Teachers’ knowledge and misconceptions about diversity: Correlations with personal contact, attitudes, self‐efficacy and instructional practices

Abstract This study investigated in‐service teachers' knowledge about learner diversity and its relation to other teacher‐related factors, guided by the COACTIV model of professional competence. We expected knowledge differences depending on prior learning opportunities, positive associations with attitudes towards inclusion, teaching self‐efficacy for inclusive education and mastery‐oriented practices, and negative associations with performance‐oriented practices. Participants were 139 German in‐service teachers (average age 40, 13 years of teaching experience) from primary (19%), secondary (29%), grammar schools (26%), vocational colleges (12%), segregated special schools (12%) and others (2%). We assessed their knowledge and misconceptions using an objective, standardised test with 142 true‐or‐false statements about special educational needs due to emotional/behavioural and learning difficulties, partial achievement disorders (dyslexia, dyscalculia), gender and intellectual giftedness. Several t ‐tests compared their scores with those of 395 bachelor and 181 master teacher students, showing that in‐service teachers had higher knowledge. Several t ‐tests further showed that special education teachers knew more than mainstream education teachers. Correlation analyses in the in‐service teacher sample revealed that higher knowledge was associated with more positive attitudes towards inclusion, greater self‐efficacy for teaching in inclusive education and more mastery‐oriented practices. The results highlight the importance of knowledge about diversity as part of teachers' professional competence.