APPLYING COUNSELING METHODS TO CHALLENGE TEACHER BELIEFS WITH REGARD TO CLASSROOM DIVERSITY AND MAINSTREAMING - AN EMPIRICAL-STUDY

This study measures the impact of an affective educational interventio n aimed at change in teacher beliefs on a generalized beliefs construc t regarding democracy vs. authoritarianism, and on teacher beliefs reg arding mainstreaming. Childrens' progress in behavior was measured to further examine the accountability of the intervention. Methods drawn from educational counseling (clarifying processes and bibliotherapy) w ere applied to a group of teachers in a continuing education program a imed to assist with mainstreaming practices. Results indicated that ex perimental teachers significantly moved toward democratic beliefs in c omparison to the control group. Significant differences in group gains were also found with regard to one aspect of teacher beliefs about ma instreaming (effects of mainstreaming on leacher) and one aspect of ch ild behavior (immaturity). A positive change of direction is also sugg ested by other significant gains in the experimental group.