A Model of The Determinants of Teachers’ Attitudes to Integrating the Intellectually Handicapped

Abstract

In this paper a model of teachers’ attitudes to integrating children with moderate learning difficulties into ordinary classrooms is described. The basis of this model is an AID analysis described in a previous paper (Thomas, 1986) and an analysis of the spontaneous comments of teachers in unstructured interviews. The sample consisted of 550 teachers in Tucson, Arizona and Devon, U.K. drawn from primary, secondary and special schools and advisory services. From the data of the unstructured interviews, four factors, not mentioned in the earlier paper, are included in the model. These are: traumatic experiences with the handicapped, class size, the what-happened-yesterday factor and leadership. Some implications of the model, the generality of the findings and suggestions for future are included in the discussion.