The attitudes of teachers in Trinidad toward mainstreaming and toward children with special educational needs
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Date
1990
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Abstract
A questionnaire and attitude scale were administered to 260 male and female teachers from primary and secondary schools in Trinidad and Tobago, in order to determine their attitudes toward mainstreaming and toward disabled children. " hypotheses were tested to examine the relationship between the attitudes expressed and teachers' gender, experience, training, where they teach, their support services, and their school climate. Teachers' attitudes to specific disabilities were also examined. Results showed that: 1) the mean scores of the teachers' attitude responses ranged between 3.03955 and 3.84848; 2) secondary school teachers, especially females, had lower scores and therefore more positive attitudes toward mainstreaming than primary school teachers; 3) female teachers in secondary schools scored lower than males; and 4) on the whole, teachers in the sample generally appeared to express neutral attitudes toward mainstreaming of children with specific disabilities in ordinary schools"