Teacher Attitudes towards Inclusion

Overview & Synopsis

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the attitudes of general education and special education teachers towards inclusion in a Suburban school district in the Midwest. With the increase in the number of students who are qualifying for special education coupled with the special education staff shortage, there is a need to examine how teachers feel towards inclusion. This study utilized the Multidimensional Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education Scale (MATIES) instrument to examine the cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains of teacher attitudes. A sample of 153 teachers in a public school district was obtained. Overall, there was not a discrepancy in scores between general education and special education teacher attitudes, however, there were some significant scores as it relates to years of teaching and how many special education courses a teacher has had. Furthermore, teachers provided input regarding barriers and benefits to inclusion in addition to their perception of co-teaching which provided insight for future research for inclusion. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]