Perceptions of Competencies for Including Students with Disabilities in Elementary and Secondary School Classrooms

Abstract

A growing trend in many school systems is the practice of including students with disabilities in regular school classrooms. Grounded in guidelines provided in landmark legislation and professional actions that put the laws in to practice, “inclusion” has become the catchphrase of the 1990s. Perceptions for regular and special education teachers of competencies to teach students with mild disabilities were compared in the research reported in this manuscript. Elementary regular educators indicated a higher skill level than secondary regular educators to teach students with mild disabilities. Years of teaching experience of regular educators were not found to be significant to instructing students with mild disabilities, however, preservice and inservice hours were important. Although special educators were perceived as having higher skill levels than regular educators, regular educators indicated a significantly lower desirability to attain the skills to teach students with mild disabilities.