KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER:A COMPARISON OF IN-SERVICE AND PRESERVICE TEACHERS

JULIE M. KOS

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

AMANDA L. RICHDALE AND MERVYN S. JACKSON

RMIT University, Victoria, Australia

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood disorder, yet rela-tively little research has assessed teachers’ knowledge of this disorder or how teacher character-istics affect such knowledge. There also is a dearth of research comparing in-service and preserviceteachers’ knowledge about ADHD. The aims of this study were (a) to investigate the relation-ships between various teacher characteristics and teachers’ knowledge about ADHD, and (b) tocompare perceived and actual ADHD knowledge across in-service and preservice primary-school teachers. Participants included 120 primary-school teachers and 45 final-year educationundergraduates who were asked to complete a questionnaire. Two of the five hypotheses weresupported: (a) that knowledge would be significantly correlated with experience in teaching achild with ADHD and (b) that in-service teachers would obtain higher scores than preserviceteachers on the actual knowledge (about ADHD) questionnaire. Implications stemming from thisresearch include ensuring that teachers receive more training about ADHD and greater exposureto students with ADHD in the classroom. Overall, this study highlighted that deficits in teachers’knowledge about ADHD are common for both in-service and preservice teachers. © 2004 WileyPeriodicals, Inc.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a behavior disorder that most oftenpresents in childhood (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The characteristic behaviors asso-ciated with ADHD are inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity (American Psychiatric Associ-ation, 2000). While prevalence rates vary, it is generally accepted that between 4 and 7% ofchildren will be diagnosed with ADHD (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), with boysbeing at least three times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with the disorder (Barkley, 1998).

ADHD is pervasive across the educational system, with an average of one child per class-room having the disorder (Barkley, 1998). This disorder is most commonly diagnosed in the firstfew years of school because children are asked to engage in activities that are contrary to the coresymptoms of the disorder such as staying seated, paying attention, and following teacher instruc-tions (Barkley, 1998). The problems children with ADHD experience can therefore hinder theiracademic performance.

Numerous studies have been conducted in the area of ADHD, particularly in relation to theassessment (e.g., Greenhill, 1998), treatment (e.g., Brown & Ievers, 1999), and etiology of thedisorder (e.g., Levy, Barr, & Sunohara, 1998). There also is an abundance of literature detailingthe high rates of comorbidity between ADHD and other psychological and psychiatric conditions(e.g., Jensen, Martin, & Cantwell, 1997). With regard to the education system, research has tendedto focus on the difficulties students with ADHD experience in the classroom, both academicallyand socially (Barkley, Fischer, Edelbrock, & Smallish, 1990; DuPaul & Eckert, 1997). This researchhas shown that children with ADHD generally perform lower academically than their non-ADHDpeers and tend to have more social difficulties as well (Barkley et al., 1990; DuPaul & Eckert,1997).

Funding for this research was provided by RMIT University.Correspondence to: Julie M. Kos, Children, Youth and Families Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, GPO

Box 570, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. E-mail: julie.kos@aihw.gov.au

Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 41(5), 2004 © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/pits.10178

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Despite the prevalence of ADHD, very little research has investigated teachers’ knowledge ofADHD or the relationship between teacher characteristics and their knowledge of the disorder.This is surprising considering that a common source of information for parents of children withADHD is the school system (Bussing, Schoenberg, & Perwien, 1998). Teachers’ knowledge mayinfluence how they teach children with ADHD in their classrooms. Research has shown thatteachers have provided inaccurate and inappropriate advice to parents of children with ADHD andthat parents frequently follow that advice (DiBattista & Shepherd, 1993), thus further highlightingthe importance of assessing the accuracy of teachers’ knowledge of ADHD. Assessing preservice(student) teachers’ADHD knowledge is equally important as these individuals soon will be in-serviceteachers themselves.

