Teacher Attitudes, Self-Efficacy Beliefs and the Utilisation of Evidence-Based Strategies in Classroom and Behaviour Management for Students with Learning Disabilities in Inclusive Primary Classrooms in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Today, inclusive education is becoming an increasingly common and important educational practice in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. Therefore, it is necessary to understand how teachers work with students with learning disabilities in order to provide better inclusion experiences for them. This study investigated the perceptions of general education teachers (GETs) and special education teachers (SETs) regarding inclusion, and their assessment of their self-efficacy when teaching Saudi Arabian students with a learning disability (LD). In addition, the study examined GETs’ and SETs’ perceptions of their use of classroom and behaviour management (CBM) practices while working with students with LD. Lastly, the study evaluated how gender impacted on the beliefs of GETs and SETs with regard to the inclusion of students with LD, their aptitude for teaching and managing these students’ behaviour, and how they implement various CBM practices when teaching them. To meet the study objectives, an explanatory two-stage sequential mixed-methods design was established. In the first stage, a questionnaire was answered by 286 male and female primary school GETs and SETs, with 250 participants going on to answer the open-ended questions at the end of the questionnaire. The second stage consisted of semi-structured interviews involving 12 female primary school teachers, equally divided between SETs and GETs. Overall, the findings indicated that even though GETs and SETs held similar positive attitudes regarding inclusion, they had different levels of self-efficacy and different approaches to the use of CBM practices when teaching students with LD. Moreover, the finding indicated that gender had a statistically significant influence on the attitudes of GETs and SETs towards inclusion and on CBM strategies used by GETs; however, no impact was found for the self-efficacy levels of GETs and SETs regarding teaching students with LD in inclusive classrooms.