Towards inclusive education of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The impact of teachers’ autism-specific professional development on their confidence in their professional competences

Abstract

Due to the shortage of autism-specific professional development, the international ASD-EAST project was implemented. This article presents the findings of a quantitative survey undertaken among Polish teachers (in two school settings: special, N=60; mainstream/inclusive, N=30) who attended ASD-EAST workshops. The aim was to identify the post-autism-specific professional development increase of teachers’ knowledge concerning the characteristics of students with ASD and teachers’ subjective confidence regarding their professional competencies. The results showed that the training opportunity was considered by teachers to be important and effective. The results provide grounds for concluding that the programme may be recommended for practical use in order to train teachers who will work with students with ASD