There is a scarcity of literature examining primary-school teachers’ overall knowledge aboutADHD. While no Australian studies were found, three North American articles were identifiedover the past 10 years (Barbaresi & Olsen, 1998; Jerome, Gordon, & Hustler, 1994; Sciutto,Terjesen, & Bender-Frank, 2000). However, the results of these studies were mixed. First, theaverage knowledge scores of in-service teachers have differed across studies. Jerome et al. (1994)and Barbaresi and Olsen (1998) reported average ADHD knowledge scores of 77.5% and 77%,respectively. However, Sciutto et al. (2000) showed that, on average, teachers scored only 47.8%on the knowledge questionnaire. Higher scores reported in the two earlier studies might be theresult of methodological differences. While the same survey was used by both Jerome et al. (1994)and Barbaresi and Olsen (1998), they only provided respondents with two response options (trueor false). Sciutto et al. (2000) used three options (true, false, don’t know), plus additional knowl-edge questions. Given that teachers had a 50% chance of guessing the correct response in theearlier studies, it is possible that the reported knowledge scores in Jerome et al. and Barbaresi andOlsen are actually artificially inflated.

A second factor that has been considered is teaching experience. Jerome et al. (1994) assessedtheADHD knowledge of Canadian andAmerican elementary-school teachers and found that the num-ber of years teaching predicted higherADHD knowledge scores for the Canadian sample, but not theAmerican sample. In their study of 149 American elementary-school teachers, Sciutto et al. (2000)showed that years of teaching experience was significantly related to overall knowledge of ADHD.

Research has shown that exposure to children with ADHD in the classroom is an importantfactor in teacher knowledge about ADHD. Specifically, teachers who reported having prior expo-sure to children with ADHD have significantly higher total knowledge scores than teachers with-out such exposure (Sciutto et al., 2000). Furthermore, it appears that the degree of this exposurealso is significantly related to ADHD knowledge. That is, ADHD knowledge has been shown to bepositively associated with the number of students with ADHD taught over a teacher’s career(Sciutto et al., 2000).

The studies detailed earlier (Barbaresi & Olsen, 1998; Jerome et al., 1994; Sciutto et al.,2000) assessed the ADHD knowledge of in-service teachers only, and to our knowledge, only onebrief report compared in-service and preservice teachers’ knowledge about the disorder (Jerome,Washington, Laine, & Segal, 1998). Their findings suggested that there was little difference acrossthe two groups of teachers in terms of knowledge about ADHD. Overall, considering that preser-vice teachers soon will be employed within the education system and will be very likely to have astudent with ADHD in their class (Barkley, 1998), it is important that the accuracy of this popu-lation’s ADHD knowledge be assessed.

Although teachers’ ADHD knowledge should be assessed before developing training pro-grams, it also is imperative that this knowledge be compared to teachers’ perceptions of their ownknowledge, particularly in light of research showing that people tend to be optimistic in beliefsabout themselves (e.g., Kos & Clarke, 2001; Weinstein, 1980; Williams & Clarke, 1997; Zakay,

518 Kos, Richdale, and Jackson

1996). This research has assessed beliefs by comparing individuals’ perceptions of experiencing aparticular event with their perceptions of an average other experiencing that event. Extrapolatingfrom the findings of this research, it can be argued that when people believe they are knowledge-able about a certain topic, they might be unlikely to seek information about that topic. For example,teachers who feel they know a lot about ADHD may be unlikely to ask professionals for informa-tion about the disorder. To our knowledge, this research paradigm has not been used to investigateteachers’ knowledge about ADHD.

Based on the deficiencies in past research, the present study aimed to (a) investigate therelationships between various teacher characteristics and teachers’ knowledge about ADHD, and(b) to compare perceived and actual ADHD knowledge across in-service and preservice primary-school teachers. Based on previous research using the three-response option format (true, false,don’t know; Sciutto et al., 2000), it was hypothesized that (a) on average, in-service teacherswould score approximately 50% on a knowledge questionnaire about ADHD, (b) higher scores onthe ADHD knowledge questionnaire would be significantly associated with years of teachingexperience, and (c) higher scores on the ADHD questionnaire would be significantly associatedwith experience in teaching students with ADHD. It also was hypothesized that in-service teacherswould correctly answer more of the ADHD knowledge statements (actual knowledge) than pre-service teachers. Finally, we hypothesized that perceived knowledge would be significantly greaterthan actual knowledge for all respondents.

