The commitment of elementary school teachers to inclusive education for children with disabilities

The purpose of this study was to investigate the commitment of elementary school teachers to inclusive education for students with disabilities, and whether the commitment to inclusive education between general and special education teachers was equal. Richard Clarke’s Commitment and Necessary Effort (CANE) theory, severity of disability, and demographic factors of teaching assignment, number of students in class, number of years teaching, and number of years working in an inclusive setting were measured. A four-point Likert – type survey (Appendix A) adapted from a combination of Spencer Salend’s (2008) Teacher’s Inclusion Survey and Interview Questions to Examine the Experience of Educators Working in Inclusive Classroom was used to collect the data. The data indicated that special education teachers appear more committed to inclusive education than their general education counterparts. In addition many of the early roadblocks to inclusive education such as, needed support from administrators and ancillary personnel dealing with SWD, lack of resources, time for collaboration and consultation, along with a need for more training, still appear to be pervasive problems in implementing a fully inclusive program for all students nearly two decades later in contemporary elementary schools