Online ISSN: 2325-7466
2006
Triannual
National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET)
United States

Articles

Preparing Preservice Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms: A State-Wide Survey of Teacher Education Faculty

  • Lucinda Anne Lang, Ph.D. (Author) Carson-Newman University image/svg+xml
    Lucinda Lang is an Assistant Professor in the Education Department at Carson-Newman University. As a product of small, liberal arts teacher preparation programs (Wheaton College ’91 and National-Louis University ’95) and as a former special educator, her research interests include pre-service teacher education, co-teaching, and faculty development in collaboration and co-teaching.
  • Sherry Mee Bell, Ph.D. (Author) University of Tennessee, Knoxville image/svg+xml
    Sherry Mee Bell is a Professor of Special Education and Department Head of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education at the University of Tennessee. A former special educator and school psychologist, her research interests include effective assessment and instructional practices, giftedness and learning disabilities, and attribution theory. Author of numerous scholarly articles, she is also co-author of Handbook of Reading Assessment.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.346
Abstract
Faculty (N = 154) from approved Tennessee teacher education programs across the range of disciplines responded to an online survey designed to assess the extent to which they practice, teach, and express confidence in co-teaching, collaboration and implementation of universal design for learning (UDL). Faculty strongly endorsed items indicating they practice, teach, have confidence in, and receive departmental support for collaboration and UDL. In contrast, faculty less strongly endorsed items on their practice, teaching, confidence, and departmental support for co-teaching. General education faculty reported less practice of (p < 0.01) and confidence in (p < 0.01) co-teaching than special education faculty. From open-ended responses, major obstacles identified were lack of time, separation of general and special education departments, "buy-in", and lack of skill in and knowledge of those practices. Results confirm the need for cross-discipline collaboration between general and special teacher education faculty to ensure candidate preparation for effective inclusive practice.
Keywords
Barriers, Disabilities, Inclusion, Online Surveys, Preservice Teacher Education, Regular and Special Education Relationship
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How to Cite
Lang, L. A., & Bell, S. M. (2017). Preparing Preservice Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms: A State-Wide Survey of Teacher Education Faculty. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, 12(3), 44-57. https://doi.org/10.64546/jaasep.346

Fall 2017

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  • Article Type Articles
  • Submitted August 13, 2017
  • Published October 15, 2017
  • Issue Fall 2017
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