Contribution of a workshop on strategies of access to general curriculum on teachers' attitudes towards cognitive modifiability of students with intellectual disability, attitudes, and self-efficacy in implementing the curriculum (Hebrew)

A review of the literature reveals a commitment in the special education system to planning instruction for students with intellectual disabilities through accessibility to the general curriculum and accommodation strategies for general education programs. (Every Student Succeeds Act, 2015; Agran, 2002; Israeli Ministry of Education, 2007). This means that in educational settings for these students, teachers must be familiar with the general education curriculum and plan instruction based on it, to the extent possible, and use accommodation strategies. This is done in order to reduce gaps as much as possible compared to a typical population of the same chronological age (Tal, 2017). The use of accommodation strategies is done through cognitive accessibility, repetition, spiral instruction, and the like (Ministry of Education, 2016). In addition, the CBA approach - Cognitive, Behavior, Affect is also recommended for populations with intellectual disabilities (Lifshitz, 2020). It was also found that there is a lack of tools, guidance, and knowledge regarding accessibility to the general curriculum and the use of accommodation strategies among teachers of students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (Thurlow et al., 2017). Additionally, acquiring knowledge and tools in the field of disability will contribute to changes in teachers' attitudes and perceptions and their understanding (White et al., 2007; Warren-Little, 1999).

Therefore, a four-session workshop and a PRE and POST research design were planned for the current study. The study involved two groups of teachers in settings for students with intellectual disabilities, an experimental group (N = 31) and a control group (N = 27). The experimental group participated in a workshop on accessibility and accommodation strategies for the general curriculum for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The control group participated in a workshop on literacy accessibility as an intervention tool, a topic from the curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2021). The study was conducted in 3 stages:

• In the Pre-test stage, the participants were given a battery of questionnaires regarding their belief in the students' cognitive modifiability, the teachers' attitudes and sense of self-efficacy in making the curriculum accessible to the students.
• Subsequently, the workshops were conducted for both groups.
• In the Post-test stage, the battery of questionnaires was administered again.

The operational objectives of the study were:

a. To examine whether there will be differences between the groups in terms of belief in the modifiability of students with intellectual disabilities, attitudes towards curriculum accessibility and accommodation strategies, and self-efficacy in implementing them.

b. To examine whether the workshop will contribute to a change in the staff's attitudes towards belief in the modifiability of students with intellectual disabilities, towards accessibility to the general curriculum and accommodation strategies, and self-efficacy in implementing them.

An additional operational objective was to examine whether background variables will also be a factor affecting differences between the groups in terms of attitudes towards implementation self-efficacy.

After the workshop, four participants from the experimental group received additional training based on a weekly meeting for a period of about six months, during which they implemented the tools and accommodation strategies they learned in the workshop.

In-depth semi-structured interviews were then conducted with four participants, which were analyzed qualitatively to identify and describe the implementation of accessibility beyond what they learned in the workshop.

The hypotheses of the quantitative study were:

a. There will be differences in teachers' beliefs about their students' cognitive modifiability, before and after the workshop, such that teachers' beliefs will be more positive afterwards. There will be no change in the control group.

b. There will be differences in teachers' attitudes before and after the workshop, such that teachers' attitudes will be more positive afterwards. There will be no change in the control group.

c. There will be differences in teachers' self-efficacy before and after the workshop, such that teachers' self-efficacy will be higher afterwards. There will be no change in the control group.

d. There will be differences between teachers under the age of 40 and teachers over the age of 40. The former will have higher attitudes and perceptions on the research variables.

e. There will be differences between teachers with a master's degree and teachers with a lower level of education. The former will have higher attitudes and perceptions on the research variables.

The following questions were also asked:

1. Will the workshop contribute to a change in attitudes beyond the other variables?

2. How will the contribution of the intervention program, which included a workshop and training on the implementation of accommodation strategies for the regular curriculum, be expressed in the experimental group?

