Work

DocenTEA: Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess Inclusive Teaching Competence Toward Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The prevalence of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has steadily increased, posing new challenges for inclusive education and teacher preparation. Teaching competence, understood as a multidimensional construct integrating cognitive, attitudinal, motivational, and practical components, is key to ensuring high-quality educational responses. This study developed and preliminarily validated DocenTEA, a questionnaire designed to assess five interrelated dimensions of inclusive competence: training, knowledge, experience, socio-emotional skills, and inclusive pedagogical practices. The instrument, consisting of 25 Likert-type items (0–4), was administered to 270 teachers across different educational levels in Spain. Content validity was examined through expert judgment and Aiken’s V coefficient (≥0.70), while construct validity was assessed via exploratory factor analysis using ULS estimation and Promax rotation. The five-factor solution explained 60.43% of the variance and showed adequate reliability (α and ω ≥ 0.70). Overall, DocenTEA emerges as a useful tool to identify teachers’ strengths and training needs, and to guide professional development programs and inclusive practices aimed at supporting students with ASD.

Source: Education Sciences

DOI: 10.3390/educsci15111432

Authors: M Gloria Gallego-Jiménez, Sofia Torrecilla-Manresa, María Isabel Marí-Sanmillan

Institutions: Universidad San Pablo CEU, Universidad Cardenal Herrera CEU

Language: English

Topic: Autism Spectrum Disorder Research

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,172