Characteristics of Australian teachers of young children with special needs and their relationship with their students

Abstract

The number of students with a disability and other special needs has recently increased in Australia and much of this increase has occurred in regular classrooms. This trend, along with legislative changes for school support of students with a disability, focusses attention on school and teacher variables associated with outcomes for students with a disability. This paper reviews the characteristics of Australian teachers of young students with special needs who participated in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. For the 650 teachers with a child with special needs in their class who took part in the 2006 wave of the study, there were significant differences across inclusive and segregated settings in some of the teachers’ demographic features as well as their reported relationships with students with special needs.