Relationship between teacher ideals and attitudes toward peers with autism spectrum disorder among teacher college students

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between teacher ideals and attitudes toward peers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among teacher college students, and the effect of knowledge of ASD identification on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative approach and included 341 teacher college students. A vignette was used to assess social and professional attitudes toward peers with ASD. The participants were divided into identification and nonidentification groups based on how accurately they identified the peer depicted in the vignette as having ASD. A teacher ideals questionnaire consisting of two subscales indicating different ideal teachers − a dedicated/engaging teacher (e.g. a teacher who can work with enthusiasm) and a skillful teacher (e.g. a teacher who is knowledgeable) − was developed and administered to evaluate the participants’ teacher ideals and self-perceptions of a teacher. Findings In the nonidentification group, ideals of a skillful teacher were significantly correlated with social attitudes toward peers with ASD. The identification group exhibited no significant correlations between ideals and social attitudes. Furthermore, the self-perceptions of being a dedicated/engaging teacher was significantly correlated with professional attitudes toward peers with ASD in the identification group. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the relationship between teacher ideals and attitudes toward peers with ASD. Teacher ideals were related to negative social attitudes toward peers with ASD. While knowledge of ASD identification weakens this relationship, it may drive the relationship between self-perceptions of a teacher and professional attitudes toward peers with ASD. Therefore, ASD education is important for reducing the stigma toward ASD in teacher education.