122 Cathy Little
experience. Poor teacher knowledge and attitudes have been reported as having
a significant detrimental effect on students’ participation in school (Eldar, Talmor
and Wolf-Zuckerman, 2010). Positive teacher attitude equates to more successful
outcomes for students. Several studies report how teacher attitudes directly influ-
ence students’ attitudes and behaviour, and the subsequent success of educational
environments in encompassing the principles of inclusion (e.g., Avramidis, Bayliss
and Burden, 2000; de Boer et al., 2011; Sharma, Loreman and Forlin, 2012).
The teacher is the central focus of any classroom. Their attitude toward their
students can be a crucial determinant of the educational experience. When
exploring the study of teacher attitudes, elements investigated at the operational
level include: teachers’ knowledge of Autism Spectrum Disorder; their professional
pedagogy and personal skills and experience; opportunities for professional devel-
opment; the provision of sector level support; and the element of collaboration.
These elements have a two-way effect in that they both inform and affect the
teacher, and in return, are moulded and developed by the teacher in response to
new and changing beliefs and attitudes. With these elements in mind the study pre-
sented in the following sections explores teacher attitudes toward students with an
Autism Spectrum Disorder, with a particular focus on social inclusion.
The study
Methodology
The research design used for the study was a mixed-methods investigative study,
combining the use of surveys and embedded case studies. The Teacher Attitudes
Survey comprised 24, 5-point scale Likert response questions and 10 open-ended
questions, each designed to investigate four constructs of teacher attitude identi-
fied from the literature: attitudes toward inclusion generally, teacher effectiveness,
academic climate, and social inclusion. Five case studies, each involving four ‘key
players’ (a student with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, their teacher, the Principal
and a self-reported peer group) were also undertaken. Within each case study, inter-
views were held with the ‘key player’ participants alongside a series of classroom
observations of the student and teacher. The interviews were administered one-
on-one, researcher to participant, and followed a semi-structured, standardised,
open-ended format, wherein the same questions were asked of all participants
in the same position across each of the five case studies. The focus of classroom
observations was around the observable behaviours of inclusion, social interac-
tion, peer interaction and response to teacher behaviours. Classroom observa-
tions of teacher behaviours were made using the Mainstream Version of the Code for
Instructional Structure and Student Academic Response (MS-CISSAR) instrument of
the EcoBehavioral Assessment Systems Software (EBASS) (Greenwood, Carta, Kamps
and Delquadri, 1993). Student social behaviours were observed using the schedule
based on the model of social interaction (Doble and Magill-Evans, 1992).