Method

Participants

The in-service sample consisted of 120 (91 female, 29 male) primary-school teachers from 10Catholic (n � 76) and 6 private (n � 44) schools from Victoria, Australia. The age of teachersranged from 22 to 59 years, with a mean age of 39.2 years (SD � 10.2 years). The preservicesample consisted of 45 female university students who were completing their final year of aneducation degree. Their ages ranged from 20 to 43 years, with an average age of 23.6 years (SD �5.6 years).

Materials

A self-report questionnaire was developed specifically for the purposes of this study. Ques-tions assessing demographics were the same across the two subsamples with two exceptions:In-service teachers were asked to record the number of years they had been teaching as well as thenumber of students with ADHD they had taught during their career, but preservice teachers werenot asked these questions. All participants recorded their age and gender.

The questionnaire assessed teachers’ perception of how much they thought they knew aboutADHD (perceived knowledge) as well as how much they actually knew about the disorder (actualknowledge). Perceived knowledge was measured on a 10-cm visual analog scale, where partici-pants were asked to place a cross on the part of the line that best represented how much theythought they knew about ADHD. The scale was anchored at “Very Little” (0 cm) and “A Lot”(10 cm). Actual knowledge was assessed by asking respondents to rate each of 27 statements aboutADHD as either TRUE, FALSE, or DON’T KNOW. These responses were later coded as either 1(correct), 2 (incorrect), or 3 (don’t know).

Teacher’s actual knowledge score was calculated by summing the number of correct responses.Individual actual knowledge scale items included some items from Jerome et al. (1994) and Sciuttoet al. (2000) as well as additional items based on the ADHD literature. Two recently developeditems from M. J. Sciutto (personal communication, May 5, 2000) also were included. Two educational

Knowledge About ADHD 519

and developmental psychologists who were not associated with the research then reviewed thequestionnaire content. All participants were asked to rate their perceived knowledge before turn-ing the page and completing the 27 knowledge items.

The questionnaire was piloted on a convenience sample of 9 (Victoria, Australia) primary-school teachers to assess the appropriateness and wording of questions and to provide an indica-tion of the time required to complete the questionnaire. No changes were made to the questionnairefollowing the pilot study. A copy of the complete questionnaire can be obtained from the firstauthor.

Procedure

In-service teachers. After all relevant ethical clearances were granted, the principals of 13Catholic and 6 private primary schools in the City of Greater Geelong and Surf Coast Shire(Victoria, Australia) were approached to ask permission for the teachers from their school to beinvolved in the study. The first author then delivered the questionnaires to each of the 10 Catholicand 6 private schools whose principals agreed to participate. Potential respondents were given 2weeks to complete the questionnaire and return it, in a sealed envelope, to the marked box in thestaff room at their school. The first author returned to each school to collect the questionnaires.Participation was both voluntary and anonymous for all teachers. Of the 161 questionnaires deliv-ered to in-service teachers, 120 were returned, giving a response rate of 74.5%.

Pre-service teachers. After university ethics clearance was granted, the first author approachedthe 4th-year education coordinator at the university to ask permission to attend tutorials to askpreservice teachers to participate in the study. The first author spoke briefly about the study at oneof two tutorials, and two research assistants spoke at the second tutorial. The research assistantsreturned at the conclusion of both tutorial classes to collect the questionnaires. Participation wasboth voluntary and anonymous for all in-service teachers. Forty-five of the 50 questionnairesdistributed to preservice teachers were returned, giving a response rate of 90%.

Results

Demographic Data

Analysis of demographic data for the in-service sample showed that the duration of teachingexperience ranged from 1 to 40 years, with a mean of 15.2 years (SD � 8.8 years). Eighty-threepercent (99 of 120) of teachers had taught a student with ADHD sometime in their career. Thenumber of students with ADHD taught ranged from 1 to 20, with the average being 5 (SD � 3.4)students over a teacher’s career. Although 119 in-service teachers reported that they would like tobe involved in additional training regarding ADHD, only 35 of the 120 teachers (30%) reportedhaving engaged in such training. Finally, each of the 45 in-service teachers reported a desire toengage in additional ADHD training.

