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This study investigated preschool special education teachers' evolving views of their changing needs and responsibilities during their first year as community-based consulting teachers. The study tracked the perspectives of these formerly classroom-based teachers throughout their first year as consulting teachers facilitating inclusion into community settings of children from ages 3 to 5 with disabilities. The study employed a qualitative design using a focus group format with meetings four times throughout the year. The results indicated that participants became much more specific in articulating their roles and needs as they gained experience. The participants also indicated that management of the classroom inclusion process was one of their critical roles, in addition to acting as a support and referral source for community childcare providers. The results suggest that systems for providing training, resources, and support to teachers moving to consulting roles will be most effective if they are both flexible and ongoing.
Inclusion has become a popular and effective strategy for serving preschool-age children with disabilities (Peck, Odom, & Bricker, 1993; Wolery et al., 1993). The implementation process is very complex (Bricker, 1995) and depends on a number of different playersincluding parents, administrators, teachers, and the children themselves. One barrier to effective implementation is the need to adjust the present system by reorienting teachers who have been classroom-based special education teachers (often for many years) into a consulting role (Peck, Furman, & Helmstetter, 1993; Rose & Smith, 1993). Some of these educators move into co-teaching situations, but many of them become consultants working with children and families in community-based settings, often without formal training in consultation or collaboration.
This study was designed to investigate preschool special education teachers' evolving views of their changing needs and responsibilities as they experienced their first year as community-based consulting teachers. As Bricker (1995) noted, considerable thought and planning are required to ensure that inclusion is implemented effectively for children, parents, teachers, and the larger community. Essential to this process are support from the very teachers who will be implementing inclusion and knowledge as to how best to support them. Practitioners must be involved in changing any educational paradigm (Cooley & Bickel, 1986; Hall & Hord, 1987), and effective implementation of such a change requires understanding their perspectives regarding their changing roles.