Preparing for the inclusive classroom: changing teachers' attitudes and knowledge

India's educational policy on inclusive education for students with disabilities is in sync with general global developments. Especially in the last couple of years there have been significant legislative achievements towards this endeavour. However, the implementation of inclusive education re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teacher development 2017-08, Vol.21 (4), p.561-579
Main Authors: Srivastava, Meenakshi, de Boer, Anke A., Pijl, Sip Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Attitudes
Attitudes toward Disabilities
Autism
Disabilities
Disability
Dyslexia
Education
Educational Policy
Elementary School Teachers
Foreign Countries
General Education
Inclusion
inclusive teaching methods
India
Intellectual Disability
knowledge about disabilities
Knowledge Level
Likert Scales
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Program Implementation
Psychometrics
questionnaire
Questionnaires
Students with Disabilities
Teacher Attitudes
Teacher Competencies
Teachers' attitudes
Teaching Methods
Test Construction
Test Reliability
Vignettes
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Summary:India's educational policy on inclusive education for students with disabilities is in sync with general global developments. Especially in the last couple of years there have been significant legislative achievements towards this endeavour. However, the implementation of inclusive education remains elusive. Besides this, teachers' preparedness for inclusion has received little attention. This survey study had two aims. Firstly, we aimed at finding or constructing a reliable instrument to measure three aspects: the attitudes, knowledge about disability and inclusive teaching methods of regular schoolteachers. Secondly, we aimed to describe the outcomes of the three aspects. For attitudes and teaching methods we found a reliable instrument, which was selected for the usage in this study. We constructed and assessed the reliability of a scale in measuring knowledge about four disabilities: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, intellectual disability and autistic spectrum disorder in pilot and main studies. The results revealed that teachers hold neutral attitudes towards inclusive education. Their knowledge about disabilities, however, was low, but knowledge about inclusive teaching methods was acceptable, which was a significant finding. The practical implications for preparing teachers to work towards inclusion are also discussed.
ISSN:1366-4530
1747-5120
DOI:10.1080/13664530.2017.1279681