Correlation Data: In-Service Teachers

Two-tailed Pearson, point-biserial, or phi correlations (� � .05) were carried out to investi-gate the relationships between perceived and actual knowledge, and in-service teacher character-istics including age, gender, additional ADHD training, years of teaching experience, having evertaught a student with ADHD, and number of students with ADHD taught. Inspection of the cor-relation coefficients in Table 1 shows the relationships between these variables. Gender was notsignificantly correlated with any of the variables.

Inspection of Table 2 shows that older in-service teachers were more likely than youngerteachers to have had greater teaching experience in general as well as being more likely to have

520 Kos, Richdale, and Jackson

ever taught a student with ADHD during their career. Similarly, teachers with greater years ofteaching experience were more likely than less experienced teachers to have ever taught a studentwith ADHD. However, the actual number of students with ADHD taught was not significantlyrelated to either age or years of teaching experience.

Table 1 also shows that in-service teachers’ perception of their own knowledge was moder-ately correlated with their actual knowledge scores. Furthermore, having ever taught a studentwith ADHD was significantly related to both perceived knowledge and actual knowledge scores.Moreover, teachers with more years of teaching experience generally perceived themselves ashaving significantly more knowledge than did less experienced teachers. However, teaching expe-rience was not significantly correlated with actual knowledge scores. Age was not related toperceived or actual knowledge.

Older teachers were more likely than younger teachers to have engaged in additional ADHDtraining. Additional training also was more common in teachers with longer teaching careers andfor teachers who had ever taught a student with ADHD, but was unrelated to the number ofstudents with ADHD taught. Furthermore, teachers who had engaged in additional ADHD trainingperceived their ADHD knowledge to be significantly higher than teachers without such training,and these teachers tended to score significantly higher on the actual knowledge questionnaire thandid their nontrained counterparts.

Comparison of In-Service and Pre-Service Teachers’ ADHD Knowledge

Perceived knowledge. For in-service teachers, perceived knowledge scores ranged from 1to 9.5 cm, with an average score of 4.77 cm (SD � 2.2), or 47.7%. For preservice teachers,perceived knowledge scores ranged from 0 to 7.5 cm, with a mean of 2.94 cm (SD � 2.0), or29.4%.

Actual knowledge. On average, in-service teachers were able to correctly answer 16.4 (SD �4.0) of the 27 actual knowledge items, giving in-service teachers an average actual knowledgescore of 60.7%. For preservice teachers, the average number of correctly answered statements was14.2 (SD � 4.6) of the 27 items, or an average actual knowledge score of 52.6%.

Table 2 shows the percentage (and number) of in-service and preservice teachers who cor-rectly answered each of the 27 knowledge items. Inspection of this table shows that Item 24

Table 1Significant Correlations for In-Service Teacher Variables

Perceivedknowledge

Actualknowledge Age

Additionaltraining

Years ofteaching

experience

Ever taughtan ADHD

student

Perceived knowledgeActual knowledge .46**Age — —Additional training .28** .24* .24**Years of teaching experience .21* — .87** .22*Ever taught an ADHD student .28** .42** .22* .20* .33**Number of ADHD students taught — — — — — .48**

Note: r was used for correlations between two continuous variables, rpb was used for correlations between onedichotomous and one continuous variable, and r� was used for correlations between two dichotomous variables.

*p � .05. **p � .01.

Knowledge About ADHD 521

Table 2Percentage (and Number) of In-Service and Preservice Teachers Who Correctly AnsweredEach of the 27 Knowledge Items

ItemNumber Item

In-ServiceTeachers(n � 120)

PreserviceTeachers(n � 45)

1 There are a greater number of boys than girls with ADHD 81.7%(n � 98)

75.6%(n � 34)

2 There is approximately 1 child in every classroom with a diagnosis of ADHD 45%(n � 54)

46.7%(n � 21)

3 If medication is prescribed, educational interventions are often unnecessary 75%(n � 90)

44.4%(n � 20)

4 ADHD children are born with biological vulnerabilities toward inattention and poor self-control 48.3%(n � 58)

48.9%(n � 22)

