Inclusive education is a right for every student, being one of the current challenges with which the education system is struggling. The teacher’s role in this process is essential in building an inclusive and transformative school. This study aims to measure Spanish secondary school teachers’ perceptions of their preparation to address inclusive education, exploring whether there are differences concerning their gender. A total of 420 Spanish secondary school teachers responded to three dichotomous questions about their initial and ongoing preparation using the Evaluation of Teacher Education for Inclusion Questionnaire (CEFI-R). The results suggest that there are no significant differences between men and women regarding their perceived readiness to deal with diversity. However, women seem to be more confident in their competence, as they show less need for preparation in addressing the diversity of needs in their students with disabilities, and in promoting inclusive education.

Introduction: Inclusive education is one of the main objectives of the educational system toward achieving equal opportunities among students. To this end, teacher training plays an important role in the different educational stages. Objectives: To analyze the perceived readiness of teachers for inclusive education and to see the differences in primary and secondary education. Methods: A total of 961 active teachers from public schools, 53.3% Primary and 46.7% Secondary Education, were analyzed by means of a questionnaire on Teachers’ perceptions about their preparation for inclusive education and the CEFI-R instrument. Results. There are statistically significant differences between the two stages in the first questionnaire (question 1: p = 0.03; question 2: p < 0.01 and question 3: p < 0.01) and also, in 3 of the four CEFI-R dimensions, with the primary score being higher. Conclusions: This study shows that there is a large percentage of teachers who believe that their initial training is insufficient to deal with student diversity. In addition, most of them state that continuous training has helped them to improve inclusive education and that they would be willing to attend training courses on inclusion, although in secondary school, the predisposition is lower than in high school. On the other hand, teachers of both educational stages show a mostly favorable attitude according to the CEFI-R, being higher in primary than in secondary school. In this sense, the public administration has work to do.

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Inclusive education is fundamental, consisting of enabling all students, irrespective of their characteristics, to receive appropriate education and actively participate in school life. Teachers play an important role in this regard; thus, this study aims to analyze teachers’ perceptions regarding their preparation for inclusion by assessing possible differences depending on the educational stage (early childhood, primary, or secondary education). A total of 1098 Spanish teachers, from Extremadura, responded to three dichotomic answers about their inclusive education preparation perception and the Evaluation of Teachers’ Inclusion Readiness (CEFI-R) questionnaire, a 19-item tool composed of four dimensions: (1) conception of diversity, (2) methodology, (3) support, and (4) community participation. Pearson’s chi-square test was used to assess differences between the dichotomous questions and educational stage; Kruskal–Wallis was used to determine whether the educational stage conditioned the CEFI-R dimensions responses, and the Spearman rho was used to test the association between age groups and the CEFI-R dimensions. Statistical differences were found between secondary education and preschool education and primary education teachers in the dimensions (1) conception of diversity, (2) methodology, and (3) support. Significant differences in dimension (4) community participation between preschool education teachers and secondary and primary education teachers were found.