CHANGE IN SENTIMENTS, ATTITUDES AND CONCERNS TOWARDS INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: A PERS

Abstract

Inclusive education is a global movement that mediates the prevention of the exclusion of children with special needs in order to support their participation in the general education system. It is thought that the sentiments, attitudes, and concerns of the prospective preschool teachers towards inclusive education are related to their knowledge level about inclusive education. Therefore, in this study, the aim is to examine the change in the sentiments, attitudes, and concerns of the prospective preschool teachers towards inclusive education after they receive a training about inclusive education. The research adopted one-group pretest-posttest model as the experimental design. The study group was comprised of 138 prospective preschool teachers who attend Inclusive Education Program (IEP). IEP was developed by researchers with the purpose of increasing the level of knowledge, sentiments, and attitudes of prospective preschool teachers in terms of inclusive education and of decreasing their concern levels. IEP is a 10-week program prepared by researchers by examining the relevant literature and taking expert opinions. As data collection tools, “Personal Information Form” and “Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns Related to Inclusive Education Scale” were used. As a result of study, the sentiment, attitude, and concern levels of the prospective preschool teachers towards inclusive education were determined at a moderate level. In line with this conclusion, an intervention plan was made to increase the sentiment and attitude levels of the prospective preschool teachers and to decrease their concern levels. Following the implemented inclusive education training, it was observed that the sentiment and attitude levels of the prospective preschool teachers towards inclusive education increased and their concern levels decreased.