Measuring the Attitudes of Teachers of Students with Significant Disabilities about Aspects of Their Jobs

Abstract

This study measured the attitudes of teachers of students with significant disabilities with the Attitudes of Teachers of Students with Significant Disabilities about Aspects of Their Jobs survey. Teachers who worked with at least one student with significant disabilities were contacted via e-mail throughout four states in the United States, including a state in the west, midwest, south, and east. Teachers were also recruited via on-line methods, and through professional contacts. One-hundred and eighty teachers successfully completed the on-line survey. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to analyze the data, as well as means, standard deviations, and other demographic data were reported after data collection, in order to examine three research questions including: 1. Do the attitudes of teachers of students with significant disabilities about aspects of their jobs become less positive the older the students? 2. Do the attitudes about their jobs become less positive the longer teachers have been teaching? 3. Do the attitudes about aspects of their jobs become less positive the longer teachers of students with significant disabilities have been teaching students with significant disabilities? Initial results indicated that no significant results supported the research questions for this study. Post hoc results displayed positive results when comparing two of the independent variables with two subdomains of the survey. These results do not support the research questions, but do suggest that further research and study should occur utilizing this survey with teachers of students with significant disabilities. Future research should especially focus on examining what experiences teachers may have while teaching that create positive research results, and whether these findings could assist in designing interventions that may assist in bridging the gap between past research related to teacher attrition and burnout, and practices that occur within the design of special educator's jobs.