An exploratory study of self-efficacy, school belongingness, and co-teaching perspectives from middle school students and teachers in a mathematics co-taught classroom

ABSTRACT

In this exploratory study, self-rated measures from two co-teachers who taught mathematics to a group of students with and without disabilities were gathered to determine perspectives about their co-teaching experiences. Students also completed three measures. Students and co-teachers agreed that the one-teach, one observe or drift co-teaching model was used most frequently. Although students noted the general educator was the instructional lead, they also believed the special educator provided a valid and valuable role in providing help to all students. All students reported high levels of school belongingness and self-efficacy. Some results matched other researchers’ findings that special educators are less frequently the lead teacher, yet our results indicated students appreciated the support received from both co-teachers. Students’ reports may have been influenced by their co-teachers’ mastery approach to instruction, which emphasised students’ individual progress versus a competitive approach. Implications for researchers and co-teachers include examining how supportive co-teaching can be transformed to maximise instructional experiences for students, and how positive co-teacher relationships translate to students’ sense of belonging and increased self-efficacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Co-teachers
• inclusion
• students with and without disabilities
• self-efficacy
• school belongingness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr. Margaret E. King-Sears is a Professor in the Division of Special Education and disAbility Research at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, USA. She previously worked at Johns Hopkins University, where she began her research interests in inclusion and self-management for students with a range of disabilities. Additional research interests are co-teaching, universal design for learning, mnemonic strategies and techniques that focus on how students with high-incidence disabilities can access the general education curriculum.

Dr. Vasilis Strogilos is an Associate Professor at the Southampton Education School, University of Southampton (UK). He has previously worked at the University of the Aegean and the University of Thessaly (Greece), the Roehampton London Online University (UK) and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). His research interests include co-teaching, differentiated instruction and multidisciplinary collaboration as means to the development of inclusive pedagogy and curricula for all students with a specific focus on students with disabilities.

ORCID

Margaret E. King-Sears http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1871-6659

Vasilis Strogilos http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1754-4306