Teachers’ Changing Attitudes and Preferences around Inclusive Education
Year of publication
2020
Authors
Saloviita, Timo
Abstract
Inclusive education as an alternative to traditional separate special education has gained recognition since the approval of the Salamanca Statement in 1994. The success of inclusion is considered to be highly dependent on the teachers’ positions on inclusion. In this study Finnish comprehensive school teachers’ opinions were investigated in order to evaluate the prospects of inclusion in Finland, and also to study the variables associated with these attitudes. A total of 2,276 teachers and principals participated in the email survey. The final sample contained 1,041classroom teachers, 755 subject teachers and 445 special education teachers. The results confirmed the existence of a large variety in attitudes both in the whole sample as well as between the teacher categories. Except for special education teachers, the participants reported changing their position more often towards negative than positive direction. The availability of material resources such as smaller class size, had no association with teachers’ attitudes. Instead, the immaterial resources such as help from other teachers had a positive association with more positive attitudes. Even if the teachers’ opinions were more critical than in many other countries, the survey also indicated the existence of the potential for positive development towards more inclusive education.
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Publication type
Publication format
Article
Parent publication type
Journal
Article type
Original article
Audience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
A1 Journal article (refereed), original researchPublication channel information
Publisher
Volume
69
Issue
6
Pages
1841-1858
ISSN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
1
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
Yes
Open access of publication channel
Partially open publication channel
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Educational sciences
Keywords
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Publication country
United Kingdom
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
No
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.1080/1034912X.2020.1828569
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes