323
J. Indian Assoc. Child Adolesc. Ment. Health 2016; 12(4):323-335
Original Article
Attitude of Primary School Teachers towards Children with Learning Disabilities
Moothedath Shari , Mysore Narasimha Vranda
Address for correspondence: Dr. Vranda M N, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatric
Social Work, Dr. M V Govindaswami Centre, NIMHANS, Bengaluru 560029, India. Email:
Abstract
Background: When the special needs of children with learning disabilities are not met, it can
lead to scholastic backwardness and related psycho-socio problems. Hence, early
identification by teachers is crucial. It would, therefore, be important to assess the attitudes
of teachers toward children with learning disabilities. Method: The current study aimed at
assessing the attitude of primary school teachers towards children with learning disabilities
using Teachers’ Attitude about Learning Disabilities (PSTALD) scale. The sample for the
study consisted of 200 primary school teachers in Bangalore South from 16 schools. Result:
The teachers had less favorable attitude towards inclusion of children with learning
disabilities in regular schools. Female teachers had favorable attitude towards helping
children with learning disabilities on overall scores of PSTALD scale compared to male
counterparts. Apart from this, unaided school teachers and teachers with higher education had
statistically significant positive (p < 0.05) attitude on all the domains of PSTALD scale
compared to other categories. Conclusion: The findings of the research highlight the need for
bringing awareness to change the attitude towards inclusion and bringing children with
learning disabilities into the educational mainstream.
Key words: Attitude, primary school teachers, children, learning disabilities
324
INTRODUCTION
Learning disabilities are one of the important issues in primary care in India. India is thought
to have approximately ninety million people with varying degrees of learning disabilities and
an average class in schools has about five students with learning disabilities out of 55
children in the class [1]. Learning disability refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders
manifested by specific and persistent difficulties in the acquisition and use of efficient
reading, writing or mathematical abilities despite conventional instructions, intact senses,
normal intelligence, and proper motivation and adequate socio-cultural opportunities [2].
Learning Disabilities are diagnosed when the individual's achievement on individually
administered, standardized tests in reading, mathematics, or written expression is
substantially below that expected for age, schooling, and level of intelligence (DSM-IV). In
India, prevalence of learning disabilities of various types was reported to be 3-10 per cent
among the student population [3]. In our country, many classroom teachers in regular
mainstream schools have limited knowledge of Specific Learning Disability [4]. Since
teachers have the task of identifying students’ difficulties, their knowledge of learning
disabilities and understanding of their students influence the provision of support. In one
report, administrators from at least five cities stated that education and professional
development for teachers was necessary because many teachers were unsure if their students
had learning disabilities [5]. Teachers’ attitudes towards students with disabilities have a
significant impact on their educational experiences and even in identification of such
disabilities [6].
Eagly and Chaike [7] defined attitude as "a psychological tendency that is expressed by
evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor. It involves three
components: emotional component (how the object, person, issue or event makes you feel),
325
cognitive component (your thoughts and beliefs about the subject) and behavioral component
(how the attitude influences your behavior)”. Teachers’ attitude has implications on student’s
own attitude and their learning outcomes. A teacher’s attitude has the power to enhance or
seriously harm the quality of life of students with disabilities. The integration of students with
learning disabilities within the mainstream classroom depends on the teachers as they are
considered as mediators in the inclusive education process [8, 9].
Recent moves towards the inclusion of students with special educational needs in inclusive
classrooms have focused attention on how teachers perceive these students, what constitutes
educational success for children with special educational needs in inclusive classrooms, and
the perceived ability of teachers to provide effective instruction for them. Limitations in
funding and appropriate material resources and support add to the difficulties faced by
teachers [10].
General Attitude about Learning Disabilities
Adebowale & Moye [11] studied Teachers’ Knowledge of, and Attitude towards Learning
Disabilities in Osun state, Nigeria. Most of the teachers who had a basic degree in National
Certificate in Education (51.1%) were indifferent in their attitude to learning difficulties in
their classrooms, although, a considerable percentage (44.7%) had positive attitude towards it
and were ready to assist learners undergoing such difficulties. However, some of them (4.3%)
still had negative attitude towards inclusion of children with learning difficulties in
classroom. In a study on trainee teachers’ attitudes towards students with specific learning
disabilities in Australia, Woodcock and Vialle [12] showed that primary school teachers had
a favorable positive attitude towards students with specific learning disability (SLD) than
their secondary counterparts. There were no significant differences between male and female
326
trainee teachers’ attitudes towards students with SLD and attitudes towards curriculum
differentiation. There were no significant differences between trainee teachers’ attitudes and
experience or exposure to students with specific learning disabilities. Trainee teachers who
had experience and exposure to students with SLD did not significantly differ in their
attitudes towards students with SLD or differentiating the curriculum compared to those
without any experience or exposure.
