Determining physical education and sports teachers' self-efficacy towards students with special needs

This study was conducted (i) to develop a scale to measure teachers' self-efficacy levels towards individuals with special needs in a valid and reliable way, (ii) determine physical education and sport teachers' self-efficacy towards students with special needs and (iii) analyze the collected data according to different variables. The study was conducted through an online survey administered to three different groups. The data were collected from 826 participants who work in different schools and teach different subjects, and the study groups were determined by using convenient sampling method. The study followed scale development processes. The first phase included literature review and preparation of an item pool involving 25 items under the supervision of experts in the field. In the second phase, validity and reliability analyses were completed to obtain the finalized form. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used for the analysis of the data collected from the first two study groups. According to the EFA, A 12-item and single factor structure was obtained, and it explained 72% of total variance. In addition, there was evidence that fitness indexes of the structure for the finalized scale are within acceptable levels according to CFA. The internal consistency coefficient and composite reliability values of the instrument were higher than .70 and the mean variance was higher than .50. In the third phase, the data collection instrument was administered to physical education and sport teachers, and the total variance explained by the scale was calculated as 73% and internal consistency coefficient as 96%. The findings did not reveal any statistically significant difference in self-efficacy levels of physical education and sport teachers for students with special needs in terms of gender, age, job experience, school level, and education of students with special needs. In conclusion, Self–efficacy Scale for the Education of Individuals with Special Needs was found to be a valid and reliable data collection instrument to measure self-efficacy of teachers. Also, it was found that self-efficacy of physical education and sport teachers towards students with special needs reflect similar characteristics.