Results:

a. The attitudes of the teachers who participated in the experimental group towards the cognitive modifiability of people with intellectual disabilities improved significantly between the two measurement points, compared to the teachers who participated in the control group who did not change at all.

b. It was found that the attitudes of the teachers who participated in the experimental group towards the accessibility of the regular curriculum through the use of accommodation strategies were more positive at the second time point (after the workshop) compared to the first time point. In contrast, there was no change in attitudes among the teachers who participated in the control group.

c. Regarding self-efficacy, it was found that it was higher at the second time point compared to the first time point among the staff members who were assigned to the experimental group. In contrast, there were no significant differences between the two measurement times in this measure among the staff members who were assigned to the control group.

d. Hierarchical regression analyses found a significant contribution of the workshop to improving the attitudes and self-efficacy of the experimental group compared to the control group.

e. To examine whether there is a contribution of background variables (age, education) and of belonging to the research groups (experimental, control) to explain the variance in the degree of improvement in attitudes and self-efficacy, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. It was found that staff members with a higher level of education (master's degree) improved their self-efficacy more, and specifically, their overall self-efficacy for promoting students with moderate intellectual and developmental disabilities, compared to staff members with a lower level of education (bachelor's degree).

f. Multiple regression analyses found that staff members belonging to the younger age group (under 40) had more positive attitudes towards accessibility to the regular curriculum through the use of accommodation strategies compared to staff members belonging to the older age group (40 and above).

The findings of this study are in line with the findings of the study by Sapir (2016), which examined the effect of participating in a workshop on a curriculum that promotes literacy education for students with severe and profound intellectual disabilities. The study found that learning the program had a positive effect on the staff's attitudes towards the cognitive modifiability of people with intellectual disabilities (Sapir, 2016).

In addition, considering the findings, it can be argued that the deeper the pedagogical knowledge in curriculum planning of teachers working with a population with intellectual disabilities, the higher their belief in the students' modifiability. The relationship between curriculum construction by the teacher and his knowledge about his students has been found in other studies (Alvunger, 2021; Lamos, 2017).

The finding that the younger teachers who participated in the study had more positive attitudes towards accommodation strategies can be explained by the greater flexibility that younger teachers have towards change compared to older teachers. The latter have developed habits and methods over the years and therefore showed less willingness to make changes to the curriculum by using accommodation strategies. In addition, an essential part of the accessibility process also requires the use of assistive technology. Research shows that one of the factors affecting teachers' willingness to use assistive technology is age, in such a way that new teachers are more willing to use different technologies in the classroom compared to veteran teachers (Conti et al., 2017).

The findings of the qualitative study showed a constructivist application of knowledge in the relevant and authentic teaching environment of the teachers, as well as the use of a variety of strategies such as universal design, language simplification, repetition, and use of technology. In addition, the teachers developed strategies for coping with difficulties.

This study has both theoretical and educational contributions. The theoretical contribution is to the theories of attitude change, showing that knowledge acquisition in the field of disability contributed to a change in the attitudes of the research participants regarding their belief in the cognitive modifiability of their students, their attitudes, and their sense of self-efficacy in making the regular curriculum accessible. This study also contributed to attribution theory, showing that the research participants shifted from an external attribution of the learning difficulties of students with intellectual disabilities to an internal attribution of their own lack of tools and skills.

This study also has an educational contribution regarding the importance of knowledge provided to teachers of students with intellectual disabilities and its contribution both to the implementation of changes in the curriculum and to attitudes towards students with intellectual disabilities. In addition, the study provided recommendations for policymakers regarding curriculum planning in educational settings for students with intellectual disabilities. This is in light of the existing policy in the Ministry of Education and sources in the theoretical background regarding the commitment to accessibility to the regular curriculum (Access to general curriculum) and the implementation of accommodation strategies (Accommodations) for regular education programs in settings for students with intellectual disabilities (Agran, 2002; Ministry of Education, 2007; Tal, 2017).