Comparative attitudes of regular education teachers v. special education teachers at the secondary level regarding discipline and classroom management strategies
Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to survey attitude differences between regular education teachers and special education teachers at the secondary level toward discipline and classroom management strategies within Metropolitan-Davidson County, Tennessee, area urban schools. This information could be instrumental in developing teacher training programs focusing on the reduction of disciplinary referrals and improving classroom management strategies. Procedures. Six hundred twenty-four regular education and special education teachers participated in this study by responding to forty-three survey items on the Student Discipline Classroom Management Survey. Data gathered from the survey were examined descriptive and inferential analyses using frequency counts and t tests at the .01 level of significance. Findings. Statistical data resulting from this study has been introduced with the intent of presenting applicable information as it pertains to significant and non-significant differences in the attitudes expressed by regular and special education teachers. Each hypothesis has been restated with a brief discourse explaining statistical treatment and accompanied by applicable statistical tables. Conclusions. Results of the study suggested that regular education and special education teachers shared similar attitudes in 19 of 23 (83%) of the issues which pertained to discipline and classroom management issues. In all 8 (100%) of the statements pertaining to problems that occurred most frequently, regular education and special education teachers indicated no significant difference in attitude. Similarly, both groups of teachers showed no significant difference in their attitudes based upon their responses to all (100%) of the statements pertaining to the major causes of discipline problems. In 5 of the 6 statements (82%), regular education teachers showed no significant difference in attitude as compared to those of special teachers with regard to methods of improving discipline. The overall results indicated the attitudes expressed by the two different groups were more similar than dissimilar with regard to issues pertaining to student discipline and classroom management strategies. Recommendations. As a result of this study, the following recommendations are made: (1) Teacher inservice/training for the development and utilization of effective classroom management strategies. (2) Teacher inservice/training on collaborative team building between novice and experienced teachers. (3) Teacher inservice/training on assessing and changing attitudes pertaining to cultural differences. For future research. (1) Additional research should be conducted on teachers' perceptions of the characteristics of students perceived as discipline problems. (2) Additional research should be conducted on teachers' perceptions of the most frequently occurring discipline problems. (3) Additional research should be conducted on teachers' perceptions of the major causes of discipline problems. (4) Additional research should be conducted comparing demographic data collected in this study with all other significant data gathered in this study.
Subject Area
Curricula|Teaching|Special education|Secondary education
Recommended Citation
Janet Cecilia Baker,
"Comparative attitudes of regular education teachers v. special education teachers at the secondary level regarding discipline and classroom management strategies"
(1999).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3007594.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3007594