General Education Teachers' Attitudes towards Collaboration and Co-Teaching in Inclusion Classrooms

Overview & Synopsis

This purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore how general education teachers from southern Arizona perceive collaborating with special education teachers when co-teaching in their inclusion classrooms. The theoretical foundation for this research involved Lev Vygotsky's social development theory. The research questions focused on general education teachers' experiences with collaborating with special education teachers, and their perceptions on inclusion classrooms. Detailed responses were collected from 25 general education teachers through either an online in-depth questionnaire, an individual interview, or a focus group interview. Six themes emerged that focused on general education teachers collaborating with special education teachers to support students with special needs, new knowledge acquired from special education teachers, a lack of time to collaborate with special education teachers, inclusion is beneficial for students with special needs, co-teaching benefits in inclusion classrooms, inclusion classroom setbacks with regards to students with special needs. This research found that general education teachers had positive experiences collaborating and co-teaching with special education teachers, and students with special needs benefited academically and socially from inclusion classrooms. However, there were also downsides that include the lack of time spent collaborating, and a lack of support from administration. Overall, in order to build positive partnerships between general education and special education teachers, both educators must communicate affectively and include administrators for more support. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]