ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE AND TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD MAINSTREAMING

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the attitudes of elementary and secondary level regular classroom teachers toward mainstreaming were associated with the degree to which they perceived the organizational climate in their schools as stemming from a "participative group style" of management. Further, the study sought to determine the relationship between teachers' attitudes toward mainstreaming and demographic variables of years of experience, sex, level of instruction and course credits in special education. Comparisons were made between elementary and secondary teachers' perceptions of organizational climate as they related to attitudes toward mainstreaming.;Subjects for this investigation were 266 elementary and secondary regular classroom teachers from 16 schools. The instruments used to collect the data were (1) Likert Profile of School, teachers' form, (2) Educational Attitude Survey, (3) Demographic questionnaire.;Data from the Profile of a School and the Educational Attitude Survey revealed significant relationships between teachers' perceptions of their school's organizational climate and their attitude toward mainstreaming handicapped children, both on the elementary and secondary levels. However, the relationship was weak according to established criteria. The data from these two instruments also showed a higher degree of relationship between the level of organizational climate and attitude toward mainstreaming for elementary school teachers than for secondary school teachers.;Data from the Educational Attitude Survey revealed that "years of teaching experience" was significantly but negatively related to the teacher's attitude toward mainstreaming. In addition, there was no significant difference in attitudes between male and female teachers and between elementary and secondary teachers. "Course credits in special education" was not found to be a factor related to the teacher's attitude toward mainstreaming.;With the findings from the present study, that certain management characteristics do have a positive relationship to teachers' attitudes toward mainstreaming, school administrators can begin to understand more clearly the specific administrative strategies necessary for planned change.