Charting the Dispositional Knowledge of Beginning Teachers in Special Education

Abstract

When graduate students enter special education programs, they arrive with dispositional knowledge that can assist or hinder them in their professional development. Over the course of two years, the researchers in this study assessed the dispositions of beginning teachers in a special education program at a west coast state university. The researchers gathered data using qualitative methods, which included analyzing vision statements, survey questions, and interviews. The results of this study describe how students entered the program with a variety of perceptions and attitudes and how course work and clinical experiences in these programs affected students' attitudes, as instructors began building on students' prior experience and knowledge.