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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Mainstreaming in education; School psychology;

Abstract

The introduction of the Regular Education Initiative into the schools has caused a shift in roles for many school personnel. Perhaps most impacted are the regular classroom teachers who must begin to serve the needs of all children, including those traditionally served by special education. The resulting concerns these teachers voice center on psychoeducational issues such as assessment or developmentally appropriate instructional objectives. Increasingly, teachers have begun to turn toward school psychologists for support and guidance in the form of a consultative relationship. current consultation theory and research suggests that one of the ingredients of more effective consultation is the ability to understand the assumptive frameworks of the other parties involved.

The purpose of this study was to examine the basic assumptions about psychology held by regular classroom teachers and school psychologists, in the hopes of highlighting areas of similarities and differences. The Theoretical Orientation Survey (TOS} was administered to 143 practicing school psychologists and 144 practicing regular classroom teachers in order to assess their basic assumptions about psychology. Results showed that of the eight primary areas assessed by the TOS, teachers and psychologists differed significantly on four--biological determinism, environmental determinism, physicalism, and quantitative versus qualitative orientation.

No differences were found in the areas of factual versus theoretical orientation, impersonal causality versus free will, behavioral versus experiential content emphasis, and elementarism versus holism. A discriminant analysis showed that 70% of the cases could be correctly classified from a linear combination of the factor scores on environmental determinism, physicalism, and quantitative versus qualitative emphasis. These findings are discussed in terms of the implications for establishing collaborative relations between teachers and school psychologists.

Year of Submission

1992

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Department of Educational Psychology, Foundations, and Leadership Studies

Department

Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations

First Advisor

Carmen Montecinos

Comments

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Date Original

1992

Object Description

1 PDF file (105 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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