Content area
Problem
Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that presents challenges not only for autistic individuals, but also for their families, healthcare providers and school professionals. A significant number of children with autism spend most of their school day in general education classrooms with teachers who may lack autism-specific training and are unfamiliar with evidence-based practices for supporting autistic students. This lack of training or relevant resources specific to autism may impact teacher self-efficacy for educating autistic students, which in turn may affect instructional decisions and student outcomes. Guided by Bandura’s theoretical framework, this study examined the relationships among autism-specific training or professional development, peer observations, collaborative consultation/feedback and teacher attitudes with general education teachers’ self-efficacy for educating autistic students.
Method
This quantitative study utilized non-experimental correlational model testing. Participants included 295 K-12 teachers in several Midwestern states. Data were collected using an online survey containing a demographic questionnaire, an adapted version of the Autism Knowledge Questionnaire (AKQ), the Autism Attitudes Scale for Teachers (AAST), and the Teachers’ Self-Efficacy for Autism Spectrum Disorder Inclusion (TSE-ASDI). The survey also included items assessing teachers’ experiences with expert consultation and peer observations. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression and path analysis.
Results
The findings indicated that teacher attitudes toward autistic students had the largest direct effect on teacher self-efficacy (TSE) for educating these students. Observing experienced educators and engaging in consultation/collaboration opportunities was also positively associated with TSE for educating autistic students. In addition, the study revealed the mediating effects of several variables. Autism knowledge, for example, mediated the effects of both autism-specific training and teacher attitudes on TSE. Teacher attitudes mediated the effects of consultation on both autism knowledge and TSE. Overall, the model accounted for 28% of the variance in TSE.
Conclusions
Bandura’s social cognitive theory posits that there are four principal sources of self-efficacy: enactive mastery experiences, vicarious experience, verbal persuasions and physiological and affective states. This study examined these sources within the context of educating autistic students. The results offer several practical implications for teacher training and future research related to inclusive education and autism-specific training.