Challenging but Positive! -- An Exploration into Teacher Attitude Profiles towards Differentiated Instruction (DI) in Germany

Autor/inn/en	Letzel, Verena; Pozas, Marcela; Schneider, Christoph
Titel	Challenging but Positive! -- An Exploration into Teacher Attitude Profiles towards Differentiated Instruction (DI) in Germany
Quelle	In: British Journal of Educational Psychology, 93 (2023) 1, S.1-16 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Letzel, Verena) ORCID (Pozas, Marcela)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0007-0998
DOI	10.1111/bjep.12535
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Teacher Attitudes; Individualized Instruction; Inclusion; Gender Differences; Teacher Characteristics; Secondary School Teachers; Germany + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Lehrerverhalten; Individualisierender Unterricht; Inklusion; Geschlechterkonflikt; Deutschland
Abstract	Background: Research has highlighted that personal characteristics such as teachers' attitudes play an important role in the implementation of inclusive education. However, there are only a few studies that have shed empirical evidence on the relationship of attitudes and inclusive teaching approaches, such as differentiated instruction. In this vein, the present study tackles this research gap and aims to explore teachers' attitudes specifically towards the inclusive practice of DI in Germany. Aims: The present study aimed to investigate teacher profiles based on their attitudes towards differentiated instruction, as well as further to explore whether teachers differentiated instructional implementation varies between the teacher profiles. Sample: The sample consists of 450 teachers (M[subscript age] = 42.89, SD = 10.48, 65% female), from different school tracks in Germany. Methods A two-step cluster analysis was performed in order to identify teacher attitude profiles concerning their implementation of differentiated instruction. Moreover, an analysis of variance was conducted in order to identify variations in terms of the implementation of differentiated instruction across the three clusters. Results: Results from the cluster analyses indicate three distinct teacher attitude profiles: Cluster 1 'The valuing-teacher', Cluster 2 'The non-valuing-teacher' and Cluster 3 'The challenged-but-valuing-teacher'. Moreover, the findings reveal gender and school track differences between the three teacher attitude profiles. Lastly, an analysis of variance indicated that teachers' differentiated instruction practice varied significantly across the clusters. Conclusions: The findings from the present study indicate that teachers not only perceive the value of DI but also the insufficient resources. Thus, it can be assumed that teachers identify both the 'positive' and the 'negative' aspect of DI, and more importantly, they can recognize both attitude domains towards DI in a similar or different level. Consequently, the results show that attitudes in the context of inclusion cannot be characterised as continuum with two distinct poles. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01