A Comparative Analysis of the Perceptions of Special Education Teachers Regarding Educative Activities To Further Develop Teaching Skills

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the perceptions of special education teachers in the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) regarding the importance, comfort, and frequency levels of educative activities to further develop their teaching skills was conducted by the researcher in order to apply findings to the development of future professional learning opportunities for this group of educators and to the role of human resource development (HRD) with regard to adult learning and organizational processes. Responses were elicited from a selection of educative activities listed on a questionnaire instrument that was distributed to a non-proportional, stratified random sampling from the district?s total population of special education teachers in the fall of 2006. Multivariate analyses of variance resulted in no significant differences in the importance, comfort, and frequency levels of educative activities as rated by special education teachers regardless of teaching level or years of teaching experience. The primary conclusions drawn from this study were: (a) mean responses were homogenous at the group level regardless of the educative activity; (b) there were no significant perceptual differences found with regard to the rating of educative activities by importance, comfort, and frequency; and (c) there was a need for more research in this area to further investigate or substantiate findings due to the exploratory nature of the study?s design. Recommendations include: 1. Large scale research comprised of similar teacher samplings and research design to add to existing studies regarding the perception and selection of educative activities by special education teachers to further develop teaching skills. 2. Large scale research comprised of similar teacher samplings and research design to explore special education teacher perceptions regarding adult learning and the role of human resource development and other district department professionals in order to add to existing research when designing professional learning opportunities for this teacher group. 3. Review of the questionnaire instrument since no significant differences were found. Items listed should include activities that are distinctly different from each other. In addition, educative activities may need to be added or subtracted depending on new findings from research.