The Use of Co-Teaching for Students with Intellectual Disability: A Descriptive Study of Teachers' Perceptions
[Thesis]
Alwazzan, Abdulaziz A.
Wood, Jody
Saint Louis University
2019
119 p.
Ph.D.
Saint Louis University
2019
Laws and recent federal legislation related to individuals with disabilities have contributed to the increase inclusive classrooms, which has called for researchers and educators to use many programs and strategies to ensure the effectiveness of these classrooms. One of these strategies is co-teaching. Co-teaching is implemented between the general education teacher and the special education teacher, and they share the planning, organization in inclusive classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine the teachers' perceptions toward the use of co-teaching and the need for training to effectively implement co-teaching for students with intellectual disability. The study was descriptive, and data were collected by a survey in six schools implementing co-teaching in Saudi Arabia. Findings showed that teachers have positive perceptions toward co-teaching and, they need to be trained before and during the implementation of co-teaching through professional development workshops, seminars, courses, conferences and ongoing evaluation to ensure the success of co-teaching and to increase the effectiveness of inclusive classrooms with students with intellectual disability. The results also showed that classrooms need to be reorganized and arranged to increase the effectiveness of coteaching.