5 If a child responds to stimulant medication (e.g., Ritalin) then they probably have ADHD 47.5%(n � 57)

37.8%(n � 17)

6 A child who is not overactive, but fails to pay attention, may have ADHD 60%(n � 72)

40%(n � 18)

7 ADHD is often caused by food additives 57.5%(n � 69)

51.1%(n � 23)

8 ADHD can be diagnosed in the doctor’s office most of the time 69.2%(n � 83)

57.8%(n � 26)

9 Children with ADHD always need a quiet environment to concentrate 50.8%(n � 61)

44.4%(n � 20)

10 Approximately 5% of Australian school-aged children have ADHD 35.8%(n � 43)

35.6%(n � 16)

11 ADHD children are usually from single-parent families 87.5%(n � 105)

80%(n � 36)

12 Diets are usually not helpful in treating most children with ADHD 14.2%(n � 17)

26.7%(n � 12)

13 ADHD can be inherited 42.5%(n � 51)

16.6%(n � 7)

14 Medication is a cure for ADHD 84.2%(n � 101)

71.1%(n � 32)

15 All children with ADHD are overactive 77.5%(n � 93)

60%(n � 27)

16 There are subtypes of ADHD 75%(n � 90)

68.9%(n � 31)

17 ADHD affects male children only 95.8%(n � 115)

84.4%(n � 38)

18 The cause of ADHD is unknown 32.5%(n � 39)

51.1%(n � 23)

19 ADHD is the result of poor parenting practices 80%(n � 96)

91.1%(n � 41)

20 If a child can play Nintendo for hours, then s/he probably doesn’t have ADHD 77.5%(n � 93)

82.2%(n � 37)

21 Children with ADHD cannot sit still long enough to pay attention 65.8%(n � 79)

48.9%(n � 22)

22 ADHD is caused by too much sugar in the diet 75%(n � 90)

71.1%(n � 32)

23 Family dysfunction may increase the likelihood that a child will be diagnosed with ADHD 35%(n � 42)

26.7%(n � 12)

24 Children from any walk of life can have ADHD 96.7%(n � 116)

95.6%(n � 43)

25 Children with ADHD usually have good peer relations because of their outgoing nature 88.3%(n � 106)

51.1%(n � 23)

26 Research has shown that prolonged use of stimulant medications leads to increased addiction(i.e., drug, alcohol) in adulthood

21.7%(n � 26)

4.4%(n � 2)

27 Children with ADHD generally display an inflexible adherence to specific routines and rituals 22.5%(n � 27)

11.1%(n � 5)

522 Kos, Richdale, and Jackson

(“Children from any walk of life can have ADHD”) was the most common correctly answereditem by both in-service and preservice teachers. Item 26 [“Research has shown that prolonged useof stimulant medications leads to increased addiction (i.e., drug, alcohol) in adulthood”] was theleast common correctly answered item by both groups of teachers.

A mixed factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to investigate the relation-ships between knowledge and type of teacher. The within-subjects factor, knowledge, had twolevels: perceived knowledge (based on the teacher’s mark on the visual analog scale) and actualknowledge (based on the teacher’s score on the 27-item knowledge questionnaire). The between-subjects factor, type of teacher, also had two levels: in-service teacher or preservice teacher.

The analysis showed a significant Knowledge �Teacher-Type interaction, �� .95, F(1,163) �9.36, p � .05, �2 � .054. There were main effects for both knowledge, F(1,163) � 114.28, p �.001, and type of teacher, F(1,163) � 22.41, p � .001. In-service teachers rated themselvessignificantly higher on perceived knowledge about ADHD than did preservice teachers, and in-serviceteachers scored significantly higher on the actual knowledge questionnaire than did preserviceteachers. Analysis of simple main effects showed a significant difference in perceived and actualknowledge for both in-service teachers, F(1,163) � 53.37, p � .001, and preservice teachers,F(1,163) � 64.99, p � .001. Inspection of means showed that actual knowledge was significantlyhigher than perceived knowledge for both groups of teachers.

Discussion

The aims of the present study were to (a) investigate the relationships between various teachercharacteristics and teachers’ knowledge about ADHD, and (b) compare perceived and actual ADHDknowledge across in-service and preservice primary-school teachers.

