The Effect of Student Focussed Teacher Inservice on the Progress of Mainstreamed Kindergarten Students

Abstract

A quasi‐experimental matched pre‐test, post‐test control group design was used to investigate the impact of individual student focussed teacher inservice on the progress of students with disabilities enrolled in mainstream kindergarten classes. Twelve student pairs in one district of the NSW Department of Education and Training were matched on pre‐test scores collected at the end of the term prior to kindergarten entry. The kindergarten teachers of each student pair were assigned to a training and non‐training group. Teachers in the training group were involved in a 2 day inservice training program which focussed on the assessed needs of the students with disabilities in their classes. Teachers in both groups were surveyed to gauge their perceptions of the support they received in the identified students’ transitions to school and of their efforts to include the students. The students were reassessed at the end of kindergarten. Although the students as a whole made gains in all areas assessed, there were no statistically significant differences in the post‐test scores of the students in the classes of the teachers in the training versus the non‐training group. The implications of these findings and the results of the teacher survey are discussed.