Inclusion does not solely apply to students with disabilities: pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive schooling of all students

Abstract

Several studies have investigated (pre-service) teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion. However, most have focused on teachers’ attitudes toward the inclusion of students with disabilities. The understanding of inclusive education has expanded to the provision of educational opportunities to all students, not only those with a disability. This study investigates the attitudes of 899 Austrian pre-service teachers towards inclusion using a revised version of the Attitudes to Inclusion Scale (AIS). The psychometric quality of the revised scale was examined. The results indicated a high reliability, and the two-dimensional factor structure was confirmed by a confirmatory factor analysis. Some evidence for convergent validity was found. More positive attitudes towards inclusive schooling were found among pre-service teachers focusing on inclusive education within their teacher training programme, female teachers, and pre-service teachers with a migration background.