technical Assistance System in collaboration with the Early Childhood Research Institute on Inclusion and the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Education Research and Improvement (OERI).