An international comparison of pre-service teacher attitudes towards inclusive education

By C. Forlin, U. Sharma, T. Loreman. 2007

161 citations recorded by the source corpus.

education of pre-service teachers in teacher training institutions in four different countries: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Using the Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education Scale (Wilczenski, 1995) and a series of demographic variables, this study concludes that pre-service teachers' attitudes towards inclusive education differ between countries across three factors which have been labeled academic and physical, social, and behavioral. Pre-service teachers in this sample are most positive about including students with social concerns. An examination of the items in this factor revealed that these issues, such as shyness, would rarely require immediate intervention and large amounts of extra time and effort on the part of the teacher in the same way that the behavior factor would, which rated low in terms of positive attitudes internationally. Demographic variables which can be emphasized by teacher training institutions such as close contact with a person with a disability, training, teaching experience, knowledge of policy and law, and confidence levels, all had a significant impact on attitudes. This paper argues that teacher training institutions should consider for inclusion in their programs practical experiences with inclusive education in positive and supportive environments, opportunities for students to experience success and reflection, and academic content regarding knowledge of policy and law relating to inclusive education.

Subfields: Education, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/adef270aa84bf851e797c6aea94b6291bb8bb80e

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Citations in the corpus

The Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Revised (SACIE-R) Scale for Measuring Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions about Inclusion. (2011, methodology): “The original development of the SACIE reported in Loreman et al. (2007) involved the reduction of 60 items from three pre-existing scales to a 19-item scale.”
Teacher preparation for inclusive education: increasing knowledge but raising concerns (2011, unknown): “…curriculum (Jung, 2007; Romi & Leyser, 2006; Winter, 2006), interviews (Miller, 2008), direct contact with people with disabilities (Chambers & Forlin, 2010; Forlin et al., 2007) and incursion activities (children with disabilities visiting the university) (Chong, Forlin, & Au, 2007; Forlin, 2003).”
Predictors of improved teaching efficacy following basic training for inclusion in Hong Kong (2014, background): “Previous research has investigated attitudes, sentiments, and concerns about inclusive education (Loreman, Forlin, and Sharma 2007; Mazurek and Winzer 2011; Sharma, Forlin, and Loreman 2008).”
Impact of training on pre‐service teachers' attitudes and concerns about inclusive education and sentiments about persons with disabilities (2008, methodology): “The following description of the scales used is also available in other studies in this series (see Forlin et al. 2007; Loreman and Earle 2007; Loreman et al. 2007; Sharma et al. 2006).”
The Concerns of Mainstream Teachers: Coping with inclusivity in an Australian context (2008, background): “Research by Loreman, Forlin, and Sharma (2007) reported that pre-service teachers in the four countries they investigated were lukewarm in their attitudes towards students with behaviour problems, with students who are physically aggressive towards their peers evoking the least positive response.”