Professional support for secondary classroom teachers who are engaged in integrating students with disabilities

Master of EducationVictorian Secondary Colleges are adopting Ministerial policies that are directed towards school-based, collaborative decision making; devolution of authority and accountability; and responsibility to the school system and local school community to provide a worthwhile curriculum with well chosen learning experiences for all students. This study sets out to examine how teachers at a north-western metropolitan secondary college perceive the levels and forms of integration, and investigate if membership of a particular faculty impacts on the development of attitudes and perceptions about integration. After reviewing the relevant literature it became clear that the challenges brought about by the integration of disabled students had forced many schools to examine their organisation and structure and for teachers to confront their own fundamental values and attitudes to educational change. Integration success hinges on the attitudes and perceptions of the participants. As a major player in the process, the role of the teachers is pivotal to the success of integration. The literature also indicates that essential support services are required and need to be provided to assist teachers to adopt effective school curricula that meets the special needs and particular learning styles of all students. It was a deliberate decision not to include teachers with specific integration responsibility in this study, but to survey a sample of regular classroom teachers from two faculty areas - maths/science, and English/humanities - involved in the day to day teaching of students with disabilities. All teachers surveyed were teaching classes that contained integrated students. The survey was conducted to examine whether there was a difference between the two faculties in relation to attitudes, commitment, and practice; and teacher perception of professional needs in relation to integration the survey also sought to elicit if membership of a particular faculty impacted on the development of these attitudes and perceptions. Consultants from the School Support Centre associated to the school were also surveyed to examine if their perceptions of the success of the school differed from those of the school-based participants. The findings of the study indicate that faculty membership did impact on the development of teacher attitudes and perceptions about integration success, and perceptions about professional needs. Overwhelmingly the teachers in the study indicated positive attitudes to integration and the integration program offered at the school, but perceptions about what constituted successful integration, and the nature of the professional support required varied along faculty lines. The study also indicated that teachers are concerned about the demands that integration places on their time, the paucity and inadequacy of support and resourcing for integration, the inadequacy of support offered by both the system and their school, and the inadequacy of initial teacher training and professional development. Teachers indicated that they perceive support from within the school as more relevant, and what they most required in preference to support provided by specialist consultants. The nature of support that the teachers indicated they required from school based personnel indicated a lack of confidence in their own teaching skills to provide for integrated students, and a lack of confidence and knowledge about the support offered by consultants. The study indicated a need for more relevant and useful initial teacher training, inservice and professional development; a more equitable and consistent system of resourcing, the need for secondary colleges to address the problems that internal faculty barriers create, and the need to develop a more generalist view of education