Examining Practicing Teachers’ Cognitions and Emotions Towards Students with FASD Using Attribution Theory

Abstract

The importance of teachers’ emotions has been well-established in educational research, particularly when confronted with challenging student behaviour. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) impact many Canadian children, and these students are likely to experience difficulty in the classroom. However, no research has examined the emotions of teachers specifically towards students with FASD. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the cognitions and emotions of practicing teachers in regards to working with students with FASD. Attribution theory provided the theoretical framework by which to explain teachers’ cognitions and emotions. I employed a cross-sectional survey design among a sample of 200 practicing teachers from a Western Canadian city. I then used a path analysis to examine the direct effects of causal attributions on student responsibility and teachers’ emotions (i.e., anger and hope), and whether responsibility mediated the relationship between attributions and emotions. Overall, the hypothesized model fit the data well. Contrary to the hypotheses, responsibility did not mediate the relationship between attributions and teachers’ emotions. Instead, causal attributions were directly related to both responsibility and emotions (i.e., anger and hope). Implications of these findings are discussed regarding their importance in education for both teachers and students, as well as directions for future research.