Teachers’ perception of the response to intervention implementation feasibility in Chinese inclusive early childhood education

Abstract

This exploratory study examined Chinese teachers’ perceptions of the practical uses of Response to Intervention (RTI) in preschool inclusive education settings. A survey and follow-up interviews were conducted to collect information about teachers’ perceptions of RTI implementation feasibility in Chinese inclusive early childhood education. Results indicated that even though preschool teachers had limited understanding of the RTI model, they held positive attitudes toward this model and were willing to participate in the learning of this model. However, teachers held negative attitudes toward use of the RTI model in the current situation. The influencing factors included cultural differences, different educational systems, teachers’ knowledge and experience, inclusive education supporting system, and teachers’ self-efficacy. It is recommended that Chinese teachers’ colleges and normal universities could develop and offer more special education courses for the preschool education major in order to enhance the knowledge and skills of inclusive education for all early childhood education teachers. Preschools should build up better inclusive education supporting systems to enable and support teachers’ practices. In addition, universities and colleges could provide more RTI model training seminars and learning opportunities.

Keywords:

• preschool inclusive education
• RTI model
• children with special needs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded through the Jiangsu Provincial Higher Education Philosophy and Social Science Research Programs on the project: “The application research of RTI model in Chinese inclusive early childhood education.” Project number: 2018SJA0652.