Further development of the Teacher Attitudes to Inclusion Scale: principal components and Rasch analysis

ABSTRACT

Providing an effective and high-quality education for all children and young people remains a significant challenge throughout the world. Disputes and contradictions contribute to the prevailing debate as to the justification and merits of inclusive education. One of the reoccurring themes within the literature on inclusive education is the relationship between the successful application of teachers’ knowledge, skills, and abilities utilised to include inclusive strategies in their classrooms, and their attitude towards inclusion. A teacher with more positive attitudes will be more accepting of students, build more successful relationships with them, aid in a child’s sense of belonging, student academic success and social integration. To address this issue, the Teacher Attitudes to Inclusion Scale (TAIS) was developed by the first author to measure the attitudes of qualified (in-service) teachers towards inclusive education. Using an Exploratory Principal Components Analysis and Reliability, a revised version of the TAIS, the TAIS-R provides a psychometrically validated measure of two constructs – a global attitude and a personal attitude towards inclusive education that provides an accurate evaluation tool for research and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher attitudes
• inclusive education
• Teacher Attitudes to Inclusion Scale
• special education
• educational psychology
• teacher education
• inservice teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

The data that supports the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher Boyle

Christopher Boyle, PhD is a Professor in the School of Education, University of Adelaide, Australia. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is a Professor of Inclusive Education and Educational Psychology at the University of Adelaide, Australia. His main research interests are in teacher perceptions of inclusion and students' attributions for success and failure in learning.

Shane Costello

Shane Costello, PhD is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia. Dr Shane Costello is a registered Psychologist with endorsement in educational and developmental psychology, and a board-approved supervisor. He has worked across education, disability, community, and medical settings. After completing his PhD in 2015, he started teaching psychological assessment in the Master of Educational and Developmental Psychology and Master of Professional Psychology programs at Monash University.

Joanna Anderson

Joanna Anderson, PhD School of Education, University of New England, Australia. Dr Joanna Anderson is Lecturer in Learning, Teaching Inclusive Education at the University of New England, Armidale. She has more than 20 years’ experience in schools, where she worked as both a classroom teacher and school leader across in the primary, secondary and special education sectors. Joanna has a growing body of work in the area of inclusive education, as a researcher, teacher and consultant.

Kim Collett

Kim Collett Graduate School of Education, University of Exeter, UK. Kim Collett, MA, MSc is a PhD student, University of Exeter, and Associate Lecturer, The Open University. Kim specialises in disability studies and inclusive education with a focus on promoting the voices of those often facing exclusion.

Angela Page

Angela Page EdD School of Education, University of Newcastle, Australia. Dr Angela Page is originally from New Zealand and has worked as an Inclusive Education advisor to schools and governments in the Pacific region as well as lecturing in inclusive education and classroom management. She has a particular interest in the development of inclusive and special education practices for students with disabilities within new or emerging contexts.

Kelly-Ann Allen

Kelly-Ann Allen PhD Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia. Dr Kelly-Ann Allen is an endorsed Educational and Developmental Psychologist, senior lecturer at Monash University and Fellow of the College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists. Dr Allen is also a senior fellow of the Centre for Wellbeing Science, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, the University of Melbourne.