Experienced Elementary General Educators’ Professional Development Perspectives Regarding Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

Date of Conferral

10-30-2023

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Cathryn Walker

Abstract

At an urban elementary school in a northeastern state in the United States, the problem in this study is that despite professional development (PD) provided to elementary teachers to support students with disabilities, (SWDs), in inclusionary classrooms, elementary teachers have not been prepared to effectively meet instructional needs of SWDs. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine experienced general education elementary teachers’ perspectives of PD needs and instructional supports to implement inclusive models for SWDs in the study district. Guskey’s model of teacher change and Knowles’ andragogy model served as conceptual frameworks to explore educators’ perspectives of PD needed to effectively implement inclusion, and how inclusionary PD may best support SWDs’ instructional skills in elementary settings. Interviews with seven purposefully sampled general education teachers who had participated in district inclusion PD, experience with inclusionary settings, and a minimum of 5 years of experience were conducted. Qualitative analysis was conducted using a priori and open coding. Educators’ perspectives were synthesized into three themes related to the content and format of PD as well as administrative support systems needed for collaborating and shifting perspectives to implement inclusion. The resultant PD project will contribute to positive social change by implementing PD, thereby developing educators’ skills to provide collaborative support for inclusion of SWDs and strengthen students’ instructional skills.

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