Preservice Teachers' Views of Inclusive Education: A Content Analysis

Survey-based research was conducted with preservice teachers, from a large regional Australian university, to explore their views about inclusion and their readiness to teach in inclusive classrooms. Open-ended questions were included in the survey to glean information on the respondents' feelings and concerns about inclusion and inclusive practices. In addition, questions were framed to allow the respondents to discuss ways that the university could better prepare them as practising teachers. The responses to each of these questions were content analysed to delineate categories, and frequencies were calculated on the most salient categories. The results of this analysis are reported and comparisons are made of the views expressed by the respondents before they experienced an inclusive education subject and a related practicum with those expressed after. The implications of the results for teacher education programs are considered.

[1]  Julie Lancaster,et al.  The Design of Inclusive Education Courses and the Self‐efficacy of Preservice Teacher Education Students , 2007 .

[2]  Lani Florian,et al.  The inclusive practice project in Scotland: Teacher education for inclusive education , 2009 .

[3]  R. Hastings,et al.  Do Special Educational Needs Courses Have Any Impact on Student Teachers' Perceptions of Children with Severe Learning Difficulties?. , 2007 .

[4]  Dennis D. Munk,et al.  A Model for Preparing Special and General Education Preservice Teachers for Inclusive Education , 2007 .

[5]  N. Purdie,et al.  Attitudes Toward Disability: Teacher education for inclusive environments in an Australian university , 2000 .

[6]  L. Heflin,et al.  Inclusion of Students With Emotional/Behavioral Disorders: A Survey of Teachers in General and Special Education , 1999 .

[7]  C. Forlin,et al.  The Influence of an Inclusive Education Course on Attitude Change of Pre‐service Secondary Teachers in Hong Kong , 2007 .

[8]  Ishaan Srivastava,et al.  Inclusive Education in Botswana: The Perceptions of School Teachers , 2010 .

[9]  C. McGuire,et al.  Office of Educational Research and Improvement , 1999 .

[10]  Umesh Sharma,et al.  Demographic differences in changing pre‐service teachers’ attitudes, sentiments and concerns about inclusive education , 2009 .

[11]  Susan Pedersen,et al.  Connecting the University with a Professional Development School: Pre-service Teachers’ Attitudes Toward the Use of Compressed Video , 2004 .

[12]  A. Hodkinson.  Conceptions and Misconceptions of Inclusive Education , 2005 .

[13]  Brian Rowan.  Comparing Teachers' Work With Work in Other Occupations: Notes on the Professional Status of Teaching , 1994 .

[14]  P. Paul,et al.  Toward an Inclusive Teacher Education Program , 2006 .

[15]  Phyllis Jones.  ‘They are not like us and neither should they be’: issues of teacher identity for teachers of pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties , 2004 .

[16]  Sharon Vaughn,et al.  Getting Ready for Inclusion: Is the Stage Set?. , 1995 .

[17]  Norman E. Wallen,et al.  How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education , 1990 .

[18]  C. Forlin.  Inclusion: identifying potential stressors for regular class teachers , 2001 .

[19]  Celia Oyler,et al.  Preparing Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms , 2004 .

[20]  Jackie Lambe,et al.  Student teachers’ perceptions about inclusive classroom teaching in Northern Ireland prior to teaching practice experience , 2006 .

[21]  Chris Earle,et al.  The Development of Attitudes, Sentiments and Concerns about Inclusive Education in a Content-Infused Canadian Teacher Preparation Program. , 2007 .

[22]  Phyllis Jones,et al.  Promoting inclusive practice in primary initial teacher training: influencing hearts as well as minds , 2002 .

[23]  Monica Cuskelly,et al.  Changing student teachers’ attitudes towards disability and inclusion , 2003 .

[24]  Tim Loreman,et al.  Pre-Service Teachers' Attitudes, Concerns and Sentiments about Inclusive Education: An International Comparison of Novice Pre-Service Teachers. , 2006 .

[25]  E. Avramidis,et al.  Teachers' attitudes towards integration / inclusion: a review of the literature , 2002 .

[26]  Judith A. Niemeyer,et al.  Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Inclusion: Factors Influencing Classroom Practice , 2005 .

[27]  T. Scruggs,et al.  Teacher Perceptions of Mainstreaming/Inclusion, 1958–1995: A Research Synthesis , 1996 .

[28]  Umesh Sharma,et al.  What concerns pre-service teachers about inclusive education: An international viewpoint? , 2007 .

[29]  E. Winter.  Preparing new teachers for inclusive schools and classrooms. , 2006 .

[30]  D. D. Vaus,et al.  Surveys in Social Research , 1991 .

[31]  Annemaree Carroll,et al.  The impact of teacher training in special education on the attitudes of Australian preservice general educators towards people with disabilities , 2003 .