In-Service Teachers: Relationships Between Teacher Characteristics and ADHD Knowledge

The results did not support the first two hypotheses that (a) on average, in-service primary-school teaches would score about 50% on the knowledge questionnaire and that (b) actual knowl-edge about ADHD would be correlated with years of teaching experience. The present studyshowed that teachers were able to correctly answer 60.7% of the items on the knowledge ques-tionnaire, which is somewhat better than results of the study by Sciutto et al. (2000), who reportedthat average knowledge was only 47.8% for their sample of American teachers. However, thecurrent findings are not as high as Jerome et al. (1994), who showed that on average, teachers’ADHD knowledge was 77.5%.

The discrepancy between the average knowledge scores found in the present study and thoseof Jerome et al. (1994) are probably due to the methodological differences discussed earlier (num-ber of response options). It may be that the difference between the current study’s knowledgescores and those of Sciutto et al. (2000) is attributable to differences in teaching experience acrossthe two studies. That is, 83% of the sample in the current study reported that they had taught astudent with ADHD whereas only 52% had done so in Sciutto et al. Given that both the results ofthe present study and those of Sciutto et al. showed that experience with teaching ADHD studentswas significantly associated with ADHD knowledge, it is not surprising that knowledge scoreswere higher in the present sample than in Sciutto et al.’s sample

The nonsignificant relationship found between years of teaching experience and ADHD knowl-edge does not support the findings of Sciutto et al. (2000), who reported that American teacherswith greater years of teaching experience received higher knowledge scores than teachers withless teaching experience. Furthermore, the findings of the present study do not support Jeromeet al. (1994), who showed that teaching experience was significantly related to overall ADHDknowledge for Canadian teachers. However, our findings do support Jerome et al.’s finding that

Knowledge About ADHD 523

years of teaching experience was not significantly related to ADHD knowledge for Americanteachers. The reasons for this variability across teacher samples are not clear, but may includedifferences in teacher training or cultural factors.

The present findings showed that teachers with more years of teaching experience tended toperceive themselves as having greater knowledge about ADHD than did the less experiencedteachers. However, this perception was inaccurate, as there was no significant relationship betweenactual knowledge about ADHD and teaching experience. Thus, general teaching experience doesnot always confer greater actual knowledge about ADHD.

However, having ever taught an ADHD student was significantly related to actual knowledgescores. This is consistent with Sciutto et al. (2000), who found that teachers who had prior expo-sure to ADHD children had significantly higher knowledge scores than teachers without suchexposure. Overall, these findings suggest that exposure to children with ADHD in the classroom isan important factor in teachers’ knowledge about ADHD, but that general teaching experiencealone does not aid in increasing teachers’ actual knowledge of the disorder.

The finding that additional ADHD training was significantly related to ADHD knowledgesupports Jerome et al. (1994), who reported that teachers who had specific ADHD training weremore knowledgeable about ADHD than their less educated or less trained counterparts.

Comparison of In-Service and Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge About ADHD

The results supported the third hypothesis that in-service teachers would score higher thanpreservice teachers on the actual knowledge questionnaire. Therefore, given that preservice teach-ers have not taught (students with ADHD), these findings appear to support past research and thecurrent findings that teachers who have had experience with teaching ADHD students generallyscore higher on ADHD knowledge questionnaires than do teachers without such experience (Sciuttoet al., 2000).

The final hypothesis that perceived knowledge would be significantly greater than actualknowledge for all respondents was not supported. The mixed factorial ANOVA showed a signif-icant relationship between perceived and actual knowledge; however, inspection of means showedthat this relationship was in the opposite direction than predicted. That is, both in-service andpreservice teachers tended to underestimate their own knowledge about ADHD. On average,in-service teachers rated their perceived knowledge as 47.7%, when in fact they scored higher thanthis (60.7%) on actual knowledge. Similarly, on average, preservice teachers estimated only 29.4%on perceived knowledge, yet were able to correctly answer 52.6% of the items.