Attitude in Helping Children with Learning Disability
Woolfson, Grant & Campbell [13] claimed that the connection between teachers’ beliefs and
their behaviours in the classroom are linked to personal beliefs, values and principles.
Research demonstrates that increased experience and contact with students with special
educational needs in conjunction with knowledge and training, results in more positive
attitudes [14]. Research has also shown negative correlations between negative attitudes and
poor or ineffective instructional strategies [15]. Das et al [16] conducted a study on
‘Inclusive education in India on teachers’ preparedness revealed that primary and secondary
school teachers rated themselves as having limited or low competence for working with
students with disabilities and there was no statistically significant difference between their
perceived skill levels. The current study focuses on analyzing primary school teachers’
attitude towards children with learning disabilities through specifically assessing General
Attitude about Learning Disabilities, Attitude in Helping Children with Learning Disability
and Attitude towards Inclusion of Children with Learning Disabilities.
METHODS
The sample for the study consisted of 200 primary school teachers in Bangalore South from
16 schools. The selection criteria included the teachers who were teaching primary school
children, who were willing to give consent and who speak English / Kannada. A pilot study
327
was also conducted among 50 primary school teachers to examine the feasibility of the
Primary School Teachers’ Attitude about Learning Disabilities (PSTALD) by Shari and
Vranda ( 2015) [17]. The scale has 40 items. Higher mean scores indicate positive attitude
towards children with learning disabilities and lower mean scores indicate negative attitude
towards learning disabilities. The scale has three domains namely ‘General Attitude about
Learning Disabilities’, ‘Attitude in Helping Children with Learning Disabilities’ and
‘Attitude about Inclusion of Children with Learning Disabilities’. The first domain covers
expressed feelings, beliefs and interest about learning disabilities in general. The second
domain focuses on teacher’s attitude component in helping such children. The third one is
about teacher’s attitude in including children with learning disability in general classroom.
Each item was measured on a 5 point scale where 1 is ‘strongly agree’ and 5 is ‘strongly
disagree’ for positive items. The scale has face validity and content validity by experts. The
scale has highly reliability coefficients with internal consistency Cronbach's Alpha of 0.93
and Guttman Split-Half Reliability of 0.90.
RESULTS
The age of majority the primary school teachers was between 20 and 35 years (46.5%). 81%
of them were married. Majority (50.5%) of them belonged to the Hindu religion. Majority
(47.5%) of the teachers had a diploma or certificate in teaching and 70.5% of them were
teaching in unaided school. 62.5% were teaching upper primary teachers, 63.5% of them
were working in schools with no counselors to deal with difficulties in children [Table-1]
328
329
Table – 2 shows the mean scores and standard deviations in each domains of PSTALD scale.
Among the domains, teachers scored less favorable attitude on the domain of inclusion of
children with learning disabilities in regular schooling.
Table-3 shows relationship between Primary School Teachers’ Attitude about Learning
Disabilities (PSTALD) and Background Variable. The results showed that females had
statistically significant (p < 0.05) favorable attitude on domain 3 and overall attitude
compared to male counterparts. With regard to nature of schools, teachers of unaided schools
had statistically significant (p < 0.05) favorable attitude on all the domains of attitude
compared to other categories. Teachers with higher education had statistically significant (p <
0.05) positive attitude towards children with learning disabilities on all the domains
compared to other categories of education.
330
331
Discussion and Conclusion:
The current study was aimed at exploring the attitude of primary school teachers towards
children with learning disability. Majority of the teachers had highly favourable attitude
towards children with specific learning disabilities. However, when it comes to inclusion of
children with learning disabilities to regular teaching classroom and bringing them into the
mainstream, majority of the teachers had poor knowledge and attitude about the same. The
finding clearly highlights the need for bringing awareness to change the attitude towards
inclusion and bringing children with learning disability into the mainstream with typical
children. Teachers are perceived to be integral to the implementation of inclusive education
[18] as they are viewed as important members in the process of including students with
disabilities into regular classes [19]. Teachers’ attitudes are important for successful
inclusive practices [20]. The success of an inclusionary program may be at risk if regular
classroom teachers hold negative attitudes toward the inclusion of students with disabilities
[21]. While some study point out that teachers' attitudes to inclusive education are typically
positive [22].
It is critical to help children in meeting their special needs. Since teachers are the first point
of contact for students with learning disabilities their attitude matters significantly in
providing support and needed intervention. In addition, including children with special needs
is gaining popularity and hence, descriptive and experimental studies on inclusive education
with special focus on learning disabilities will widen the scope of effective classrooms.
Moreover, study on psychosocial wellbeing of children with learning disabilities is another
important area which needs to be explored and intervened.
