CANADIAN TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS BELIEFS ABOUT INCLUSIVE EDUCATION ASPREDICTORS OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING IN HETEROGENEOUS CLASSROOMS

In this study, we attempted to predict the performance of teacher beha viors associated with effective teaching in heterogeneous classrooms f rom a set of variables identified in the literature as important contr ibutors to effective classroom practice. The variables-teacher beliefs and attitudes, principal beliefs and school norms, and teacher effica cy-were selected to represent the determinants of behavioral intention in Ajzen's widely used model of planned behavior. Data were collected in 33 classrooms (grades 2-8) from 12 schools. Teachers and principal s provided questionnaire data for several measures of attitudes and be liefs about students with special needs and their inclusion in general education classrooms. Teachers also provided interview data and were observed using an instrument designed to measure effective teaching be haviors. Zero-order correlations and hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the strongest predictor of effective teaching behavior was the subjective school norm as operationalized by the principal's a ttitudes and beliefs about heterogeneous classrooms and his or her rep ort of the school's pathognomonic-interventionist orientation (a measu re of behaviorally grounded assumptions and beliefs about teaching in heterogeneous classrooms). This variable had a direct effect on the cl assroom observation measure of effective teaching (i.e., it was not me diated by teachers' attitudes). The second important predictor of effe ctive teaching behavior was the teachers' responses on the pathognomon ic-interventionist interview scale. The practical implications of thes e findings are discussed as well as their implications for the develop ment of a comprehensive model of the teacher and school characteristic s that are related to effective teaching in heterogeneous classrooms.