Teachers’ Expectations on Academic Achievement and Social Skills and Behaviour of Students with Emotional and Behavioural Disorders

Abstract

Teachers’ expectations on academic achievement and social skills and behaviour of students with emotional and behavioural disorders were the core of inquiry of this study. A sample of 171 first cycle secondary school teachers drawn following two-stage cluster sampling procedure responded to individually-administered Teachers’ Expectation Scale. Results revealed that teachers held moderate realistic expectations on both the variables studied. Teachers’ expectation on academic achievement was positively correlated with their expectation on social skill and behaviour. Sex and training and/or courses on special needs education taken were not found to be contributing to their expectations. Though teaching experience could be established as influencing teacher expectations, a predictable direction could not be established. Implications of results were discussed against Ethiopia’s attention to inclusive education.

Keywords: Academic achievement, emotional and behavioural disorders, social skills and behaviour, teachers’ expectations