Comparison of Practicum Types in Changing Preservice Teachers’ Attitudes and Perceived Competence

Abstract

The purpose was to compare the effects of two practicum types (off campus and on campus) on physical education teacher education (PETE) students' attitudes and perceived competence toward teaching school-aged students with physical disabilities or moderate-severe mental retardation. PETE students, enrolled in a 15-week introductory adapted physical education (APE) course and involved in eight sessions of either off-campus (n = 22) or on-campus (n = 15) practicum experiences, completed Rizzo's (1993a) Physical Educators' Attitudes Toward Teaching Individuals with Disabilities-III (PEATID-III) two times. Analysis of pretest data revealed that groups were equated on gender, experience, attitude, and perceived competence. Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA revealed no significant difference between practicum types on posttest attitude and perceived competence measures. Attitude scores did not differ significantly from pretest to posttest. Perceived competence improved significantly from pretest to posttest under both practicum types. Implications for professional preparation are discussed.

Teachers’ knowledge, perceived teaching efficacy, and attitudes regarding students with ADHD: a cross-cultural comparison of teachers in South Korea and Germany

“…A significant positive correlation was found between teachers' experience and their PTE (Hodge et al, 2002;Park & Park, 2008). For example, teachers who have more experience teaching students with ADHD and who had previously taught students with ADHD perceive themselves as being more confident than those who have less experience.…”

“…Numerous studies have found that teachers who have more professional experience have more favorable attitudes toward students with ADHD compared to those with less professional experience (Bekle, 2004;Hodge et al, 2002). The most significant factor influencing teachers' attitudes towards students with ADHD was previous additional training (Small, 2003;Lee & Witruk, 2013).…”

“…However, most teachers experience negative feelings about their ability to manage the class due to the negative behavior of students with ADHD (e.g., not listening to teachers instructions, not following rules, frequently fighting with peers) (Jeong & Choi, 2010;Joo & Jeong, 2007), which directly affect their attitudes towards students with ADHD, which in turn directly affect their self-efficacy as well as the actual management strategies for students with ADHD (Blume-D' Ausilio, 2005;Hodge, Davis, Woodard, & Sherrill, 2002;Jones & ChronisTuscano, 2008).…”

Actitudes y formación docente hacia la inclusión en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria

“…Estos datos guardan relación con las investigaciones desarrolladas por Alghazo y Naggar (2004) y Opdal, Wormaes y Habayed (2001). No obstante, en algunos estudios (Hodge et al,2002;Kudláèek, Válková, Sherrill, Myers y French, 2002y Parasuram, 2006 no se encontraron diferencias significativas según el género del docente en las prácticas desarrolladas con alumnos con necesidades educativas.…”

“…De igual modo, Batsiou, Bebetsos, Panteli y Antoniou (2008) llevaron a cabo un estudio con profesores griegos y chipriotas, observando una actitud más positiva hacia la inclusión por parte de los docentes varones. Estos resultados entran en contradicción con los aportados por Hodge et al (2002), Kudlàék et al (2002) y Parasuram, (2006), quienes no encontraron diferencias significativas según el género del docente en las prácticas desarrolladas con alumnos con necesidades educativas.…”