Identification of Factors Affecting Elementary Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Inclusion in Kosovo: The Role of Demographic Variables

Abstract

Inclusion is at the center of interest of international institutions and associations and is considered as one of the main challenges facing education systems worldwide. According to different studies for the implementation of inclusive practices, positive attitudes of teachers are essential in the successful implementation of this change in education. The aim of this paper was to research the elementary teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education and to identify factors that influence their attitudes, such as: gender, age, training for inclusive education, level of education, educational experience, and experience with children with special needs. The methodology of the study is quantitative method. The population of this study include teachers of elementary level of education in the Kosovo and the sample include 300 respondents, who were surveyed with the Teachers’ Attitudes towards Inclusion Scale (TAIS). The research findings have shown that the attitudes of primary school teachers towards inclusive education are below the neutral middle point. The findings have confirmed that the demographic variables have a moderate impact on teachers' attitudes, too. A slightly higher impact is noticed while they have been part of trainings and their experience on working with students, who are considered with special needs has also helped in raising awareness.

Teachers' opinions on the inclusion of children with Down syndrome in regular schools

“…An additional reason for further research is that research is generally inconsistent regarding the influence of chronological age on teachers' attitudes about the inclusion of children with developmental disabilities in regular schools. In some studies, age was not a significant factor (Ahmmed et al, 2012;Koliqi & Zabeli, 2022;Radojlovic et al, 2022), but some determined that the younger the teachers, the more favorable their attitudes (Galaterou & Alexander-Stamatios, 2017;Koliqi & Zabeli, 2021;Saloviita, 2018).…”

“…However, research into the influence of the length of service on teachers' attitudes about the inclusion of children with developmental disabilities in regular schools shows that teachers with several years of work experience show more negative attitudes (Aldosari, 2022;Bhatnagar & Das, 2013;Koliqi & Zabeli, 2021;Mouchritsa et al, 2022;Parasuram, 2006;Savolainen et al, 2011). Several explanations for such results are given in the literature.…”

“…Krause (2020) finds differences concerning gender only on the cognitive dimension, where it was shown that female teachers have a positive attitude and male teachers have a neutral one. Most research on the influence of gender on teachers' attitudes about the inclusion of children with developmental disabilities shows that female teachers exhibit more positive one (Al-Zyoudi, 2006;Avramidis & Norwick, 2002;Gallego-Ortega & Rodriguez-Fuentes, 2021;Koliqi & Zabeli, 2021;Mahajan, 2015;Mouchritsa et al, 2022;Parasuram, 2006;Shari & Vranda, 2016). However, there are also studies where no differences were found (Aldosari, 2022;Đorđević et al, 2018;Lika, 2016;Ozer et al, 2013).…”

“…The attitudes of teachers towards the educational inclusion of students with developmental disabilities range from neutral to positive (Galaterou & Alexander-Stamatios, 2017;Galović et al, 2014;Koliqi & Zabeli, 2022;Mahajan, 2015;Singh et al, 2020) or globally are positive (Đorđević et al, 2018;Guillemot et al, 2022;Odongo & Davidson, 2016). However, there are studies in which the attitudes are negative (Alsolami & Vaughan, 2023;Fu et al, 2021;Koliqi & Zabeli, 2021;Mbwambo & Nes, 2022;Saloviita, 2018;Shari & Vranda, 2016) or range from negative to neutral (Japundža-Milisavljević et al, 2022). It is interesting that recent research shows that teachers show a lack of knowledge about inclusion (Fu et al, 2021;Mbwambo & Nes, 2022).…”