Helping students with LD to succeed: the role of teachers’ hope, sense of coherence and specific self-efficacy

Abstract

Teachers play a critical role in facilitating the academic achievements of students with learning disabilities (LD). The personal resources of teachers, such as sense of coherence (SOC) and hopeful thinking, may predict self-perception of the competency and efficacy they possess to help students with LD acquire needed learning skills. Several studies have shown the importance of SOC and hope to the success of students with LD, but research has not focused on how the hope of their teachers may help these students succeed in inclusive classrooms. The goal of the current study was to identify profiles of teachers, based on their personal resources of SOC and hope, and to examine their self-efficacy (SE) in helping students with LD acquire learning skills. The sample consisted of 624 teachers (567 females and 57 males) from inclusive classes; 143 teachers in this sample had special education training. Using cluster analysis four distinct clusters were identified suggesting that both SOC, as a global personality measure, and hope, as a measure of future expectations, contributed to the SE of teachers: their belief in their ability to help the students with LD acquire learning skills. In each cluster, teachers with special education training had higher levels of hope and SE. The results highlight the important role of teachers’ personal resources in predicting their belief in their professional ability to help students with LD.