Canadian Teachers' and Principals' Beliefs about Inclusive Education as Predictors of Effective Teaching in Heterogeneous Classrooms

In this study, we attempted to predict the performance of teacher behaviors associated with effective teaching in heterogeneous classrooms from a set of variables identified in the literature as important contributors to effective classroom practice. The variables-teacher beliefs and attitudes, principal beliefs and school norms, and teacher efficacy-were selected to represent the determinants of behavioral intention in Ajzen's widely used model of planned behavior. Data were collected in 33 classrooms (grades 2-8) from 12 schools. Teachers and principals provided questionnaire data for several measures of attitudes and beliefs about students with special needs and their inclusion in general education classrooms. Teachers also provided interview data and were observed using an instrument designed to measure effective teaching behaviors. Zero-order correlations and hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the strongest predictor of effective teaching behavior was the subjective school norm as operationalized by the principal's attitudes and beliefs about heterogeneous classrooms and his or her report of the school's pathognomonic-interventionist orientation (a measure of behaviorally grounded assumptions and beliefs about teaching in heterogeneous classrooms). This variable had a direct effect on the classroom observation measure of effective teaching (i.e., it was not mediated by teachers' attitudes). The second important predictor of effective teaching behavior was the teachers' responses on the pathognomonic-interventionist interview scale. The practical implications of these findings are discussed as well as their implications for the development of a comprehensive model of the teacher and school characteristics that are related to effective teaching in heterogeneous classrooms.