Improving teachers' attitudes toward the teaching of intellectually disabled students through training in evidence-based practices

Abstract

Evidence-based practices (EBPs) implemented by qualified teachers are witnessing remarkable success in the education of students with intellectual disability (ID) and may hold promise for improving teachers' attitudes toward their profession. To test this idea, the current research prepared a training program based on EBPs. The research sample consisted of 72 teachers in intellectual education programs attached to general education schools in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. A quasi-experimental approach was adopted. The sample was divided into two groups: An experimental group (n = 34) and a control group (n = 38). Two instruments were utilized in this research: (a) the Attitudes toward the Profession Scale (ATPS) prepared by Al-Ajmi (2015), and (b) a training program based on EBPs developed by us. The results of the study show that there was a difference between the experimental and control groups in the post-Test of the ATPS in favor of the experimental group. In addition, there was a difference between the mean scores of the experimental group in the pre-and post-Tests of the ATPS in favor of the post-Test. The findings suggest that intellectual education teachers' (IETs) professional development programs should focus on improving evidence-based training and continuously evaluate their impact on students with ID's classroom performance for long-Term effectiveness. Finally, the research could be expanded to examine the impact of EBP training on IETs' attitudes toward their students in a larger sample representative of the community.