COMPARISON OF PERCEPTIONS TOWARD PERSON-CENTERED PLANNING (PCP) OF SECONDARY SPECIAL EDUCATORS IN THE US AND KOREA

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate secondary special educators' knowledge of person-centered planning and attitudes toward person-centered planning between the U.S. and Korea. This study is designed to identify the relationship between implementation levels of person-centered planning and perceptions toward person-centered planning. In addition, this study examines the relationship between knowledge of person-centered planning and attitudes toward person-centered planning. An extensive literature review has been conducted regarding person-centered planning for youth with disabilities. This study uses the Secondary Special Educators Person-Centered Planning Survey (SSEPCP) which was developed specifically for the purpose of this study. The SSEPCP was designed to gather information about secondary special educators' knowledge of and attitudes toward person-centered planning as well as implementation levels of person-centered planning. Twenty-three items were identified and the survey was translated into English and Korean. The result of this study indicated that US educators had more positive attitudes toward person-centered planning than Korean educators. In addition, U.S. educators facilitated person-centered planning more often than Korean educators. There was a positive correlation between knowledge of person-centered planning and attitudes toward person-centered planning. However, there was no relationship between implementation levels of person-centered planning and perceptions of person-centered planning. Moreover, the results revealed that there were no different perceptions of person-centered planning and implementation levels of person-centered planning between the U.S. and Korea. Finally, limitations of this study and implications for further research are discussed.