THE ATTITUDE OF ROMANIAN SCHOOL PRINCIPALS TOWARDS INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Abstract

Many countries face the challenge of inclusion to provide all children with an equitable education. Inclusive education involves a continuous process of meeting the needs of students by providing quality education for all. Research in the field of inclusive education showed the essential role the principal of a school has in developing educational practices and cultures favorable to school inclusion. Studies highlight that the attitude of school principals is related to the commitment of school teachers to implement inclusive education. In this direction, the aim of this paper was to investigate the attitudes of Romanian school principals towards inclusive education. The Multidimensional Attitudes Towards Inclusive Education Scale – MATIES was translated and distributed online, between September-October 2022. It measured the teachers’ attitudes on three dimensions: affective, cognitive, and behavioral. 1040 teaching staff, of which 115 were school principals from the entire country offered valid answers to the questionnaire. The research design was quantitative, non-experimental, correlational, and comparative. The results show that principals are willing to implement inclusive education. They have a more open attitude towards inclusive education compared to teachers, and this is not predicted by seniority in teaching but by experience of working with students with special needs.