A Study of Teacher’s Characteristics for TeachingThe Students with Special Needs and The RegularStudents in The Same Class of Elementary School :Chonburi Province

Abstract

The objectives of the research are to study teacher’s characteristics, the students with special needs studying with the regular students in primary school regarding requirements of parents and teachers, to analyze the confirmatory factor of teachers and to develop the guidelines of teacher’s characteristics. The research methodology is mixed design between quantitative research and qualitative research.

The sample is divided into two groups which are 1) quantitative sample (569 persons) that consists of 288 teachers, 153 parents of the students with special needs, and 188 parents of regular students studying with the students with special needs and 2) qualitative sample (10 persons) that consists of 4 teachers and 6 parents of the students with special needs. The questionnaire for the research is Rating Scales (5 levels) which is designed by the researcher then the data is analyzed by using the descriptive statistics, Correlation coefficient of variables and using Lisrel 8.72 program to analyze the second order confirmatory factor. The In-depth Interview is used to collect the qualitative data and analyze the data by using the content analysis. The results indicate that

1.  The teacher’s characteristics of the students with special needs were found with the 5 factors and 54 variables which consist of 1) The factor of Ethics and the maximum value of variables is being the good imitation for students and community  2) The factor of personalities and emotions and the maximum value of the variables is understanding changeable emotions of the students with special needs  3) The factor of teaching management and the maximum value of the variables is paying attention on the teaching in classroom

4) The factor of ability and the maximum value of the variables is be able to communicate with the students with special needs and 5) The factor of the successful co-studying classroom and the maximum value of the variables is be able to build the right mindset for the regular students to not dis-admire or laugh at the students with special needs.

2.  The model of the second order confirmatory factor of the teacher’s characteristics were found that the model consists of 5 factors and 54 variables which are 1) The factor of Ethics 2) The factor of personalities and emotions 3) The factor of teaching management 4) The factor of ability and 5) The factor of the successful co-studying classroom. The model is complied with the empirical data at good level ( x²=2207.74, p-value = 0.00000, df = 1259, x² / df = 1.75  CFI = 1.00  and RMSEA = 0.036)

                 3.  The development guidelines for teacher’s characteristics of students with special needs studying with the regular students in primary school are as following 1) Institution producing teachers shall build the basic foundation of values to work with love and be happy with teaching management for co-studying classroom and shall set up the efficient curriculum for special education for students in the education field and shall enhance the institutions to produce more specialized teachers for the students with special needs.  2) The current schools, the executive committee shall support the training about teaching management for co-studying classroom and basic understanding about the purpose of the success of co-studying classroom to the teachers in the school including support by considering to provide a raise or some support to the teachers who teach the co-studying classroom. 3) Motivate and strengthen teachers to develop the teaching plan to be like co-studying classroom i.e. conduct free-cost training   study visit monitoring giving compliments or rewards to the good teachers including developing the documentation of teaching plan and the documentation for the budget to be easier.