Like all studies, the current research has limitations. Due to time constraints, convenient
sampling was adopted for data collection. Additional research is needed with regard to other
332
childhood disorders in order to explore and intervene in areas like awareness and attitude of
school teachers which has a direct impact on child mental health. The challenge of achieving
full educational and social integration of children with learning disabilities within the society
can be easily achieved if the teachers possess better knowledge, attitude and competencies to
handle children with learning disabilities. Such knowledge and understanding will enable
them to develop positive attitude towards children with learning disabilities which in turn
leads to acquiring or developing better competencies to handle the children. Teachers needs
to be trained to identify students who need intervention, to handle problems in the classroom,
to locate sources to help students, take part in the collaborative process and to view
themselves as part of a team effort to address the academic, social and healthy development
of students. There is also need to incorporate common childhood disorders in the
professional curriculum of teachers’ education. More advocacy need to be done for
protecting the rights of children with learning disabilities as the study reflected that most of
the school authorities were not facilitating the accommodation for such children.
REFERENCES
1. Thomas S, Bhanutej K, John S: Dealing with dyslexia. The Week 2003, 21:36-42.
2. Demonet JF, Taylor MJ, Chaix Y. Developmental dyslexia. Lancet 2004; 363 : 1451-
60
3. Rama S: Two decades of research on learning disabilities in India. Dyslexia 2000,
6:268–83.
4. Karande S: Current challenges in managing specific learning disability in Indian
children. J Postgrad Med, 2008, 54:74-77.
333
5. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: Special support
education for learning disabilities (LD): The situation of national model projects.
Tokyo; 2002.
6. Genesi D. Disability Discrimination against students in the classroom. 2000. [cited
2015 Feb 25] Available from: URL:
http://www.cedarville.edu/academics/education/classes/edsp202/examples/literature_r
eview_genesi.htm.
7. Eagly AH, Chaiken S: The psychology of attitudes. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
College Publishers; 1993.
8. Campbell J, Gilmore L, Cuckelly M. Changing student teachers’ attitudes towards
disability and inclusion. J Intellect Dev Disabil, 2003, 28(4): 369-379.
9. Tait, Purdie N. Attitudes toward disability: Teacher education for inclusive
environments in an Australian university. Int J Disabil Dev Educ 2000, 47(1): 25-38.
10. Johnston S: Images: A way of understanding the practical knowledge of student
teachers. Teach Teach Educ, 1992, 8:123- 136.
11. Adebowale OF, Moye GP: Teachers’ Knowledge of, and Attitude towards Learning
Disabilities. The online research journal 2012. [cited 2015 Feb 10] Available from:
URL: http://www.oerj.org/View?action=viewPaper&paper=39.
12. Woodcock S, Vialle, W: Attributional beliefs of students with learning. The
International Journal of Learning 2010,17(7): 177-191.
334
13. Woolfson L, Grant E, Campbell L: A Comparison of Special, General and Support
Teachers’ Controllability and Stability Attributions for Children’s Difficulties in
Learning. Educ Psychol, 2007, 27:295-306.\
14. Lambe J, Bones R: Student Teachers’ Perceptions about Inclusive Classroom
Teaching in Northern Ireland Prior to Teaching Practice Experience. Eur J Spec
Needs Educ, 2006, 21:167-186.
15. Avramidis E, Bayliss P, Burden R: A Survey into Mainstream Teachers’ Attitudes
Towards the Inclusion of Children with Special Educational Needs in the Ordinary
School in One Local Education Authority. Educ Psychol, 2000, 20:191-211.
16. Das AK, Kuyini AB, Desai IP: Inclusive education in India: are the teachers
prepared. IJSE 2013, 28.
17. Shari M, Vranda MN: A study on awareness of primary school teachers in identifying
children with learning disabilities. Unpublished M Phil Thesis. NIMHANS
Bengaluru, Psychiatric Social Work Department; 2015.
18. Haskell DH: Building bridges between Science and Special Education. Electronic
Journal of Science Education 2000, 4.
19. Cant H: Inclusive education: The Alberta Experience. Practising Administrator 1994,
16:38-41.
20. Norwich B: The relationship between attitudes to the integration of children with
special educational needs and wider socio-political views: a US–English comparison.
Eur J Spec Needs Educ, 1994, 9:91–106.
335
21. Reusen AK, Shoho AR, Barker KS: High School Teacher Attitudes toward
Inclusion. High Sch J, 2001, 84:7-17
22. Cawley J, Hayden S, Cade E, Baker-Kroczynski S: Including students with
disabilities into the general education science classroom. Except Child, 2002, 68:423-
435.
Mr. Moothedath Shari, M Phil Scholar, Dr. Mysore Narasimha Vranda, Associate
Professor, Department of Psychiatric Social Work, NIMHANS, Bengaluru, India.