Alabama Physical Education Teachers' Intention to Teach Students With Disabilities

Background/Purpose Perceived confidence in working with students with disabilities is the best predictor of favorable attitude (Kowalski & Rizzo, 1996). Moreover, coursework in adapted physical education and infusion based courses were significant predictors of favorable attitudes (Kowalski & Rizzo). The purpose of this study was to investigate physical education teachers' attitudes/intentions towards teaching students with disabilities in the state of Alabama.

Method Data was collected using the Physical Educators' Intention Toward Teaching Individuals with Disabilities-II survey (Rizzo, 1996). The researcher attended the Alabama State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance conference in November, 2008. Physical education teachers from across the state attended this conference. 180 participants completed surveys and 158 were analyzed based on completeness.

Analysis/Results Data were entered into SPSS and analyzed using t-tests, a Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, and One-Way ANOVA.

Participants ranged in age from 22 to 64. 138 (87.3%) of the 158 participants had taken at least one course in adapted physical education (APE). 118 (74.7%) of the participants had taken at least one course in special education (SE). 93.0% of participants had experience teaching students with disabilities.

89.2% of teachers rated the quality of their typical experiences teaching students with disabilities as very good (n=71, 44.9%) or satisfactory (n=70, 44.3%). Only four teachers indicated they felt not at all competent to teach students with disabilities. All the other teachers felt extremely competent (23 (14.6%), very competent (n=67, 42.4%), or somewhat competent (n=46, 29.1%) to teach students with disabilities. The correlation was .68(p<>001) for quality of experience and competence.

The only significant (t(156)=2.05, P<.05) difference between males and females was on how much control they felt they had in teaching a student with a disability in their general PE class. Control (t(156)=2.05, P<.05) was also a significant different between teachers who had taken an APE compared with those who had not. Teachers who had taken a SE class showed a significant difference in how much value they put on teaching a student with a disability in their regular PE class (t(156)=2.76, P<.05). For teachers who had taken a special education.

Conclusions As previous research indicated, teachers who had taken an adapted physical education or special physical education course felt competent teaching students with disabilities and felt satisfied with the quality of their experiences teaching students with disabilities.