The Effect of Instruction on Music Educators' Attitudes toward Students with Disabilities

Abstract

Before and after completing a university course for teaching music to special education learners, master's-level music education students (N = 18) were given a measure examining their attitudes toward students with disabilities. The survey instrument consisted of 20 statements describing five different groups of students; these were learners with emotional, physical, multiple, mental, or no impairments. The participants were directed to indicate strength of agreement or disagreement with the following statements: "I wouldfeel comfortable in interacting with this individual," "I would be willing to work with this individual," and "I would feel capable in working professionally with this individual." Results showed an increase in the participants' responses to the statement "I would feel more capable in working professionally" but a statistically significant decrease (p < . 05) to the statement "I would be willing to work" with special-needs learners after the completion of training. TheEffect of Instruction on Music Educators' Attitudes toward Students with DisabilitiesRecent increases in the number and types of special education students being taught in the mainstream have brought renewed interest in understanding the role of teacher attitude and the effect of teacher training in meeting the realities of the classroom. Although many would like to believe that there are no differences between regular and special educators' attitudes toward individuals with disabilities, several published surveys indicate otherwise. Regular education teachers frequently report feeling unable to work with students with exceptionalities primarily due to their own lack of knowledge. As a result, they may also not support current efforts to eliminate or significantly decrease the number of separate special education programs in favor of more inclusion of special education students into the mainstream (Coates,

A Graduate Course on Inclusion

“…Instrumental music educators in the class were reluctant to mainstream students with disabilities because they believed that the students' inclusion might negatively affect a public performance, a finding similar to those of past research reports (Gfeller et al, 1990;Scott et al, 2007). The posttest results (Wilson & McCrary, 1996) Following the recommendations of Wilson and McCrary (1996), Smith and Wilson (1999) analyzed music educators' attitudes (N = 20) toward children with disabilities before and after a graduate course that included a practicum with children with special needs. The graduate course content was similar to that in Wilson and McCrary's (1996) study, and the practicum consisted of four 20-minute sessions over a period of 2 weeks, with the graduate students creating a musical experience for children with special needs.…”

“…The first assumption was the participants were honest and accurate when completing journal entries, surveys, and interviews. The second assumption was the instruments used in this study accurately measured the participants' attitudes toward teaching children with disabilities (Wilson & McCrary, 1996) and inclusion techniques.…”

“…Some music educators report positive attitudes (Darrow, 1999;Jellison, 1992;Scott et al, 2007) toward inclusion, but research indicates that many music educators find children with special needs difficult to teach . Specifically, performance ensemble directors voiced their concerns about children with disabilities participating in their ensembles because of the possible negative musical effects on their performances (Gfeller et al, 1990;Scott et al, 2007;Shelfo, 2007;Wilson & McCrary, 1996).…”

“…(Hesterman, 2011). Researchers examined the effects of a graduate course on music and children with disabilities on music educators' attitudes (Brittin, 1995;Gilles, 1978;Hammel & Gerrity, 2012;Smith & Wilson, 1999;Wilson & McCrary, 1996). A primary purpose of a graduate course on this topic is to improve the music educators' attitudes and increase their knowledge about inclusion in the hope of improving teacher instruction and student learning in classes with children with disabilities.…”

“…After the 1-month unit, the participants reported that their attitudes changed positively and stated they were more comfortable, capable, and willing to teach children with disabilities. Wilson and McCrary (1996) During the graduate course (Wilson & McCrary, 1996), the participants discussed situations and issues in their classrooms. The music educators indicated that, in their 56!…”