Teachers’ Attitude Toward Inclusion Practices

Abstract

Inclusive Education (IE) and inclusion will become more prevalent in the 21st century classrooms and a key component for proper implementation is an understanding of baseline attitudes regarding IE held by teachers at all levels. The present study is to investigate the attitudes of K-12 regular and special· education teachers regarding inclusive education and focus towards attitudes held by teachers, their foundations of knowledge, experiences that shape their attitudes and possible implementation strategies that are predicted to be successful inclusion. General education teachers’ beliefs in their abilities regarding teaching in inclusive classrooms may have an influence on the success of inclusion. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1990), allowed millions of special education students into regular classrooms for either a part of the day or the entire school day, children with disabilities are to be educated alongside their typically developing peers, child with disabilities, to the maximum extent possible, participate with children without disabilities in non-academic and extracurricular services and activities. The study examines how general education teachers become better prepared in supporting and educating special needs students in their classrooms along with regular students. The purpose of the present study is to highlight the factors that influence the attitudes regarding school, including support from administration and access to adequate professional development. Teachers’ attitude to be more positive when they had more communication, knowledge, training, etc, and positive attitude toward inclusion were more common among teachers in elementary and k-12 schools than teachers in high schools.