Determinants of Teachers’ Attitudes towards Inclusive Education

Abstract

Despite the fact that usually it does not address the essential issues of inclusion, measuring the attitudes towards inclusion is one of the main foci of the research in this field. The aim of this research is to determine teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education as well as the possible impact of teacher-related variables (gender, age, work experience, training for work in an inclusive environment and marital status) on these attitudes. The sample consists of 215 teachers from four primary and two secondary schools. The Multidimensional Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education Scale - MATIES (Mahat, 2008) was used to examine teachers’ attitudes. . The average values are demonstrated using the AS, while statistical tests included the t-test for independent and dependent samples, a single-factor analysis of variance and Pearson’s correlation. The results of the research show that teachers mostly demonstrate positive attitudes in all three dimensions of the scale. Teachers with less than 10 years of work experience have more positive attitudes than those with more years of work experience. Other variables (gender, age, training, and marital status) did not appear to be statistically significant determinants of attitudes towards inclusion. The quality of teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion cannot be viewed as an indicator of the validity of the concept of inclusion, nor do they serve as a confirmation of the effectiveness of inclusive programs - this requires systematically controlled, longitudinal, comparative and experimental studies, possibly more focused on the students themselves and the dynamics of the teaching process.

Keywords

• determinants
• attitudes
• teachers
• inclusive education