Thus, these findings do not support past research, which has shown that individuals generallyperceive themselves in a better light than is realistic (e.g., Kos & Clarke, 2001; Weinstein, 1980;Williams & Clarke, 1997; Zakay, 1996). The reason for this discrepancy might be due to thedifferent variables used and the way they were measured across the studies. That is, past researchhas tended to focus on health-related behaviors, such as cancer (e.g., Kos & Clarke, 2001; Wil-liams & Clarke, 1997) and suicide (Weinstein, 1980), and has generally asked participants toindicate their beliefs about their own risk of experiencing these future life events compared to therisk of an average other. On the other hand, the present study asked participants to record theirbeliefs about how much they thought they knew about ADHD (a psychological disorder), and thenthis score was compared to the subjects’ actual score on an ADHD knowledge questionnaire.

Two important findings from the present study were that both additional ADHD training andexperience with teaching students with ADHD were significantly associated with in-service teach-ers’ knowledge about ADHD. These findings are of particular importance, as they have signifi-cance for continued teacher training. They indicate that additional training (e.g., workshops orseminars) specifically aimed at increasing the ADHD knowledge of primary-school teachers is

524 Kos, Richdale, and Jackson

useful, but also should include exposure to students with ADHD. When developing additionalADHD training packages for teachers, it is imperative to take into account the mismatch betweenteaching experience and ADHD knowledge. That is, the present study showed that more experi-enced teachers tended to perceive themselves as having greater ADHD knowledge than they actu-ally had. Research has shown that teachers hold tightly to their beliefs regardless of the accuracyof those beliefs (DiBattista & Shepherd, 1993). Therefore, to have the best chance of changingteachers’ misperceptions, the content of ADHD training packages should be both well researchedand validated, and should be targeted at teachers’ levels of understanding.

Overall, the findings from this study are important for a better understanding of ADHD byteachers within the education system as well as for continued training in the area of ADHD.However, it must be acknowledged that the majority of correlations, although significant, wereweak, indicating that there are other variables that are important in determining teachers’ actualknowledge about ADHD. Variables which may prove important to teachers’ knowledge aboutADHD include teachers’ attitudes toward ADHD and school resources and policies regarding thetreatment of the disorder. We are currently investigating these variables as well as assessing theirrelationship with teachers’ behavior.

To our knowledge, this study is the first to show that (a) there is a significant relationshipbetween perceived and actual knowledge about ADHD (albeit in the opposite direction as hy-pothesized), and (b) in-service teachers are more knowledgeable about ADHD than are preser-vice teachers. Furthermore, this study highlights that the lack of ADHD experience is related tothe lack of ADHD knowledge held by many teachers, and preservice teachers in particular. Thelatter finding is particularly troublesome when one considers that these teachers, with inadequateknowledge about ADHD and probably no ADHD-specific teaching experience, will be teachingstudents in the very near future and will be very likely to have an ADHD student in their class(Barkley, 1998).

Knowledge about ADHD is likely to improve if teacher education is increased. It is suggestedthat universities develop and implement core ADHD-specific units for education students. Fur-thermore, considering that ADHD knowledge is positively correlated with ADHD-specific teach-ing experience (Sciutto et al., 2000), it appears logical that preservice teachers be exposed toADHD students during their practical placements. With regard to in-service teachers, it is sug-gested that classes be organized in such a way as to maximize the opportunity for teachers to gainexperience in teaching ADHD students and that extra training in ADHD be offered to all teachers.

In conclusion, the present study showed that (Victorian) primary-school teachers’ knowledgeabout ADHD was adequate, although there was considerable room for improvement. This finding,along with those of previous studies, highlights that there are knowledge deficits across Austra-lian, American, and Canadian primary-school teachers. This study also showed that there is arelationship between perceived and actual knowledge across in-service and preservice teachers.Teachers perceived themselves to know significantly less than they actually knew about the dis-order, which may indicate that teachers are aware of their lack of ADHD knowledge. Importantly,it was shown that additional training and exposure to this population was significantly related toincreased teachers’ knowledge about ADHD. Finally, future investigation of other variables suchas teachers’ attitudes and school policies and resources, as well as investigating the relationshipbetween these variables and teachers’ behavior, is important for a more thorough understanding ofthe impact of ADHD across our education systems.

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