Do teachers favor the inclusion of all students? A systematic review of primary schoolteachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education

Abstract

ABSTRACT It has been decades since inclusive education was introduced as the most favourable approach to educating students with special educational needs and disabilities. Still, according to research and practice, teachers’ attitudes are seen as the most important key factor for its successful implementation. Therefore, there is an ongoing process of researchers investigating teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive schooling. The aim of the current study was to do a follow-up of previous reviews on primary schoolteachers’ attitudes (Avramidis and Norwich 2002; de Boer, Pijl, and Minnaert 2011). In total, 36 studies were analysed. The results indicate that primary school teachers tend to hold rather neutral or ambivalent attitudes towards inclusive education. Similar to previous review results, inclusion still seems to be a matter of students’ type of disability. Therefore, regular primary school teachers do not favour the inclusion of all students when it comes to the concept of inclusion for all students. Directions for improving teachers’ attitudes are widely missing in the studies of the last years.