A comparison of the attitudes of art, special education, and regular education teachers towards mainstreaming special education students

Art teachers were among the first non-special education teachers of mainstreamed special education students, yet, their attitudes towards mainstreaming had never been surveyed. This study surveyed attitudes towards mainstreaming of 97 M.Ed. level art, special education, and regular education teachers. It also looked for relationships between the teachers' attitudes and their information processing styles and personal demographics.;The teachers were given: (1) the Rucker-Gable Educational Programming Scale (RGEPS), to compare their attitudes towards mainstreaming special education students; (2) the Gregorc Style Delineator, to provide information about the teachers' information processing styles; and (3) a personal data survey.;The RGEPS mean attitude scores of regular education teachers were significantly higher, or more receptive to mainstreaming, than special education teachers. There were also observed differences between art and regular education teachers but they were not significant.;T-tests employed to compare the teachers' demographic information with their RGEPS mean attitude scores indicated significantly higher scores for the following: (1) female teachers were more receptive than male teachers to mainstreaming students with emotional disturbance and learning disabilities; and (2) teachers without mainstream teaching experience in the area of learning disabilities were more receptive to mainstreaming than teachers with experience, for both their RGEPS total mean and emotional disturbance disability grouping scores. The RGEPS mean attitude scores of teachers with mainstreaming experience were lower than teachers without mainstreaming experience.;There were no significant RGEPS mean attitude differences between the groups based on whether the teachers: (1) taught in public or private schools; (2) had one or more 3-credit special education courses; (3) attended school district in-service training in special education; (4) attended Special Education Resource Center (SERC) workshops; and (5) had a family member or friend with a disability.;While chi-square analyses indicated significant differences in the Gregorc information processing styles of the three groups of teachers, there were no significant relationships between the teachers' information processing styles and their RGEPS mean attitude scores. The groups differed in their dominant information processing style: (1) Concrete Random for art teachers; (2) Concrete Sequential for special education teachers; and (3) Abstract Random for regular education teachers.