Problem Statement

There have been several mandates aimed at improving the inclusion of students with disability in less restrictive school environments. The main objective here has been to help these students have a sense of equality compared with their classmates in order to improve their school life. Despite the efforts, teachers still find it difficult to incorporate students with disability in the broad education setting. Their attitudes and beliefs towards this issue have been among the main stumbling blocks.

Literature Review

Attitudes that teachers have towards inclusion have culminated as a result of various experiences in their day to day activities. In past years, inclusion has been among the main issues being pushed forward by the federal governments (Rizza & Cipkin, 2006). As a result, teachers’ attitudes have been varying throughout school districts. Rizza & Cipkin (2006) postulate that senior educators do not have sufficient interest towards spearheading inclusion. Among the indicators of this notion is the fact that there are no state mandated or formal mechanisms that have been developed to carry out the activity. Most of the districts just learn as they progress. Rizza & Cipkin (2006) believe that this can be among the reasons for teachers developing negative attitudes towards inclusion.

Vaz et al. (2015) argue that teachers’ attitudes regarding inclusion are dependent on the practical implementation of inclusive education and not specific understanding and ideology of inclusiveness. They also postulated that gender, teaching self-efficacy, age, and training can be used to explain the variability that exists with regards to attitudes towards inclusiveness. The attitudes of the teachers are paramount for the goal of inclusive schools to be attained.

Mchatton & Parker (2013) state that most teachers are not prepared for the inclusive classroom experiences. The training that they receive is quite different from what they are expected to execute. This acts as a hindrance towards practicing effective inclusiveness and shaping their attitudes towards the issue. Tasking an individual with an activity that they are not experienced with will always turn out to be problematic. The difficulties encountered tend to shape negative attitudes.

According to Taylor & Ringlaben (2012), educators are bestowed with challenges of devising programs that will help in preparation of pre-service teachers. However, the information regarding how these programs influence teachers’ attitudes and confidence is limited. Knowing the extent to which a certain action will affect inclusiveness would be a viable step towards actualizing the concept. It would also be easy for teachers to participate effectively since they have an idea of what the outcome might be.

Research Question

How can the pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion be changed?

Answering this question would be relevant towards ensuring that inclusive education has prevailed. Teachers are vital stakeholders in the education sector, and, therefore, their contribution goes a long way towards influencing various issues that are involved. If they had a positive attitude towards inclusiveness, the probability of its success would be very high. This would mean that students with disability attain an opportunity of experiencing a less restrictive school environment. It would bring a feeling of equality hence improve their overall school performance due to the satisfaction derived.

Purpose Statement

The rationale of this review is to assess various mechanisms that can be used to institute changes towards teachers’ attitudes regarding school inclusion.

Search Method

The methodology for the study will be in the form of secondary research. Through this form of research, a variety of articles that have been written previously regarding this topic will be assessed. All the articles used will be peer reviewed. In order to ensure that the articles are scholarly and professional, the use of the EBSCOhost databases will be implemented. The database has a wide variety of articles that would help significantly while trying source information regarding the topic study at hand.

There are numerous articles included that revolve around this study. For sure, not all the articles can be included in the study. Therefore, there is a need to employ various mechanisms that will help to narrow down the search. Use of filters and search modes such as Boolean will come in handy for this exercise.

Journal Articles

Mchatton, P., & Parker, A. (2013). Purposeful Preparation: Longitudinally Exploring InclusionAttitudes of General and Special Education Pre-Service Teachers. Teacher Education and Special Education: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children, 36(3), 186-203.

Taylor, R., & Ringlaben, R. (2012). Impacting Pre-service Teachers’ Attitudes toward Inclusion. Higher Education Studies, 2(3), 16-23.

Rizza, F., & Cipkin, G. (2006). The Attitude of Teachers on Inclusion. 4(1), 12.

Vaz, S., Wilson, N., Scott, M., Cordier, R., Falkmer, M., Sim, A.,  & Falkmer, T. (2015). Factors Associated with Primary School Teachers’ Attitudes Towards the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities. PLoS ONE PLOS ONE, 10(8), 12.

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