Background: The current study aimed to investigate whether special education teachers shared similar difficulties in their understanding of reward and punishment as their mainstream peers. Methods: Thirty-five teachers working in six special education needs schools took part in a mixed methods study to explore their use and understanding of reinforcement principles. The purpose of the mixed methods approach was to triangulate the teachers use and perceived use of different reinforcement strategies within the classroom. Results: Teachers’ had a good grasp of positive reward based strategies, but their understanding of the other three types of reinforcement (negative reward, punishment and penalty) was less accurate. There was a clear aversion amongst the sample to discuss punishment with many stating that they do not use it, which contrasted with the observations. Conclusions: Structured continued professional development interventions are required to rectify the discrepancies between belief and evidence.

中文翻译：

---

特殊教育教师对强化的认知与运用

背景：本研究旨在调查特殊教育教师是否与主流同龄人在理解奖惩方面存在相似的困难。方法：在六所特殊教育需要学校工作的 35 名教师参加了一项混合方法研究，以探索他们对强化原则的使用和理解。混合方法方法的目的是对教师在课堂内使用和感知到的不同强化策略的使用进行三角测量。结果：教师对基于积极奖励的策略有很好的把握，但他们对其他三种强化类型（消极奖励、惩罚和惩罚）的理解不太准确。样本中有明显的反感，许多人表示他们不使用惩罚来讨论惩罚，这与观察结果形成对比。结论：需要结构化的持续专业发展干预来纠正信念和证据之间的差异。