| In response to compliance mandates, schools have implemented co-teaching classrooms. The presenting problem is secondary inclusive classrooms are not successful due to the lack of professional efficacy and parity within a co-teaching team (Breitenback, Armstrong, & Bryson, 2013). Self-efficacy within social cognitive theory in education is relevant in classroom interactions between teachers, students, and support staff (Aguinaldo, 2004; Mezirow & Taylor, 2009). A qualitative multi-case study design was used to explore the influences of specific teacher actions on the efficacy and professional parity of the co-teaching team in a co-taught secondary classroom. Two research questions guided the study, 1) is professional parity and efficacy being used in a secondary co-teaching classroom, and 2) how do special education and general education teachers' perceptions, motives, and values affect self-efficacy actions within the classroom? A single secondary high school inclusion program was studied with 10 special education teachers and 9 general education teachers. Data was collected through observations and face to face interviews and downloaded in data analysis programs Microsoft Excel and NVivo9. From the results of the study there was a lack of professional efficacy and parity between co-teachers within an inclusion classroom, due to the lack of content mastery and joint planning time. Based on these finding, it is recommended that schools attempt to develop specific guidelines for the co-teaching model and implement them within every classroom and between each co-teaching team, adding to the effectiveness of the secondary co-teaching delivery model. |
