ATTITUDES TO THE INTEGRATION OF DISABLED CHILDREN INTO REGULAR CLASSES: A FACTOR ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

S ummary . A s part of a wider study, educationists were asked to rate children with various disabling characteristics with regard to their suitability for mainstreaming. Oblique factor analyses of the resultant Likert scale data revealed five factors which are interpreted with respect to questionnaire and qualitative data. The pattern matrices for school principals, resource teachers and teachers were virtually identical. The method of using functional characteristics rather than categories is recommended as a basis for future research.