Regular and Special Educators

Abstract

Communication breakdowns between regular and special educators integrating students with handicaps into the regular education classroom have been associated with differences in professional orientation. The extent of these differences has not been well defined. In this study, 128 regular education teachers and 133 special educators from 21 school districts responded to a questionnaire addressing man agement, professional, and educational con cerns relating to handicap integration (i.e., mainstreaming). The two groups of teachers were similar in their attitudes. Regular educators were more negative in their attitudes, but the differences rarely reached significance. Group differences became more apparent when attitudes concerning specific handicapping conditions were addressed. A factor analysis revealed that the components of mutual factors were frequently dissimilar. Where the defining variables were the same, the direction and intensity of the group attitudes frequently differed. The implications of these findings for special education consultants working with regular education teachers are discussed.